Celebrating Ten Years of Running: Where Has Running Taken Me?

This morning on Facebook, this photo popped up in my memories:


It was a magical moment at the starting line of the Bermuda Half Marathon in 2016.

Running in Bermuda was on my bucket list and then life happened and I didn't think about it again.

In December of 2014, I suffered a serious knee injury that the physiatrist and PT's said would put an end to my running career; admonished me to cap my distance at a 5K or at most 5 miles and to prepare for a total knee replacement in a few years.

I knew about the mind/body connection and the body's tremendous capacity to heal. With the help of a wonderful chiropractor, I got back on my healing path. With kinesiotape, motivation, inspiration, prescription for cross training and recommendations for reading "You Are the Placebo," "Everything You Need to Know to Feel Go(o)d" and watching "What the bleep do we know," Dr. Ryan reminded me to set goals not limits. Shortly after we worked together, he moved to China to practice chiropractic in an integrative medicine setting but not before he left a lasting imprint on my heart and on my healing journey.

At my 2015 comeback race, the Finish at the 50, the Bermuda Marathon Weekend "just happened" to have a table at the Expo. After several years of walking by their booth at different Expos we attended, Tom decided to stop at their Booth while I slowly walked on. As I overheard their conversation, I stopped and I inched closer and closer to their Booth as I started wondering if perhaps I would be able to go the distance again in Bermuda. The Race Director, Anthony Raynor suggested that if I could go the distance of a Half Marathon, I would much prefer the Half to the 10K which is all hills.

I knew it was time to put running in Bermuda back on my bucket list.

It was an incredible thrill to be a part of an International Race Weekend while meeting friends from Massachusetts. Ann Kucharski stopped me at the pool at The Rosedon Hotel and started a conversation. We had been on the same flight. We discovered that we had many runner friends in common. She ran the 10K and on Sunday morning came to the starting line to cheer us on. She shouted to us and snapped the photo that popped up in my memory feed.

Running has taken me to meet so many wonderful, kind, generous, inspiring people that I would not have met were I not a part of this incredible sport.

Running has taken me to the very edge of what I think I am capable of and then a little bit farther.

Running has taken me away from feeling stuck with a life problem and revealing the answer on a run.



Bill Rodgers once said to me, "Life is hard...that's why we run. When we learn we can tough it out on the roads, we know we can tough out anything that life sends our way." Running has taught me that I can indeed meet every challenge on the roads and in my life.

Running has taken me from seeing myself as a survivor of paralytic polio and trauma to a woman who goes the distance with the power of endurance. Running has been my redemption from my past and transformed me from a disabled person to a champion of my life.



Where has running taken you?

From my heart to yours,
To your health and wellness,
Mary

Proud to be a part of Friends of Blue Diamond Athletic Displays, Inc.

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):