Thursday, March 12, 2009

What's One More Mile Among Friends?

Tomorrow is a big day - a 20 mile run. We've run 19 miles for two weeks so what's another mile among friends?

Yesterday, it was rainy and windy and although I had told my personal trainer I would do hills this week, I could not bear another training run in wind and rain. I took myself to the indoor track at BU and decided I would find a way to challenge myself. Part of me wanted to just mosey around the track to get in my 3 miles. I understand that during these waning days of training, it is easy to feel fatigue and feel complacent and it would have been fine if I would have chosen to just get in the 3 miles. Instead, something burned within me to turn it on. After all, we have only two more weeks after this of intense training and I thought of Janine's words, don't hold back now. I want to be in peak psychological and physical shape for Marathon Monday.

As I warmed up, I debated whether to do sprints or tempo run and ended up combining the two. I did a five minute walking warm up and then a 10 minute run and then......I sprinted and tempo'ed (is that even a verb?) and watched my time and my heart rate and when it was all over, I had finished in 40:36! As I have said repeatedly throughout my blog, it's not the time - it's the attitude, it's the feeling of personal triumph, it's giving myself a great cardio workout (average heart rate was 163 for 40 minutes - amazing for a 55 year old woman - that is out of my target heart rate), it's creating a lifestyle and a path to health and fitness that I had never known before. It's releasing the negative thoughts and beliefs from the past on so many levels and allowing myself to emerge as an athlete running with and for God.

Tonight I shall stretch and hydrate and carbo load. I will get everything ready for fueling on our 20 mile run tomorrow. I shall pray and visualize and give thanks to God for this amazing journey and that I am truly living in a new world.

To purchase my book of inspirational poetry and to explore a new world of greeting cards, visit my website at www.newworldgreetings.com.

To make a donation to Team McManus on the Road to the Boston Marathon, visit www.firstgiving.com/teammcmanus

God bless and see you at the finish line,
Mary

2 comments:

Tim Doiron a.k.a "Derv" said...

Good luck tomorrow, I will be thinking of you. I am doing a 4 mile road race and then a relaxing 15 on Sunday. My last 2 20+ runs are the following two weekend.

Mary McManus said...

Thanks Tim and HAPPY BIRTHDAY tomorrow. Be sure to check your email. Just did my blog post about the twenty miles - it was so cold out there but we did it!
Hope to see you at the concert - if not, may you have your best birthday ever and see you at the starting line.
God bless
Mary

Followers