As Tom and I started out on our Saturday morning run, I felt flat inside. "Maybe I'll just walk this one and take it easy," was my thought. "No that's just not like me."
As we started out on our run, my heart rate soared and I felt, what Candace Pert calls "The Molecules of Emotion." I knew that my thoughts and emotions were creating uncomfortable sensations in my body.
"I need to talk about something," I said to Tom.
"Absolutely," he said while he encouraged me to take in the breathtaking sights and expansiveness of the ocean.
We debriefed about an extremely stressful situation in our lives. My friend, Michelle, posted a video on Facebook citing how much relief she felt after she was able to name and claim something on a recent run she had. I'm sure that inspired me to go beyond myself and release what I was holding inside. Once I was able to allow those feelings to move up and out, I was able to feel a sense of freedom in mind, body and soul. I wanted to "open it up" and see what my body could do.
It was hot but there was a cooling sea breeze.
Tom glanced over at my pace from time to time and repeatedly said, 'You're crushing it!'
It was a thrill to feel my pace drop and to receive validation for my hard work as I looked at my splits and Nike+ pacing.
One of my health and fitness goals is to work on speed since I am taking a break from endurance running for now. Throughout my ten years of running and this quest to heal from the effects of childhood paralytic polio and trauma, I have honored every commitment I set toward a goal. After my nephew's death by suicide in March of 2011, I strayed from running and pursued yoga in an effort to heal the searing pain of his death. Even though I felt that yoga teacher training was ultimately not the path for me, I made a commitment to the program and followed through. I learned a lot of soul lessons during that part of my journey.
After 4/15/13, I returned to the roads and to the sport that heals mind, body and soul.
I love the feeling of opening it up and challenging myself riding the waves of endorphins along with the waves of a "good" discomfort. Sweat, high heart rate that was a result of mind/body working together and pushing my pace, nausea and hunger felt wonderful as we wrapped up our 3.11 mile run.
I felt exhilarated and tired and extremely satisfied with myself for getting my pace into numbers I hadn't seen in a very long time since I'd been training for the past 3 years for the Bermuda Half Marathon.
As Tom went off to get in an additional 5 miles on the road to his Bermuda Marathon Weekend 2019, I sat on the beach refueling with a banana and water. I walked into the ocean and admired my sore muscles allowing the cool ocean water to aid in my recovery. I read Billy Mills book, "Lessons of a Lakota" that I won in a contest on Facebook. In it Billy wrote, "Mary...Follow your Dream."
When I was striving for PR's back in 2014, I watched this video:
What a thrill to be able to connect with Billy and his wife Pat on Facebook and receive a magnificent gift.
When Tom returned from his 5 mile run, I marveled with him at how flat I felt when we started out on our run and how content and peaceful I felt after our run.
As we gathered up our belongings after spending time watching the waves go in and out. I reflected on the power of the sea, the vastness of the Universe and the gift of running in my life to transform and transcend a difficult situation happening in my life. That my friends is the power of a good run!
From my heart to yours,
To your health and wellness,
Mary
My healing journey is going to be featured in David R. Hamilton's soon to be released book, "How Your Mind Can Heal Your Body." It's available for pre-order on Amazon.
Be sure to visit my website by following this link.
With the Tropical Storm warnings for "Jose", Team McManus decided that we needed to get in an outdoor run on Monday or possibly not have another opportunity to get outdoors for our runs until Thursday which is our rest day.
We swapped Monday's strength training for Wednesday's 5K. Tomorrow Tom and Ruth Anne can catch a treadmill run if it's too windy and rainy to go outside although the conditions will have to be pretty awful for them to not get in their outdoor early morning tempo run together.
Ordinarily I am quite conservative on our tempo runs while we are going the distance on our threepeat on the road to Bermuda Marathon Weekend. My focus is on getting in those miles and we had a sweet 9 miler on Saturday!
I have had this nagging feeling inside of me...I wish I could run faster. I wish I could run faster. I am so blessed that the Bermuda Marathon Weekend Race Director, Anthony Raynor, told me that as long as I finish before his last marathoner (which means finishing just under 6 hours) I'm fine and if I wanted an early start to just let the timer know on race day.
Tom and Ruth Anne tell me how much it means to them that I am out there going the distance on the road to Bermuda. They repeatedly tell me to not worry about my pace. They enjoy being out there with me for however long it takes to finish the long run.
Running another half marathon is,indeed, a whole big thing for me. The time does not matter but challenging myself and going the distance IS what matters....and yet ....
