Today I had the best time AND the best time!
Next Sunday I will take my place at the starting line of the inaugural Bill Rodgers 5K Run/Walk for Prostate Cancer. It's the 14th annual Prostate Cancer Walk now joined with the Bill Rodgers 5K.
I wrote about overcoming my pre race jitters in Present - Give Yourself the Gift of Peace.
One of the best ways I know to overcome pre race jitters is to get out on the course and run it. The course is the same course as the Heartbreak Hill Half Marathon and Festival Weekend's 5K. Tom knew the course well and while I wasn't familiar with the specifics of the course, I'd run parts of the course many, many times during training runs.
The day was warm and rainy.
The course starts off with a downhill. I was running at a nice even pace. We came to the uphill on Comm Ave and I channeled my inner Boston Marathon finisher until we got to the corner of Beacon Street and Cleveland Circle at about mile 1 and change. I stopped for a water break. The next part of the course is nice and flat set against the scenic Reservoir. There was a gentle rain falling and many many runners were out on this first Saturday in August.
Next up, the huge hill up Beacon Street. In the middle of the hill I thought to myself, "This is never going to end." What a wonderful metaphor for life. In the middle of an uphill climb, we feel as though we are never going to get to the top. I kept a strong and steady pace feeling fully present and balanced in my body.
I celebrated once we got to the top of the hill knowing it was all downhill from there.
I began to run. Tom asked me what I was doing.
"I left a little in the tank," I replied smiling and sweating.
I could feel myself overheating so I dumped some water on my head. I poured it on to the imaginary finish line.
I knew I had the best time but did I have the best time?
I checked my Nike+. Yes indeed - I sure did. The best 5K time since April of 2013 when I returned to running after a two year hiatus.
My first mile split was 15'12" and my average pace was 15'24". That's with an elevation of 221'.
I don't know what the day will hold for me next Sunday but I do know that today, I had the best time!
"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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