Tom and I had an amazing vacation in Bermuda; a much needed respite from the stress of caregiving for our daughter who struggles with her mental health. We returned on Monday to a text she sent to us that she was in the ER and then transferred to the Hospital for Behavioral Medicine in Worcester. It was a stressful week receiving phone calls about her status and by Saturday I needed to release the stress through my run.
In one month, Tom and I will be running the Harvard Pilgrim Finish at the 50 5K. Tom is also training for the Falmouth Road Race and is raising money for The Joseph Middlemiss Big Heart Foundation. To ensure that Tom gets in his training runs, we warm up together and then he runs at his pace in the opposite direction from how I run so we take our water stops together. When we run together, he is really good about pacing me but when we don't run together, it's up to me to pace myself.
On Saturday, I pushed myself to my limit and maybe a little beyond my limit. It was hot and I ran my 2nd mile at one of my fastest paces in a very long time. Because Finish at the 50 involves the ramps at Gillette Stadium, I incorporated a long downhill, one that we used for hill repeats while training for the 2009 Boston Marathon, into my run.
By the end of my 5K run, my legs were like jelly but I knew I left nothing on the roads. I hydrated and cooled off; stretched and waited for Tom to finish his run so we could take our selfie and enjoy this photo from the run:
I trusted in my body's capacity to recover with ease (a mantra I instituted when I trained for 3 consecutive Bermuda Half Marathons after a serious knee injury in December of 2014). We relaxed for the rest of the day.
On Sunday we did our strength training workout in our home gym and this morning we got up at 5:45 to go on our run.
What a treat to have the sunlight stream through the windows at 5:45am!
While Saturday's run was focused on time, releasing tension and training my body, this morning's run was for my soul.
I dialed my pace way back and focused on the sound of the lapping waves of the Reservoir, the call of the birds and seeing the ducks, geese and turtles as I gently made my way through my 5K.
I soaked up the sunshine and breathed deeply as the gentle breeze with cool, clean air touched my skin. It was quite a literal and metaphorical contrast to the heat of Saturday's run!
My soul was satisfied with this morning's early run. I can feel that my body is still recovering from Saturday's run, Sunday's strength training work out and a lot of yard work. The soreness reminds me that I am strong and healed from the effects of childhood paralytic polio and trauma. As any and every runner knows, it is vital to balance out hard and easy work outs. While every run provides benefit for the mind, body and soul,
there are some runs primarily for the body and some runs primarily for the soul.
From my heart to yours
In Health and Wellness,
Mary
Be sure to visit my website at www.marymcmanus.com
Hear my interview with Kendra Petrone on Magic 106.7's Exceptional Women Show by following this link
My books are available on Amazon and at Paper Fiesta in Natick on Mile 10 of the Boston Marathon route. Proceeds of book sales for May through July are going to Tom McManus's Falmouth Road Race run for the Joseph Middlemiss Big Heart Foundation. You can also make a direct donation by following this link.
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