I know the best way to work on speed is with tempo runs and fartleks. And while we have been doing tempo runs that are a minute under my half marathon pace (right now), and incorporate fartleks, I've been holding back afraid of injury and afraid of going too far.
We didn't talk about the pace this morning as we donned a water belt after doing our core work and headed out the door for our 5K run.
We literally just took off!
As Tom and Ruth Anne looked at our pace they commented how we were about 30 seconds under the pace for our previous tempo runs.
Ruth Anne pushed me this morning and would not let me back down.
Tom and Ruth Anne commented on our pace from time to time. Feeling and knowing I was running faster than I had in a long time, finding out just what this body could do and believing I can run faster than I've been running fueled this morning's magical run.
It was humid but fortunately there was cloud cover.
As we came up one of the final hills, Ruth Anne charged out in front of me. I dug deep and pushed myself.
Coming up the final hill before we finished our 5K was an incredible effort for me. I hadn't felt those almost dead legs feeling in a very very long time. Ruth Anne and Tom kept pushing me and I kept pace. I hadn't felt the feeling of leaving nothing on the roads since that race in May.
It was my fastest time since that race in May.
This voice of I wish I could run faster has been nagging at me for several weeks now.
After our run this morning I googled Billy Mills Youtube video that has been an inspiration for me throughout my running career:
What was I believing about my going the distance? What are my thoughts about myself as a runner? Can I get out of my own way and allow the transformation and healing from paralytic polio and trauma to fully come into being? What do I want to experience as a runner?
This morning was a magical Monday morning run for Team McManus. We ran in stride together with Tom and Ruth Anne instinctively knowing what to do to help pace me and help me to push my pace.
As Walt Disney once said:
It's time for me to keep on believing, visualizing and imagining myself as I want to be; pushing my training (being mindful of course of how my body is feeling on any given day and taking exquisite care of myself to avoid injury) knowing that the time is here for me to be the runner I was always meant to be!
Go the distance with strength and courage,
Mary
Be sure to visit my website by following this link.
When the Race Director for Bermuda Marathon Weekend, Anthony Raynor came to our house for lunch, after presenting him with a copy of my book, "Going the Distance: The Power of Endurance"
he said, "You sure are messing up people's credibility!"
Yes I sure am!
Ten years ago I was told that by now I would be in a wheelchair, probably needing a feeding tube, experiencing chronic pain and fatigue, needing a sleep apnea machine and being on a continuous downhill course for the rest of my life. I was diagnosed with Post-Polio Syndrome, a progressive neuromuscular disease by Western Medicine standards. Yikes! My future looked grim to say the least.
I got still and asked for Divine Guidance. The answers to my prayers came in the form of poetry in the cadence of Dr. Seuss. Why Dr. Seuss you might ask? Because while recovering from paralytic polio, my physical therapist, Miss Holly read Dr. Seuss to me before every painful physical therapy session and during the excruciating sessions that involved hot woolen blankets and painful coaxing of muscles back to life, would have me recite lines from Dr. Seuss back to her in tandem.
I messed up their credibility when I ran the 2009 Boston Marathon!
In December of 2014, "they said" I would not run again and that I would need a total knee replacement. I messed with their credibility thanks to the help of an amazing healer chiropractor, Dr. Ryan who turned me onto the work of Dr. Joe Dispenza, prescribed a wonderful strength training routine that I use today and ignited my power of belief to go the distance.
I'm now training for a threepeat of the Bermuda Half Marathon and I must say that I'm feeling strong and inspired to go the distance once again harnessing the power of my mind, taking effective action by training 5 days a week and partnering with Dr. Lizzie Sobel of Wholesome Healing Chiropractic. She heard Dr. Joe at a continuing education lecture and is also familiar with the work of Dr. Candace Pert.
There are two great runners who messed with people's credibility who inspire me to go the distance:
Steve Jones: "Never give up! Never surrender!
I was blessed to meet Steve Jones on a few occasions and he is part of Bermuda Marathon Weekend!
And Billy Mills:
I'm enjoying messing up people's credibility and going the distance healing the effects of paralytic polio and trauma, defying the diagnosis of Post-Polio Syndrome ... because ...
Go the distance with strength and courage!
~Mary
Be sure to visit my website by following this link.
