C. Meggie Sullivan

Kurt Markus, Louise for FLAIR Magazine, Moab, Utah, 2004

When it comes to running, the devil is in the details. One devil to tackle and keep away is injury. Nine times out of ten, a  muscle in your body is going to react to your running regimen with a "hey, what the heck" S.O.S call. Keeping muscles calm and loose comes from your stretching regimen but also from what I like to call, "massage maintenance".

There are many massage resources to maintain a healthy, tension-free body. Meet my best friends: the tennis ball, the lacrosse ball, the PVC pipe, the foam roller, "The Stick", and my newest favorite, the "Trigger Point".

In order of least pressure to highest/specific pressure...

1. The Firm Black Foam Roller

You can use this puppy anywhere. My favorite use is to bring it perpendicular to my back and roll it along my spine. Your body will thank you with a couple of audible cracks. The foam roller is an excellent tool for a soft to medium release of your ITB band. Focus on the tender spots by leaving the roller static for 30 seconds. Then release up and down from below your hip bone to above your knee. Never roll out on a joint (ie: knee cap). It can be used along your calves, hamstrings, glutes, and quads with a similar idea.

The woods are lovely dark and deep, and I have miles and miles to go before I sleep -- Robert Frost.

"You can start running again".... she said. The four magic words I'd been waiting to hear over the past ten months since knee surgery.

A mile out. A mile back. I was met with this sight.

Ugh! The word makes my shoulders tense. After starting this running journal, my knees were hurting, again. I couldn't figure it out. It had been almost six years of this chronic knee pain without any concrete answers, except for "degeneration". Which leaves room for endless amounts of physical therapy and little visions of a finish line. Rheumatory arthritis had even come into question.

I scheduled my second MRI, made an appointment to see a new doctor at Mass General, and bam, I found myself sitting on the ever-so-comforting doctor's table going over the MRI sheets. Mom even made the trip up.
Dr. Bert Zarins instantly pointed and said "Yes so here...", I knew what that meant and tears rushed down my face. With a tear on the patella tendon, it was clear. It was big. It needed, surgery.

Here I am now though, sitting at my desk looking out at a beautiful spring day in Boston. In retrospect, the past six weeks have been one of the hardest processes I've had to endure.  However, everyday gets better. Just two days ago I hopped on the bike and slowly did revolutions. Now, I'm just incredibly excited just to see what I can do tomorrow.

For those of you who are thinking about surgery or perhaps about to face it, I have a couple of tips. I also think that these can be applied to any emotional trial you are facing in life. I truly hope they help!


1. Patience- If it's never been a friend of yours, it will now become your only foundation. From patience stems anything well worth the time.  Keep calm and confident on a day-to-day basis. The first few weeks, gather up your favorite books or DVDs and soak in the stay-cation, take up a new hobby (ie. painting,  I attempted). When those moments of doubt sink into your mind think of the word, anticipation for a better tomorrow keeps the pulse moving.

2. Faith - Whatever you believe in, God, Jesus, the universe, Buddha, whatever principles you have, direct them towards you. You now more than ever must believe in yourself. I've never liked Lance Armstrong but I once heard him say, "God is me". And, he had a point. When you are undergoing the biggest trials in your life, you only have you to knock you over, and you to bring yourself up. Faith is one of the biggest players in progress.

3. Discipline- Once you start physical therapy, you will undergo a very different association with pain. Pain is your friend. (Bad pain, and you know what that feels like, isn't). You are truly welcoming a new part of the body, a new member. Be kind to it as it finds its place and strength once again, but also know it needs to be tested. You are training a new tool to be good at its job. The first few weeks of physical therapy will be the hardest, but the rewards are twofold. Keep at the work your physical therapist gives you every couple of hours and you will find yourself passing through recovery with ease.

4. Friends and Family- They will be your number one support. Reach out to them, tell them what you need, don't be afraid to be weak. The love of others is crucial to healing and although you may feel vulnerable, you'll be stronger in the end for what they can offer. Every week, I walk with my former teammate from Boston College, she even holds my hand as I try to perfect the simple "heel, toe".  And upon leaving the surgical room, I received this thoughtful card "signed" by the world's best athletes who have all received surgery and returned back to their sport better than previously. Humor is always  the best healing prescription....

If you run from Cambridge to downtown Boston at an average of 8:45/ mile pace but start your first mile off at 7:30 and end your last mile at 9:00 minute pace what is your rate of deceleration?

