My Running Chronicles: Planning for Success

Runners have a saying, "This sh** just got real." That's how I feel about my schedule of upcoming races.

While many couples may kick back and watch TV or a movie after work, Tom and I study course maps and map out our next training run.

Last night we zoomed in on the Bermuda Half Marathon course map:



We wrote out in our training journal the elevation and grade mile by mile. The beginning of the race is a downhill and it's going to be so tempting to go out fast but we are already mentally preparing ourselves for holding back on race day. I know I am going to feel like a filly at the gate standing on Front Street in Hamilton Bermuda just waiting to break free running my first half marathon since 2009 but we are going to be patient and pace ourselves.

The last time I stood on Front Street it was in the winter of 2006/2007. I was sporting black tie shoes with a toe up leg brace, using a cane when I walked and needing a wheelchair as I traveled through the airport:



I'll be standing on Front Street sporting these babies:


Next Saturday we will be running 5 miles. We are going to do an out and back down Beacon Street along part of the Boston Marathon course. We researched the elevation for that part of the Boston Marathon course and it matches the elevation for the Bermuda Half Marathon. The grade of hills may be steeper and there may be more rolling hills than on the Bermuda course so that will hold us in good stead. We are also training for Falmouth in the Fall and need lots of hill training.



We will also use the Spectacle Island run on 9/27th as a great training run for Falmouth in the Fall. It's an over hill over dale kind of course as we hit the dusty trail!

We also tweaked our schedule for workouts and runs. I realized that I was strength training 3 days in a row so we swapped a running day with a strength training day.

I ordered a theraband to increase resistance during clams to strengthen hip flexors and ankle weights to add resistance for straight leg raises in a chair.

Yup this sh** just got real. Six months from today we board that plane to that magical Island where I have many special memories and am excited to create new ones.

We are working out our training plan with diligence, intention and attention to detail. When I trained for the 2009 Boston Marathon, our trainer led us every step of the way because in truth we didn't know what we were doing. We are so blessed to be in the company of elite runners and coaches who can offer us advice and guidance as well as draw from our own experiences figuring out what works and doesn't work along the way. We are indeed planning for success!

Cheers! To life! To success!



I chronicle the first 7 years of my healing journey after being diagnosed with post polio syndrome, a progressive neuromuscular disease as a survivor of childhood paralytic polio and 9 years of childhood domestic violence in Coming Home:A Memoir of Healing, Hope and Possibility.


Be on the lookout for "Feel the Heal: An Anthology of Poems," available soon on Amazon


I am writing "Going the Distance," chronicling this miraculous phase of my healing journey on the road to the Bermuda Half and the Newport Marathon 2016.