I woke up at 3:00am on Sunday--race day with my heart racing, feeling as though I was going to throw up with sweat pouring down my two arms. I don't recall whether or not I was having a dream. It was in direct contrast to how I felt when I fell back to sleep at 12:20 after the false alarm went off.
"Okay," I thought to myself. "Let's get a handle on this. Let's pull your mind out of your body and connect with the Divine. There is no time to analyze this. You have to get to the starting line." I reminded myself that I've been doing the work of Dr. Joe Dispenza and I had total confidence that I could and would be able to clear out these sensations. I went to the bathroom, went deep into a meditation and then fell back to sleep.
The alarm went off at 5:00am. We meditated for 10 minutes to set our intentions for the day. We did our core warm up and I totally trusted that room service would arrive on time. They usually don't serve room service until 7 am but were gracious to accommodate our request for 5:30.
The knock on the door came promptly at 5:30 and Narayan came in carrying a tray with everything we requested so we could each have our traditional pre-race breakfast. "Good morning. Good morning...Are we ready to run?" He told us that he was at base camp at Mt. Everest and shared in our excitement for the day. After breakfast Team McManus gathered in a group hug/huddle to say a prayer for the day. We gave thanks for the blessings that brought us to that moment and asked the Divine to bless us on our 13.1 miles through Bermuda. It was intensely emotional to realize how far we'd all come to be poised and ready to toe the starting line of Bermuda Half Marathon 2018 - my third in as many years - and the first time we'd run together since the 2009 Boston Marathon.
We headed to the lobby where runners were excited to get the shuttle to the starting line.
When we arrived in Hamilton I saw Susan who is an integral part of Bermuda Marathon Weekend selling t-shirts and volunteering along with Anthony Raynor's cousin, Jo-Ell who we met in Boston on that fateful day when Anthony offered me an invitational entry. I told Susan I had pre-race jitters. She took my hand and told me that it's race day excitement. It happened to her before every race. She suggested that we use the inside bathrooms and go stretch out before the race.
We walked up and down Front Street going over our race strategy and remembering our previous trips to Bermuda. I reminded myself that I had two goals for the race: Have fun and finish.
We were blessed with another Bermudaful sunrise over Hamilton Harbor:
We saw the Town Crier whose name is Ed. He remembered us from last year and posed for this photo with Team McManus:
The sexy reef ambassadors are saving the coral reef with their lion fish hunting expeditions. It is spearheaded by the one and only Natalie Dryli whose outfit this year topped her America's Cup outfit from last year:
"Hey Denise - here they are," Lanette said. We had to take a pre-race photo together:
After hugs and well wishes we heard the announcement saying it was 15 minutes to the start. "Runners please line up."
It was show time for Team McManus. We said another prayer and listened to the Town Crier make the proclamation to mark the start of the 2018 Bermuda Marathon and Half Marathon:
To be continued....
To going the distance with strength and courage!
From my heart to yours,
Mary
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Feel the Heal: An Anthology of Poems to Heal Your Life
Coming Home: A Memoir of Healing Hope and Possibility that chronicles the first 7 years of my healing journey:
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