Our daughter was signed up for a CPR class through L Street Running Club. We packed a picnic and while she was in training, we spent several hours in the sun and surf.
It was a day meant to delight the senses. Salty sea air, seagulls' calls, the ebb and flow of the tide and crashing of the waves. The cold ocean water embraced my legs helping me to recover from yesterday's training run for the Tufts 10K.
I finished reading Kathrine Switzer's Marathon Woman.
Several members of L Street came out to say hi to us after the class ended. Ric Beaudoin who is a member of L Street and Merrimack Valley Striders teased us about being lazy and just sitting there doing nothing. As I talked with other members of the Club and our daughter to hear about the class, I had one ear tuned to what Ric and Tom were plotting. I saw out of the corner of my eye that they were making a pact to run the Hyannis Half Marathon together this year. That's where we first met in February of 2009. It was Ric who introduced me to both L Street and the Striders.
I'm chomping at the bit to run another half but to train for a half in winter would not serve me. I know I need more time finding my pace and comfort with the 10K distance. Just like I wanted to take off after that runner who said "on your left" yesterday as we were crossing the Mass. Ave Bridge on our training run, I want to train for another half. Patience young one, patience I tell myself. I can still enjoy the energy of the running community as a spectator especially in Hyannis.
Next week our Club hosts the Jim Kane Sugar Bowl 5K. Mac, founder and former L Street President is the race director. He and his wife Alma had taken the CPR course and we saw them when we get to get water on the Boulevard - Day Boulevard. We talked about the Race, and running. It always feels so good to connect with our friends in the running community. There's a comfort, a knowing and a wonderful energy whenever we get together.
I feel rejuvenated and incredibly blessed.
What I loved about today's sensational summer day in Southie is we drove maybe a half an hour at most from our home and everything was free - except for a couple of bottles of water.
Photos of the day which will trigger the sights, smells, sounds and sensations of the surf against my body, of a sensational summer day in Southie whenever I need them:
My memoir, "Coming Home: A Memoir of Healing, Hope and Possibility" is now available on Amazon.
"Wait, I have one more goal," Mary McManus told her personal trainer in February of 2008 shortly after coming out of her toe up leg brace. "I want to run the Boston Marathon for Spaulding Rehab Hospital." Mary traded in her polio shoes for running shoes and embarked on the journey of a lifetime. Mary McManus was at the height of her career as a VA social worker when she was told by her team at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital’s International Rehab Center for Polio in December of 2006 that she needed to quit her job if she had any hope of preventing the progression of post polio syndrome, a progressive neuromuscular disease. In “Coming Home: A Memoir of Healing, Hope and Possibility” Mary takes you on her seven year healing odyssey as a survivor of paralytic polio and trauma from her diagnosis, to taking a leap of faith to leave her award winning career at the VA to heal her life and follow her passion as a poet and writer. You’ll experience her trials, tribulations and triumphs as she trains for and crosses the finish line of the 2009 Boston Marathon and discovers the opportunity for healing in the wake of new trauma: the suicide of her nephew in 2011, and the aftermath of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings. This is Mary's journey of coming home to her human form free from the influences of the ghastly ghostly invaders who had invaded her sacred earthly home. Her memoir includes journals and blog posts from her seven year healing odyssey. This is her journey of transformation and her message of healing, hope and possibility.
I donate 50% of royalty payments through on line sales to The One Fund to help Boston Marathon survivors and their families. Copies are also available at Brookline Marathon Sports. $5 of each book sold at Marathon Sports is donated to The One Fund.
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