#tbt Brookline Marathon Sports: My First Pair of Running Shoes & Celebrating National Running Day #thankfulthursday

After I told my personal trainer in February of 2008 that I wanted to run the 2009 Boston Marathon for Spaulding Rehab, she told me that I needed to get a pair of running shoes. She referred me to the Marathon Sports Brookline store about a mile from where we live. I had no idea what to expect. As a survivor of paralytic polio, buying shoes had always been somewhat traumatic for me. I had a completely different experience in buying my first pair of running shoes.

From my memoir, "Coming Home: A Memoir 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):

“What are you in now?” Spencer Aston asked me when I walked into Marathon Sports in February of 2008.

“Well, truth be told, I’m in ‘polio shoes.’ I borrowed these running shoes from my daughter. Let me give you the twitter version of my story.”

I told Spencer about my history of paralytic polio, my ‘remarkable recovery’ as was Spaulding’s tag line when I was a patient and how I was planning to run the Boston Marathon. He took so much time and care doing a gait assessment and working with me to find the perfect running shoes. We figured out that I needed an insert at my heel to ensure comfort.

Spencer spent at least 45 minutes with me trying on different shoes and figuring out what I needed to begin my running career.

My first pair of running shoes ever at the age of 53 years old were Nike Vomeros. They got me through months of grueling training through the New England winter of 2008/2009 and to the finish line of the Boston Marathon:



Fast forward to National Running Day 2014. I now wear Altra Intuition:



Tom and I briefly gathered at Brookline Marathon Sports Brookline-Run Group and headed out for our early start.

It was deceptively humid although there was a chill in the air. Tom and I treasured our time together to talk, to vent, to enjoy being outside and for me to train.

I printed out The Best Race Week 5K Workout from Active and plan to begin more formal speed work. Last night, I continued to race with imaginary competitors on our run as we had at Jamaica Pond on Memorial Day. It's my own version of Fartleks.

As we came down Beacon Street, members of the Run Club passed us. I tried to pace with a few of them and discovered that I am able to run without feeling pain in my right knee. Tom had to remind me to be mindful and not get swept away by the energy and excitement of running with the pack. The fartleks and pacing with other runners resulted in a -1.20 minute split on my last mile.



We socialized back at the store after the run. I was feeling the runner's high, the joy of being with the running community and a heart filled with gratitude. I paused for a moment to consider that I've come a long way from when I bought my first pair of running shoes at the store. The journey has been filled with uphills, downhills, forks in the road and twists and turns. But last night, I had the clear realization that I have transformed from a survivor of paralytic polio to being a runner. What a wonderful way to celebrate National Running Day - the place where my journey as a runner began.

My 2009 Boston Marathon Run: Domenick D'Amico

As I begin to plan my book launching party for "Coming Home: A Memoir of Healing, Hope and Possibility" later this Spring



with Marathon Sports Brookline store manager, Ellen Gabriel, we decided it would be wonderful to plan it to coincide with the visit of my beloved coach and trainer, Domenick D'Amico. He made a promise at our first meeting of Spaulding Rehab's Race for Rehab team that he would get us to the starting line healthy and to the finish line with a smile.

He was true to his word.

Domenick planned out our long training runs complete with pit stops and water stops. He called the Wellesley Marathon Sports store to let them know we would be stopping there on our long run and to provide us with anything we needed. He was my champion letting me know that I would be able to finish the Boston Marathon.

Here he is sending us off on our last training run from the Marathon Sports Brookline store before Marathon Monday:



The Race for Rehab Team in Hopkinton:



and here I am at the finish line - smiling through tears of unbridled joy:



There is one story that I did not include in my memoir that I did share in my blog post, Getting a Head Start. We were at a fund raiser for Alison Eno-Ballbach who was the manager of Marathon Sports Brookline in 2009 and a champion of Team McManus. I call her my mother hen on the road to the Boston Marathon. I shared with Domenick that I was feeling really anxious about being able to finish before the finish line closed. He asked me, "Aren't you getting an early start?" I told him that we had thought about it but then thought that I did not meet the requirements of being a mobility impaired runner. He told me I did. The next day he called his contact at the BAA and told me that all I needed was a letter from my post polio doc to submit to the BAA to get an early start with the mobility impaired runners.

What relief I felt knowing that I would not have to wait for 2 1/2 hours in Hopkinton and that I would be able to enjoy my marathon day knowing I would make it to the finish line before it closed.

And on Marathon Monday he waited for us on Heartbreak Hill. As I said in my Acknowledgements:

Domenick D’Amico, beloved coach and trainer with the Race for Rehab Team, you promised to get us to the starting line healthy and to the finish line with a smile. You kept your promise. Thank you for mapping out our training runs every week and for standing on Heartbreak Hill waiting for us. The hug you gave me as you said, “Go get your medal” is forever imprinted on my heart.

Domenick was also a part of my Poetry in Motion celebration at Marathon Sports Brookline.

I feel so blessed and incredibly grateful that I will be able to celebrate the release of my memoir with Domenick by my side. Even though he lives in Colorado, his Spirit lives on in Boston. I often overhear conversations in Marathon Sports of people reminiscing about the Run Club when Domenick was in Boston. He was back in Boston for the 2010 Boston Marathon. We met on Heartbreak Hill that year. He told me that he struck up a conversation with a woman who told him she could never run a marathon. He told her my story beaming as he recalled how he got us to the starting line healthy and to the finish line with a smile.

He has been my beloved coach and trainer throughout these 5 years supporting me as I was on and off the roads letting me know that wherever I was was exactly where I needed to be.

In honor of National Poetry Month, I will be featuring poems I wrote on my road to the Boston Marathon which are included in A Celebration of Life.

Marathon Metamorphosis - May 7, 2008
Pounding pavement, feeling strength the journey now begun
training for the race of my life a 26.2 mile run.
Feeling God in every step in every beat of my heart
I undertake this challenge as a new chapter of my life I start.
I ran around in circles carrying baggage by the ton,
destination was survival hardened shell let in no one.
Fear and worry doubts prevailed, adrenaline in my veins
a headless horseman running wild no one to take the reins.
Stopping in my tracks I froze no longer could I move -
clawing, fighting had to cease there was nothing more to prove.
God's grace touched like a magic wand, a softness and a glow
emerging from a troubled past my blood began to flow.
Loving teachers lit the way their love a healing balm -
focusing on who I am now brings a sense of calm.
Stretching every muscle feeling God in every cell
wholeness now a blessing out of prison - no more hell.
The race is still a year away each day my dream I see
mind, body, spirit tuning turning toward the Voice of Thee.
Flexing what had once been stiff to brace against the pain
old habits die and I'm reborn to write a new refrain.