In this first week of the month dedicated to Our Blessed Mother, we celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, by which the Church commemorates two events. The first occurred in the Thirteenth Century, when Our Lady appeared to Saint Dominic in a vision, and gave him the rosary as a tool for his ministry. The second was when Pope Pius V established this feast on the anniversary of a naval victory achieved by Christian fleets (known as the Holy League). At a critical juncture, the Pope called upon Christians everywhere to pray the rosary for a favorable outcome in battle on the Mediterranean Sea. This feast, which also honors Our Lady under her title, Our Lady of Victory, is really a celebration of Christian unity.

We’re also entering into the peak of autumn in New England—and prime running season.

Fittingly, I feel most rhythmically in stride on a crisp, early fall morning. And as I shared before, at some point during my runs, I’m praying the rosary: clicking off Hail Mary’s on my fingers.

Last night, I shared with our Cathletes (our students who are both Catholics and athletes) how praying the rosary became associated with my running. Although I first learned how to pray the rosary from the Sisters of Mercy at Saint James School in Manchester – who also taught us how to make our own set of rosary beads – it was my mother who really inspired my sister and I to pray it. During the summer before we entered high school, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. At that time, feeling that she could use all the help she could get, in addition to attending daily Mass with Fr. Joe Donnelly (priest emeritus here at STM who was then pastor of our local parish), she started praying to the saints as well as praying the Divine Mercy and the rosary. We prayed these devotions with and for her during that time. Thankfully, after a double mastectomy, Mom was free of cancer, and has remained cancer free to this day. (October is also Breast Cancer Awareness Month – so when I’m praying the Rosary these days, I’m thinking of the countless victims and survivors, and the 1 in 8 U.S. women who will develop invasive breast cancer in the course of her lifetime).

As I prayed it with my mother and sister, the rosary also began to weave itself into my pre-race preparation in high school. On the eve of big races, I’d sit with my legs crossed on the floor of my bedroom, the darkness lit only by a couple of votive candles, which I placed on a wooden box. Upon the box also sat my racing flats. I sprinkled Holy Water on the shoes, prayed for the intercession of St.s Sebastian, Francis of Assisi, Anthony of Padua and a few others whose medals I carried on a safety pin fastened to the inside waist band of my racing shorts. I then prayed the Divine Mercy and the rosary – meditating on the Sorrowful Mysteries (particularly the way of the Cross) – while visualizing the race, the course, the terrain, the weather conditions. As I clicked off Hail Mary’s, I thought about how I would feel at key points in the race; how I would navigate obstacles and surprises; and how I would respond to the inevitable fatigue or pain that would come at the end. I prayed that I would do my job, for myself, for my team and for my coach. I prayed that I would be able to walk off the course knowing that I gave everything, and ultimately, that I would glorify God through the gift that God gave me in being a runner.

Although I dropped that pre-race ritual by the time I went to college, praying the rosary the night before, or the morning of, a big race still continues for me. And to this day, when I’m running alone, I’m praying the rosary. I’ll be praying it this Sunday night and on Monday, over the course of the 26.2 mile run from Hopkinton to Boston Common, I’ll be clicking off those Hail Mary’s on my fingers.