"Are you ready?"
I was asked this question several times leading up to toeing the line at my first 50-mile ultramarathon this past October. I usually responded with a grin and some version of "I hope so!" But a few times, I said aloud what was floating around in my mind: "I don't feel any different than I did a year ago. I don't feel like someone who can run 50 miles."
I started working with Greg almost 10 years ago. I had been rear-ended on the highway and was recovering from shoulder surgery. My shoulder was the only injury that required surgical repair, but I had several other injuries and was in chronic pain. Of all the medical care I was receiving, my sessions with Greg made the most impact. Greg treated me like a whole person who just wanted to sleep, move, and feel better. I walked out of my physical therapy appointments with new and empowering skills. Rather than a sterile environment where I received an SI joint injection and left hoping I would feel better for a few months, Greg taught me how to get a hiking pack to my shoulders without flaring my SI joint and provided strategies for improving my mobility and treating pain at home.
My recovery from surgery was extremely frustrating. It seemed slow and felt like I was never going to have pain-free movement again. Greg’s approach wasn’t to limit the activities I did, but to help me build confidence. This was my first lesson about the power of the mind. Frustrated and sick of being afraid, I signed up for CrossFit and started learning to rock climb. I wasn’t an athlete growing up, and until this point, my physical activity was defined by a love of hiking and the occasional gym workout. Without really noticing, my PT sessions shifted from getting through the day to increasing my capacity for sport and learning to trust myself.
This is where my transformation happened. I learned to do it scared, but do it, nonetheless. I traveled for a temporary assignment in Alaska and then spent a couple of seasons in Maine doing forestry and building trails. I climbed and backpacked in the wilderness solo, continuing to build confidence and resilience. As I loaded up my pack for three days of trekking or carried saws and other gear into the backcountry, I occasionally smiled at the thought of the person who got hurt putting on a day pack a couple of years prior.
My Maine adventuring coincided with the Pandemic, so I dabbled in running, as many did then. When I scheduled a session with Greg after being away for a while, it was because I decided to run a half-marathon and found out that running a lot is hard. My sessions became about calming down irritated bits (posterior tibialis!), building strength to meet new demands, troubleshooting gait patterns, etc. The following year, I decided it was time to hit the trails and signed up for a 30-mile trail ultra, and the next year, a road marathon. In 2025, I completed a road marathon, a trail 50k, and a 50-mile trail ultramarathon. I can’t count the number of events I have participated in over the last several years. I am not the strongest in the gym or an elite endurance athlete. I am a middle-aged professional ecologist who hikes for miles with gear on hot summer days, a graduate student, a foster parent, and a cat mom who learned that the body goes where the mind leads.
As it turned out, I can run 50 miles. My physical health has greatly benefited from the practices Greg and his team use: orthopedic needling, adjustments, and, most importantly, patient education. But even more impactful was the interest Greg took in my goals and the belief in myself that he helped foster. That combination gave me the confidence to reach further than I ever thought possible.
I’ll close with one of my favorite race-day mantras: Per aspera ad astra—through hardships to the stars.