When I was 10 years old, just two years after coming out of a full leg brace after contracting paralytic polio, and suffering nightly sexual abuse at the hands of my father, I met a camp counselor, Joe Stetz, who was on his way to becoming an Olympian. He chose the path of becoming a physician but he had the energy and drive of a competitor that he wanted to instill in me. This is a photo of him with his Olympic training relay swim team - He is on the far left:
At the end of the summer, Badger Day Camp held their annual Olympics. Badger Day Camp has been in existence since 1933 and continues the tradition of training world class swimmers. "The Badger Swim program is led by world recognized swim coach John Collins Jr. For the past 30 years John Collins has created a world class swim program in Westchester, New York. During that time John has coached 5 world champions, multiple NCAA champions and Olympic atheletes, including Westchester’s Olympic gold medalist Rick Carey. Himself a former Badger swimmer, Indiana University All American butterflier and American Record holder in the 200 Butterfly. John is currently a member of the United States National Team coaching staff." When I attended Badger, his father who is now deceased was the Camp Director. My first camp experience as a survivor of paralytic polio was horrible and so my physiatrist Dr. Eugene Moskowitz urged my parents to find a swimming camp for me. I was blessed that I found my way to Badger Day Camp with a supportive and all inclusive environment even back in the 60's.
There were only two campers who were competing in the butterfly event in my age group. Joe told me that he wanted me to swim the butterfly in the Olympics. I told him he was crazy. I had just come out of a leg brace and was recovering from paralytic polio. He told me that I was guaranteed a medal, that my time did not matter and I would be showing the other campers a lesson in courage. I told him I was afraid of jumping off the starting block and had no idea how to do a turn. At 21 years old (although in my eyes as a 10 year old he was a god of sorts), he had a very wise and kind soul. He told me to not worry about a thing; that he would coach me one on one in everything I needed to successfully compete in the race. Thus a competitor was born! I came in dead last but I finished and proudly took my place on the medal stand.
I've carried that Olympic Spirit with me after being diagnosed with post polio syndrome now almost 10 years ago. I carried Joe with me in my heart during my training for and running the 2009 Boston Marathon and every time I take my place at the start of a race.
After my nephew's suicide in March of 2011, I strayed off my healing path. After 4/15/13, I got back into running and watching Billy Mills' video of his 10000M victory at the 1964 Olympics lit the fire within me to up my game and go for a PR at Bill Rodgers 5K for Prostate Cancer.
"The subconscious mind cannot tell the difference between reality and imagination."
I harnessed that Olympic Spirit and here is the result:
When I was only 10 years old, from the heart of an Olympian, Joe Stetz, the torch was lit within me and a competitor was born. That Olympic Flame still burns brightly within me.
When Tom and I were watching underwater shots of Michael Phelps doing the butterfly I said, "That's not exactly how my butterfly looks." We laughed and celebrated what the Olympic Spirit is all about.
Dr. Joe Dispenza was critically injured in an accident during the bike portion of a triathlon and fractured several vertebrae in his back. He was told that he needed surgery to have a metal rod put in his back and was given a guarded prognosis about being able to walk again even with surgery. Without surgery, paralysis was certain. He chose to heal without surgery.
From You Are the Placebo, xvii, "Maybe I was just young and bold at that time in my life, but I decided against the medical model and the expert recommendations. I believe that there's an intelligence, an invisible consciousness, within each of us that's the giver of life. It supports, maintains, protects and heals us every moment. ... I reasoned at the time that if this intelligence was real and if it willfully, mindfully and lovingly demonstrated such amazing abilities, maybe I could take my attention off of my external world and begin to go within and connect with it-developing a relationship with it."
And so at the age of 23, an "accident" was the beginning of Dr. Joe Dispenza's path to do research and help others to heal and transform from the inside out.
I was familiar with our abilities to heal ourselves from the inside out and thinking and acting greater than the circumstances of our lives when I started writing poetry 8 1/2 years ago. Despite all outward conditions and never having run a day in my life, I went on to run the 2009 Boston Marathon shortly after coming out of a leg brace and being told I should prepare myself to be in a wheelchair for the rest of my life.
It's been an incredible journey!
With any journey there were many triumphs and a lot of trials, tribulations and setbacks.
After reading You Are The Placebo, partnering with Dr. Ryan and dedicating myself heart and soul to this journey, I feel that I have traction in my healing that manifested in Wednesday evening's training run.
I visualized a 46:52 and watch Billy Mills' video over and over and over again.
I had to beat my time by two minutes from what I was running in training runs.