I don't know but I know that it feels like shit.


Runners, athletes, and yes, you, can be a great physicist. The understanding of our body's limits under the constrains of time, distance, and space is something that great athletes have mastered.  It's called an internal clock - a precise understanding, based upon a bodily awareness of pace -- what your body and muscles feel, how you're mentally feeling, and what you can expect and visualize happening at any given moment in the future. Checking in, with you.

We can learn what it feels like to cue our bodies to accelerate and decelerate at certain points in time -- in response to a plan devised by our internal clock. Humans can be machines too, just by finding that proper communication between mind and body.

The first way to go about perfecting your internal clock at first is by slowing down. We all don't do this, even on a day- to- day basis. We forget to breath, we forget to keep it all in perspective, we forget to appreciate the details. We forget to smile. Taking a step back, savoring life, is a method of living that people like the Dalai Lama are excellent at. Then, when the moment calls for you to accelerate, you know how to turn it on.

Truly, I mean this in the sense that properly pacing yourself and feeling that pace  will allow you to know what  an internal clock is. So start at a restful state, fully understand that feeling, then midfully working up to a 7:00 pace, or whatever your rock-n-roll pace is that brings that heart rate up, and fully be present in that feeling - it may be pain - but at least you know. This is called body awareness. 

Let's apply this to other parts of your life as a metaphor --  when you're spin instructor  says, this should feel like a "10", and you say "what the f**?" - after practicing body awareness you'll know what a 10 feels like. The next time you freak out when your boss says, "I need this by the end of the day",  start at a relaxed 'pace' (deep breaths and some good music, chipping away steadily), then maybe you have to work a little quicker because it's 3pm and your project isn't done, and then it's the last ten minutes of the day and you realize you have to hammer down to get it done. Well, if you started at a ten, it probably would have been a very stressful experience, working away so quickly that you forget about the quality of your job, and it comes out messy.

Starting at a pace that you know you cannot uphold, only leads to deceleration, which will only lead to a lesser result. It's quality over... ..mis-quantification... 

The lessons of running do apply to the greater universe. Know thyself, know your clock, know what easy and hard means. Slow down, when you get the gut feeling, because it's always nice to thank yourself..

The Earth says hello.

 Starting off a morning right can seem out of reach. But what's better? Taking some time for yourself to make sure you've solidified a sunny beginning to your day or rolling out of bed with questionable hygiene? A little preparation with a mind and body connection in your first waking moments for just five minutes can allow your morning's happy release trickle into the rest of your day and evening.

How to start...

1. A glass of water or two. Your body has been dormant for a solid amount of time. Like a plant, our muscles and system need the most basic necessities upon waking. Pouring yourself a cold glass will wake it up and hydrate all those parched internal 'roots' .  Be aware of the feeling, as practicing mindful food and drink consumption can go a long way throughout your day.

2. Open up the curtains. Natural light is our best coffee. Checking out the scene outside gets me excited for a world beyond my room. If you need coffee, start off with a cup that has purpose (if you want to really get at it). Equal Exchange not only tastes rich and smooth, but it helps small farmer co-ops all over the world, in places where the infrastructure needs our help most. But let's be real, sometimes, the only coffee I can grab is on the go, and at the mercy of one of these lovely peeps.  Dammit.




3. A soundtrack and your mat. Gather up some tunes that allow you to slowly sink in to your day and breathe deeply. This morning I started off with Bodies of Water, RZA ("Grits"), Lady of the Sunshine, and Bonobo. I grab my foam roller and sometimes a tennis ball --  rolling my back, my illotibial band (the tendon that extends from the side of your knee to your hip), my quads, and underneath my shoulders. When you reach a spot that feels tight stop and roll very slightly. Deep breaths when stretching and practicing self massage allow our red-blood cells and oxygen to fill and feed the space that need it most, so focus on the audibility of your breath (from your belly up).


4. Create a stretching 'playlist'. Have some favorite stretches? Go through a song who's inherent musical cues, cue you to stretch and play with what you're hearing. It's a great sense- meets- body practice and will leave you feeling limber for your day. Some examples are a downward dog, a split (at your own level), some lunge/ warrior ones (what would Mick Jagger do?), child's pose, and shoulder stretching (again, at your own level).


5.  The day's at your feet. Grab some breakfast and perhaps read up on what's going on in the world beyond you.