"Would you like a ride to your room?" the Bellman at the Grotto Bay asked us when we arrived for Bermuda Marathon Weekend last Thursday.
"No we'd rather walk," Tom and I agreed given the sunshine and 70 degree temperature; quite the contrast from the 20 degree weather we left in Boston.
When I got to the top of the hills, I was out of breath.
"Oh no," I thought to myself. "Am I out of shape?"
The answer was no...I hadn't done hill training since we trained for Bermuda Marathon Weekend 2018. I have been working out consistently 5 days a week but hill training was not part of my workouts.
Occasionally we would take a ride up the hills to Room 732 but most of the time, we hiked up the hills and we were treated to magnificent views:
Along with spectacular sunrises, sunsets and mesmerizing blue water, we were treated to the sounds of the morning:
With each hill we climbed to and from our room, to the pool and beach and the hill to The Swizzle Inn, I noticed that I felt stronger. When we went into Hamilton for Bib Pick Up on Friday evening, we made our traditional stop at Miles Market. There is a hill from Miles Market to Front Street that I used to struggle with but I was able to negotiate it with ease.
I embraced the challenge of the hills that at times included stairs. I was in awe of my strength and balance as I used positive self-talk to remind myself how I am healed, healthy, whole and strong in the wake of paralytic polio and trauma as a child. Each evening I'd ask Tom how many miles we walked according to his FitBit. We walked between 4-6 miles every day - with hills!
I was a little nervous about leaving behind my usual workout routine but I knew that the body responds well to changing things up from time to time. I felt wonderful even though I had no rest or recovery days and swam, hiked, walked and experienced life on the hills.
The sunrises, the sunsets, the views, the sights, sounds and scents were breathtakingly beautiful. Life happens on the hills especially on the hills in Bermuda!
To your health and wellness
From my heart to yours
Mary
My healing journey using the power of visualization is featured in David R. Hamilton's book, "How Your Mind Can Heal Your Body-Anniversary Edition." It's available on Amazon.
Be sure to visit my website by following this link.
My books are available on Amazon.
Feel the Heal: An Anthology of Poems to Heal Your Life
Coming Home: A Memoir of Healing Hope and Possibility that chronicles the first 7 years of my healing journey:
Going the Distance: The Power of Endurance (With a Foreword by Jacqueline Hansen):
***Coming Soon - The Adventures of Runnergirl 1953***
“The Adventures of Runnergirl 1953” takes you on Mary McManus’ healing odyssey from a wheelchair to the finish line of the 2009 Boston Marathon and beyond. After the diagnosis of Post-Polio Syndrome in December 2006, Mary got still and asked for Divine Guidance tapping into the powerful connection she experienced to the Divine from an early age. She harnessed the power of her mind to heal her body, feverishly writing poetry in which she imagined herself healthy, whole and free from the shackles of her youth. Mary’s quest to heal her life led her to the sport of running. Her story is one that will leave you cheering for the underdog, discovering the meaning of different ability and experiencing the stunning view from the back of the pack of a race. You will have the privilege of bearing witness to how Mary overcame every challenge that life presented to her. The sport of running provides the backdrop for her journey of transformation from a survivor of childhood paralytic polio and severe trauma at the hands of family members to a woman who embodies faith, grace under fire, courage, determination, endurance and resilience. Running became a way of life for Mary that tested her mettle while forging friendships to last a lifetime. As you’ll discover in “The Adventures of Runnergirl 1953” nothing, not even a serious knee injury in December of 2014 could stop her on the roads or in her life.
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