Last weekend we went to a wedding reception where runners and fast runners were in attendance. I found myself sharing my story with a couple that Tom had met while I was talking with the father of the groom. He told me I had to meet them. We were talking about my journey and the words my goal is to somehow run a 12:00 minute/mile pace fell out of my mouth. When I was training for Boston I ran an 11:00 minute/mile pace pushing myself during training runs. In the 2008 Tufts 10K I found myself "Running with God" and coming to the finish line four minutes under what I had visualized for the race that day with a sub 14:00 minute/mile pace.
Since the Finish at the 50 is an evening race, I knew that Tom and I would need to get in evening runs so I could plan fueling for the day and let go of my fear and perception that I am fatigued by the end of the day. The journey of transformation can be distilled to love becoming greater than fear; being an ambitious god and tapping into that delicious Divinity within thinking and acting greater than the circumstances in our lives.
I had an early morning dream about the trauma I experienced as a child and was able to create a very different outcome from the one I actually experienced in the dream. Instead of waking up feeling terror and being in a cold sweat, I felt strong. Every day in every way my body is changing biologically and neurologically from the one that was created out of those horrific circumstances.
Late afternoon, I experienced fatigue and nausea and decided to meditate for a half hour before meeting Tom to go on our run. I settled into a deep meditation and visualized 46:00 minutes as my goal for Finish at the 50 even though a time of 46:52 would be a PR over my Bill Rodgers 5K time last year. I surrendered to the magic and the mystery of the Universe allowing for complete healing of body and mind. There were moments of the old self wanting to assert her opinion into running and setting these goals for myself but I wouldn't let those thoughts take root. I offered her compassion, kindness, tenderness and love but told her she would no longer be in control. I tapped into Oneness, wholeness, images of Forrest Gump and Wilma Rudolph and embracing and embodying myself as a runner who runs swiftly.
I exerted a lot of effort in our run but I wasn't struggling. I was training my mind and body in this new state of being.
First mile we ran a 15'59" pace as we warmed up. I ran with God from the inside out feeling connected to something Divine within me. I threw it out to the Universe that I wanted to see 46:00 minutes when we finished our training run. I would not do a time check. Because I set my Nike+ for distance, I was able to find out when we were at 1 mile for a water stop. After the first water stop, I went back inside of myself and ran from the inside out. I ran hard but without struggle.
"Tom, it's time for another water stop. We're at mile 2." We were both amazed and knew we had done an amazing pace but didn't know how amazing until after it was all over. I ran mile 2 at a 12'40" minute/mile pace. Don't ask me how and that's what's so wonderful and amazing about this journey. It wasn't something I did on my own. I tapped into something beyond myself yet something that is right here inside of myself. I did have to pause and walk briefly between mile 2 and 3 to get my breath back and to find my running rhythm.
".1 mile to go," the Nike+ voice cued me and I took off in a sprint. "Hey where are you going?" Tom asked me. "We have .1 mile to go...we are coming to the finish line."
We visualized our friends Reno and Susan cheering for us and coming onto the field to run us in. I saw the finisher's clock at 46:00 minutes and I cried as though it were race day feeling how I will feel the moment I cross that finish line. Hugs and congratulations all around just like Ms. Nike+ said, "Congratulations. You completed your goal of 3.11 miles."
I was excited to see my time...had I hit 46:00 - um actually not -- It was 45:04 - a 14'30" average pace!
I can move forward from here feeling the joy in this journey and falling in love with the creative process.
I was nauseous and had a headache; nothing that more hydration and crackers wouldn't take care of and a good dinner after an ice bath to rejuvenate my legs.
I was born to run and I love to run and I love to challenge myself as a runner. Running is my medicine and my therapy. I could feel new neuromuscular connections happening during Wednesday night's training run on my left side. I could feel the past being erased from my mind and body so I can be someone new filled with joy, vitality and vibrancy, health and well being and wholeness.
I experienced a miraculous transformation in Wednesday night's training run and will continue to focus and set my sights on running swift, running hard yet running without struggle unencumbered by the circumstances of my past.
Miracles happen when we think and act greater than the circumstances in our lives.
Cheers! To Life! Love yourself well!
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.
In Journey Well, the journey continues in the wake of my nephew's suicide on 3/4/11 and the events of 4/15/13. Through my journey of healing and transformation, we learn that no matter what life circumstances happen to us, we can always find a way to journey well.
50% of book proceeds from all of my books, available on Amazon are donated to the Arredondo Family Foundation whose mission is to provide a helping hand to those experiencing a tragedy and to provide education on matters relating to military, veterans, military families, and the issue of suicide.
