On November 3rd 2019, Molly Caughlan completed the New York City Marathon for the very first time! We at Beyond Basics are so proud and overjoyed for her! She ran to raise money for multiple sclerosis research. Read her last update before the big race, here!
I sit here writing this blog with just 6 days left to go before the big race. I’ve been tapering down milage, taking time to rest, stretch, and strengthen. The forecast, fingers crossed, is looking very ideal with highs in the mid 50s and looking like sunshine all day. I’m nervous, excited, and feeling confident that I’m going to cross that finish line.
Since my last blog, I’ve hit just a few bumps in the road with my training. In September right before a critical long run (my first 18 mile run), I had an acute onset of posterior tibialis tendonitis that made it difficult to even walk on. I was devastated and had to hold on running any distance all together. I was feeling incredibly anxious because of how close I was getting to the big day and at the thought of skipping such an important training notch. While I was healing, I did a Hot Vinyasa class that I hadn’t done in a while that help me hit a reset button and set up a strategy to manage these symptoms. I took a whole week off from running and had two sessions with Tina as well as doing some self treatment with modalities (ice/heat). I also had an acupuncture treatment with something called dry needling to my calves with a treatment for chi energy deficiency. With ALL of these treatments combined, the first run I did I was FLYING! I had so much energy and was going at such a fast pace that I shaved a few minutes off of my traditional 5 mile run. Things have been looking up since that week in September and looking back now, resting was the most important treatment I could have done.
As part of my training, I ran the New York Road Runner’s Brooklyn Half Marathon October 19 and had such an amazing time. The end of the race was in Prospect Park, which is essentially my back yard and where I’ve been doing a lot of my training. This helped me to finish strong and break my own personal record for a half marathon with a time of 2:07.
As the days wind down, I’m looking forward to having some of my family members come visit just so they can support me on Sunday. I’ll have support from my local friends on the sidelines and, with the help of modern technology, will have the spiritual support from friends across the country. I’m eager to see all of the other anonymous supporters with their signs and I’m excited to have all of this energy boost me across the finish line.
Last but not least, I must say that I am still working on my $5000 fundraising goal and I’m 71% of the way there. I’m sponsored by an organization called Team Tisch MS that performs groundbreaking research to discover the cause of Multiple Sclerosis, understand disease mechanisms, optimize therapies, and repair the damage caused by MS, as well as offering patient access to the best and most advanced treatment possible. Support Team Tisch MS by donating to my fundraiser!
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Molly Caughlan PT, DPT
As we creep closer and closer towards marathon weekend, our very own Tina Cardenia PT, DPT, CFMT and Victoria LaManna (Vicky) PT, DPT, CLT, PRPC were kind enough to share their stories about preparing for the 2018 New York City Marathon. Vicky will be running her first marathon on November 4th, 2018 in order to raise money for Multiple Sclerosis Research. Tina was gracious enough to volunteer her expertise in orthopedic physical therapy to help Vicky have the best run possible for a great cause. If you are interested in donating to support MS research, please donate 
She first tested my core strength, checked hip mobility and strength, as well as spine and rib cage mobility. All areas that are important for efficient running. Tina found that I had poor core-first responses to outside forces, meaning that every time my foot hit the ground while running, my core was not firing to connect my lower extremities to my trunk. This could definitely be why I was experiencing right low back pain with running, and it could actually lead to further injury and result in not being able to RUN at all! Tina also found limitations in my breathing, rib cage, and thoracic mobility. Other than back pain, my first main complaint a few weeks into training was that I could not breathe. While you could chalk that up to poor conditioning, it was something that was felt immediately in runs – as if I just did not have the capacity to take a breath in. This is where we started our treatment – rib cage and thoracic spine mobility.
Vicky’s limitation with trunk rotation correlated to one of her complaints of having difficulty breathing during her runs. It seemed as though she was only able to get a good breath through only one side of her body. Upon examination, I found that she was limited into rib cage expansion especially on the right side. After some rib mobilization and breathing inhalation retraining and working thoracic spine rotation Victoria was able to rotate more symmetrically and reported an increased ease of breath with running.
ALSO…. physical therapy definitely payed off. I shaved over 17 minutes my last NYC marathon in 2013, going from a time of 4 hours 0 minutes and 4 seconds, to 3 hours 43 minutes and 2 seconds. Not only was it a personal record for the course, but it was 8 minutes faster than my previous all time best at Sugarloaf in 2011.
I had an amazing, and thank goodness a positive spin during and after my talk at the TISCH Multiple Sclerosis Patient Summit on Sunday. Thank you to Dr. Sadiq, Dr. Kanter, Dr. Williams and Pamela Levin for the invitation to share my expertise. I was so honored and felt blessed to be asked to speak at this conference. There were 1,200 people registered…..no pressure! And when I walked in prior to my talk, I saw the below photos on three HUGE screens! Again, no pressure. I practiced my breathing and my confidence building. 
