Breakthrough on Heartbreak Hill

There was a chilly start to the day yesterday. Temperatures were supposed to go into the 50's. Tom and Ruth Anne are training for RunTheBluegrass and needed to do 5 miles on hills according to Kara Goucher's Half Marathon 10 Week Training Plan. I'm recovering from our triumphant Bermuda Half Marathon run. I couldn't get a fix on what I needed to do. Should I go solo and run around the Reservoir or should I do my 5K on the hills? My hip/back/groin are still healing but I know that the body achieves what the mind believes! If I told my body we'd be fine going out on the hills, we'd be fine.

As the day quickly warmed up, I decided to join them on Heartbreak Hill.

There is always magic on Heartbreak Hill. I've written blogs about Heartbreak Hill in my old blog Healing, Hope and Possibility and in this blog.

Yesterday held magic for me in my solo 5K run.

Many runners were out training for the Boston Marathon. What a joy to smile and say hi asking if they were training for Boston. It didn't matter that I was walking at a pace slower than they were running. When you're out on Heartbreak Hill, everyone has a beautiful connection.

Tom and Ruth Anne took off at their own pace. It was the first time in my running career that I did not feel left behind. I loved and thanked my body for going 3 Half Marathons in as many years. I embraced the solitude and time to be alone with my new playlist, "The 12 Minute Mile" and the Divine. I loved feeling the tailwind as I walked up the hills and dancing with the Universe coming down the hills with a strong headwind. It was the Divine's way of inviting me to meet a situation head on from my past that was still causing me physical and emotional pain and suffering. I got in touch with powerful feelings and surrendered them to the Divine asking for healing. I felt waves of love and gratitude wash through me.

I reflected on how blessed I am to feel healthy and whole recovering from the rigors of half marathon training. What a blessing to be back on Heartbreak Hill feeling the sunshine and anticipating Springtime in Boston. I flashed back to when we trained for the 2009 Boston Marathon. I reflected on the miracles of healing that have happened throughout my life and especially these past 11 years after being diagnosed with Post-Polio Syndrome, a progressive neuromuscular disease.

As Tom and Ruth Anne finished their run, calling out my name and having crushed their training run with a 12 minute/mile pace we took a selfie as Team McManus:


Even though I am not going to be running RunTheBlueGrass Half Marathon with them this year, we are and will always be Team McManus sharing adventures together and experiencing the power of transformation through running.

Tom and Ruth Anne had an incredible run together. Ruth Anne had a sparkle and was filled with energy and excitement. Father-daughter time is always a sacred time especially being out in the glorious sunshine on a late January day in Boston feeling the magic that is Heartbreak Hill.

My breakthrough on Heartbreak Hill continues to fill my heart with love and gratitude pulling me out of the past into my beautiful present where everything is healed.

To your health and well being
From my heart to yours,
Mary

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Be sure to visit my website by following this link.

My books are available on Amazon.

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:


And my latest and greatest book - Going the Distance: The Power of Endurance (With a Foreword by Jacqueline Hansen):