I am working on my new book, Feel the Heal: An Anthology of Poems which brings together my best poems of the last 8 years and will include my latest poems as I continue to feel the heal and move forward in my life.
When we last left this intrepid runner, I was following the advice of Billy Mills and I finally broke that 16 min/mile pace on my training run. Last Saturday, Tom and I set out to do our 4 miler. We knew we needed to incorporate hills and a lot of tough hills because two weeks from this Friday, I will be toeing the starting line of the Harvard Pilgrim Finish at the 50 and I've got my sights set on a time of 46:52 or better. So I have the course map with my time written on it on our refrigerator:
You see dear readers, I am no longer running as a survivor of paralytic polio and violence -- I am running because as I recently said in this blog, I was born to run and born to run free. It's just there was a little interruption of oh 5 decades or so that was a hurdle I needed to get over. When I told my muscular therapist who is partnering with me on this next phase of my journey that I am no longer running as a survivor of paralytic polio and violence but as the runner I was always meant to be and that I want to run fast, he commented, "Ah to be swift of foot - like the god Mercury."
What a wonderful image. Coincidentally Mercury and Mercury's Greek counterpart Hermes are both patrons of poets!
Paralytic polio initially took me out of the athletic realm and I didn't have a chance to get back in the game because I was fighting for my survival every night and on weekends with my wildly dysfunctional family.
But now I am fired up and fierce with determination to allow the runner within to fully take form and emerge from the gunk of my past.
Why you may ask ... why is she so obsessed with running and being her personal best? What is she trying to prove and at close to 62 years old - really?
Yes really -- and in truth I have nothing to prove yet I have everything to prove to myself.
During Saturday's training run with Tom and God bless him for running with me rather than doing a brisk walking pace because it is helping my journey of transformation (and more about mirror neurons in another post), we talked about how we were no longer going to live in fear. It's important to be mindful and run from the inside out as I like to call it, but we can no longer behave as though my body is going to get injured or break down again.
Those days are over!!!
I am healing and "every day in every way I am getting better and better" (as Dr. Emile Coue so eloquently stated it).
I have new mantras:
Trust don't test and see if in fact that left knee has full range of motion or that the right IT band discomfort is gone. Just trust and act as if it has already manifested in reality.
Feel the joy in the challenge rather than experiencing a sense of struggle and overcoming. It's a whole new ball game now and as race director Dave McGillvray loves to say, "My game. My rules." Coincidentally he is the race director for the Finish at the 50. He wrote in my book, "The Last Pick," "Set goals not limits."
Focus on the healing not on the wound.
Feel the heal.
Focus on the wave not on the particle.
Love is stronger than fear.
I am an ambitious god.
Tom and I had an amazing run together. I once again ran a sub 16 minute/mile pace and my pace at the 5K mark puts me well within striking distance of my PR for race day.
As I climbed into a post training run ice bath, I had a moment of pause as living in my polio/trauma/injured body briefly surfaced. How can I get in and out of the tub? "Oh yeah," I reminded myself, "I am strong and can do squats and besides we do have a railing in the tub but I am flexible and I move with ease and grace." (more mantras)
The ice bath felt amazing.
And after the ice bath I had this epiphany bathe every cell in my body. I am no longer a victim to my body. From the time I was 5 years old I lived in fear of my body and then I lived in fear of what others would do to my body but NO MORE! Those days are over. I can have my mind and body work together and my mind heals my body. I can love myself well and allow love to be so much stronger than fear.
Today I did cross training in the pool at WaveHealth where I use that time and space for moving meditation and healing as well as gaining strength washing away all the old beliefs.
Two weeks from Friday I'll be testing myself for the first time since last October when I PR'ed the Tufts 10K.
I'll be channeling my inner Wilma Rudolph, Forrest Gump, Seabiscuit, Billy Mills and embody Mercury and Hermes with winged feet to have a phenomenal race day.
15 is the new 16 and I'm going to keep moving forward with my training embodying and embracing the runner I was always meant to be.
Feel the Heal
The Potter’s wheel with loving hands a figure forms brave and true
breaking mold cast by others, Triumphant Spirit shining through.
In likeness of Divine’s image, all excess baggage gently melts away
unbridled freedom, joy fired up whole without fringe or fray.
Rhythmic turnings ever so slowly, tender kindness she feels the heal
Potter pauses work now finished, she leaps from Potter’s wheel.
