Five Months From Today

Bermuda Triangle Challenge posted the above photo on social media along with the caption, "Back to school , Halloween , (U.S.) Thanksgiving , the festive winter holidays , and New Years …all leading up to the main event: the 2024 Chubb Bermuda Triangle Challenge.

If you’re not already on the participant list, there’s still time to register and secure your spot at the starting line."

 

It's exhilarating to think that 5 months from today, Team McManus will be having another adventure in Paradise doing the Bermuda Triangle Challenge 10K Walk. Ever since Tom and Ruth Anne did the 10K together in 2020, Ruth Anne has wanted me to join them. Earlier this year, she said how sad she felt that we weren't training for an event together. When she discovered there were direct flights to Bermuda in January and that the race weekend hotel rates were extremely reasonable, she convinced me that Team McManus needed another race-cation after a 4 year hiatus due to COVID and no direct flights last year.

I've missed Ruth Anne on our training runs while she is being treated for a flair of PANS at St. Elizabeth's Medical Center. Tom and I dedicate our miles to her and uphold her in our prayers. At the end of every training run, we visualize how it's going to feel to cross the finish line as Team McManus.

Four and a half miles was on the training plan. Tom and I debated, as we always do early Saturday morning, about where we were going to run. We figured that twice around the Reservoir at Chestnut Hill running to and from home would be 4.5 miles.

It was another glorious summer day although it would have behooved us to have gotten an earlier start. The day heated up quickly! We always take time to savor nature's splendor that included a magnificent bird showing off its wing span. Even though Ruth Anne wasn't physically with us, we kept up the tradition of taking a selfie on the run that she started when we trained for Bermuda Race Weekends.

As we were coming around the second loop, we realized that we hadn't accurately calculated the miles. I shifted into my mental training mode letting my body know that whatever the distance turned out to be, we would be just fine. As we came up the hill to the 'finish' line my legs were tired but I knew I could have gone an extra 1.6 miles to do the 10K. If you do the math, you'll know that we did 4.66 miles. I am extremely pleased with my 20:00 and change pace that is going to bring me into the finisher's chute way before the finish line closes in two and a half hours.

 

I still have several months to train to build fitness, endurance, strength and work on speed using fartleks and tempo runs after my body adapts to the longer distance. I recall that just a few years ago, I did three half marathons in three consecutive years. I am also a Boston Marathon finisher.

 

As I write this, it is late afternoon in Boston. Five months from today Team McManus will have crossed the finish line of the Bermuda Triangle Challenge 10K savoring all the amenities at the Grotto Bay Beach Resort deciding on where to have our celebratory brunch proudly wearing our bling. My hunch is that we will go to La Bouchee where we celebrated Tom and Ruth Anne's race in 2020.

It will be a magnificent celebration of healing of my comeback race after a setback with Post-Polio Syndrome secondary to the second COVID vaccine and of Ruth Anne's healing after a PANS-flair. I am so excited for Team McManus' triumphant return to Bermuda. Five months from today will be here before we know it!

 

From my heart to yours
In health and wellness,
Mary

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