Ryan used every technique in his chiropractic bag of healing tools to get me back on the roads running again. He recommended exercises on a Theraband stabilizer:
and gave me exercises to grow a new gastroc muscle. Yes you read that correctly grow.a.new.gastroc.muscle. I gave him the results of my MRI which showed an atrophied gastroc muscle with fatty infiltrate. That's not a judgment, just a statement of what appeared to the radiologist on the MRI. When I met with the post polio doc to go over the results he told me that it's been that way since I contracted polio and there was nothing we could do about it. After getting those results I thought to myself, dang, it is a bloody miracle that I ran the 2009 Boston Marathon.
Ryan and I poured over Dr. Joe Dispenza's You Are the Placebo book and Dr. Joe's story inspired me to realize there are no limits to healing once we connect with our innate Divine Intelligence and surround ourselves with people who believe as we do. Ryan prescribed core exercises (how did I happen upon a chiropractor who is also a personal trainer and taught Boot Camp classes - there are no accidents) and while he adjusted me every other week, I'd go in for weekly tapings as I ventured out on the roads again. When I'd experience post run knee pain he suggested icing before and after every run; a practice I continue today along with increasing the challenge for all the exercises he prescribed for me. We decided that twice/week running and the other days cross training in the pool and/or strength training would be the perfect balanced training schedule for me.
I knew I wanted to go the distance again but there were naysayers I had to fire from my life first. Once I said yes and made a firm commitment to setting goals not limits, I put out the call to the Universe for a new healer to partner with me. The Universe answered the call with Dr. Ryan J. Means, a healer chiropractor!
It took a lot of sweat, a little bit of blood (who remembers that splat moment during our 6.5 miler?)
and a lot of tears to get me to the finish line of the Bermuda Half Marathon...but what a sweet journey of transformation from where I was in early 2015.
The journey continues as I continue to excavate the athlete within me; the athlete who was waiting to be born ever since I contracted paralytic polio at the age of 5 years old. I grow stronger, freer and more determined with each training run and each workout.
And now I inspire others...
It's amazing yet humbling for people to tell me how much I inspire them or that they've told someone about me who believes they could not do something and it inspires them to get off the couch and do something.
And that makes it all worthwhile - the blood, sweat and tears; the constant work to build strength and to heal the past. I am so blessed to have an amazing team with Dr. Ryan, a phenomenal partner on and off the roads with my bestie Tom and all of you - my village and readers whose support fuels my journey to achieve the very best I can be.
To your health and wellness,
Mary
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