Color and shape beyond compare magnificent in radiant sun
going the distance helps others to heal fueling her 26.2 mile run.
Transcending transforming no pain can last,
grit and gratitude fill heart and soul
leave doubts and fears in dust of memories past
sights set clearly on finish line goal.
In the distance the Potter’s cheering
that Voice so clear rises above the din
she feels in every fiber of her Being this race is hers to win.
Pacing, persistent and patient in each moment she feels the heal
reminded of her humble true beginnings
blessed by grace on Potter’s wheel.
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.
In Journey Well, the journey continues in the wake of my nephew's suicide on 3/4/11 and the events of 4/15/13. Through my journey of healing and transformation, we learn that no matter what life circumstances happen to us, we can always find a way to journey well.
50% of book proceeds from all of my books, available on Amazon are donated to the Arredondo Family Foundation whose mission is to provide a helping hand to those experiencing a tragedy and to provide education on matters relating to military, veterans, military families, and the issue of suicide.
I am working on my new book, Feel the Heal: An Anthology of Poems which brings togeth
The subconscious mind cannot tell the difference between reality and imagination ... Relive the moment the way you want it to be. - Billy Mills Olympic Gold Medalist
Heading out on my training run, I wanted to break that 16:00 minute/mile pace that has been with me since I returned to the roads in March. I had it in my mind's eye last Saturday but it didn't happen. I'd been watching Billy Mills YouTube video as I retrain myself as a runner after last December's injury. I've been keeping a healing journal and writing affirmations.
I wanted to write down in my training journal a 5K run with a sub 16:00 minute/mile pace but to be honest, I was afraid to write it down in case I missed my mark. Now I know that you have to be willing to commit 100% to goals. I am still clearing out the messages from doctors and therapists who discouraged me from running or pushing myself. I guess too there was a part of me that didn't want to "fail" if I wrote down the goal and fell short today and that's okay. The important thing is that although I couldn't commit to writing down the goal, I made a shift in my thoughts before I went on my run.
I reminded myself that I am a runner. I imagined Forrest Gump and Wilma Rudolph and Billy Mills. I am fearless when it comes to setting and achieving goals when I move out of the way and allow the transformation to happen.
I thought about the work of Dr. Joe Dispenza, and "You Are the Placebo" and rather than focusing on the how's or why's or what's of breaking the 16:00 min/mile pace and beginning to focus on a PR for my race on July 3rd, I decided to set the goal and just let it happen.
I reminded myself of how I felt when I ran in 2010 breaking PR after PR by setting my mind and intention squarely on the outcome and visualizing how I wanted the moments to be. I ran and flowed from the inside out.
I could tell when my mind was straying from working coherently with my body and I reeled it right back using the imagery that Joe uses in his You Are the Placebo book about taming a stallion to focus during meditation.
I felt a side stitch and nauseous and I reminded myself to run from my soul. I kept coming back to running from my soul and allowing the beautiful elegant runner within me to emerge.
I did not look at my time but had every confidence that I was running a sub 16:00 minute/mile pace. I believed it with every fiber of my being and asked the Universe to work with me to just make it happen.
Now just as a side note - I have also been strength training and cross training in the pool to become the runner I am today but my beliefs about my running and setting goals are just as crucial as the physical training. Joe Dispenza talks about the importance of coherence with the mind body. During my run today I kept coming back to feeling everything working together releasing doubts and placing all of my physical, mental and spiritual energies into the outcome I wanted for today's training run.
And so it happened! My fastest pace since 9/20/14 and 1 minute and 46 seconds within striking range of my 46:53 PR at the Bill Rodgers 5K in August. ***46:52*** is the time I want to see on the clock when we cross the finish line at the Finish at the 50 on July 3rd. I believe in setting goals not limits and I know how amazing it feels to open this body up and just run as well and as fast as I possibly can.
I'm back feeling strong and confident as a runner once more surrounded by a great support crew in my husband and my running family. And when doubts or fears rear their little head, I can now outrun them. I'm retraining myself mind, body and Spirit for speed and endurance. Success breeds success. Seeing an average pace of 15:33 with splits of 15:44, 15:14 and 15:47 (the last mile had a hill!) makes me smile from ear to ear.
Life is indeed a marathon and I am so blessed on the roads and off.
Cheers! To Life! Love yourself well!
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.
I am working on my new book, Feel the Heal: An Anthology of Poems which brings together my best poems of the last 8 years and will include my latest poems as I continue to feel the heal and move forward in my life.
