Countdown to Bermuda: Preparing for My Longest Run

Bermuda Tourism has been posting the 12 Days of Christmas Bermuda style:
On the 10th day of Christmas, Bermuda gave to me…
Ten marlins leaping
Nine golfers putting
Eight divers diving
Seven rum swizzles swizzlin'
Six yachts sailing
Five moon gates
Four rum cakes
Three exploring scooters
Two longtail birds
And endless pink sandy beaches surrounded by the bluest sparkling sea

This morning the post was 10 marlins leaping.



My heart started leaping and I felt goosebumps everywhere remembering when we would travel to Bermuda in July to cheer on the Sea and Surf Anglers Club from Boston as they competed against the Blue Waters Anglers Club of Bermuda. Of course it was no contest. The Bermudians were expert anglers and awesome hosts for their Bostonian friends and entourage (of which we were a part).

We are going to run by the Club when we run the Bermuda Half Marathon.


I smile and feel goosebumps all over when I think about it. We would go to the Club for a fish fry and sit out on the dock overlooking the blue waters of Bermuda. There were gentle warm breezes in the evening and ginger beer, dark ‘n stormies, rum punch and every imaginable libation flowed as easily as the conversation.

We’d walk down to the Club to watch the boats come in and the catch would get weighed and filleted. On the last night of the tournament there was the awards ceremony, music, dancing and a spread of food that of course included fish.

I can finally remember the wonderful times we had in Bermuda rather than remember how unwell I felt the last trip we made in December of 2007.

I'm returning to Bermuda as a woman transformed thanks in huge part to Dr. Ryan J. Means, a most remarkable healer/chiropractor and now a dear friend.

This has been quite a banner year for me in my running career. I have not run this far since I ran the 2009 Boston Marathon.

I am receiving the best gifts this Christmas and they don't come under the tree. I have and continue to reclaim my life. Three weeks from Thursday I travel for the first time since 2007 and I travel without a leg brace, without a wheelchair and WITH a pair of Altras to toe the starting line of the 2016 Bermuda Half Marathon. I will return home with a medal around my neck and new amazing memories of that Bermudaful Island just two and half hours away from Boston.

On Friday, my 62nd birthday I run 12.5 miles - 12.5 on 12/25. It culminates a year of hard work, dedication and single mindedness focusing on getting ready for January 17th, 2016.

So much excitement awaits and there is such joy in the journey!

Thursday, Christmas Eve is a time of preparation to run the longest distance I have run since April 20, 2009 and Friday will be our last long run before we taper. I am smiling from ear to ear feeling an incredible sense of accomplishment; feeling touched by grace knowing that I have spent these last 8 months intensely preparing to reach my goal.

It is serious countdown time and time to get ready to embrace Bermuda once more!