TGFR - Thank God For Running

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The weather gods were kind to us on Monday morning. Despite what seems like never ending days of rain (although Saturday there was one day of sunshine) and cold weather, there was no rain. Despite the chill in the air, I refused to wear long running pants one more day and donned my capris. I did, however, wear a long sleeve shirt and a pullover running top.

We did a core work up before heading out the door. We wanted to switch up our running route and were planning on a run around the small Reservoir on Route 9. As we ran down the hill to the Reservoir there was fencing and what seemed like an obstacle course of metal plates on the sidewalk to hold the fence in place. The entrance to the Reservoir was closed and we tried to find another entrance but it was fenced off all the way around with the buzzing of saws and the sight of heavy machinery.

"What should we do now?" I asked Tom.

We were looking forward to a flat run after Saturday's Heartbreak Hill run but it was not meant to be.

We opted to go straight down Lee Street toward the Brookline Country Club which is notorious for its rolling hills.

Since we had added on to our mileage at the beginning of our run as we do when we are running twice around the Reservoir to get to a 5K, we knew we'd have to guesstimate our mileage with Nike+. I suggested we take the road that the Country Club is on which is relatively flat. We were treated to a beautiful retreat in nature:


There wasn't a car on the road.

We took deep breaths and drank in the beauty and serenity that surrounded us.

On Sunday night, we received a call from the Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital ER about our daughter. Three months to the date from when she was discharged from her last hospitalization (which was her 7th in a year!) she presented to the ER again. Fortunately it wasn't life threatening at that moment but the stress of 5 years of bearing witness to our daughter's functional decline as a result of severe psychiatric illness, is incredibly wearing. We are learning how to be better at caring for ourselves as I wrote about in Mental Health Awareness Month: Caring for the Caregiver.

We used the time on our run, unplugged, to debrief and express our feelings about what is happening with our daughter. We also celebrated our son who is taking over a store, "The Berry Patch" in Stephentown New York with his partner Michelle and continuing to create success and abundance in his life. We celebrated the strength of our marriage having weathered the storms with our daughter that, at times, could have easily caused a breakdown and break up.

It's always an awesome experience to feel a chill in the air and sweat in the small of my back.

By the time the run was over, we'd left the stress of Sunday's crisis out on the road and were ready to begin a new day and a new week.

As I savored my simple yet oh so delicious breakfast, I took a deep sigh of gratitude and said out loud, "Thank God For Running!"

From my heart to yours
In Health and Wellness,
Mary

Be sure to visit my website at www.marymcmanus.com

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