Going the Distance: 9.5 Miles in the Bank of Bermuda..I wonder what normal people do on a Saturday morning?

When I woke up yesterday morning, a part of me did not want to begin another 5 day training cycle and go out and run 9.5 miles. As I was looking for something to inspire me, I found this:



What do so called normal people do on a Saturday morning? I went from experiencing chronic illness, pain and fatigue to training for the Boston Marathon in 2009. Ever since then, running and training and working so hard to achieve healing, health and wellness has been a part of my life.

I can't imagine a Saturday without getting out for a run.

Tom and I couldn't quite figure out where we wanted to run yesterday. We went through various routes and locations and finally settled on heading out the door, and doing an out and back route going along the Boston Marathon route. It was the same route we did last year for my first 10 mile run since having run the 2009 Boston Marathon. We thought we might make it to the finish line but our halfway point for 9.5 took us just shy of the finish line. We did get to take that left on Hereford and right on Boylston though.

When I looked at our Nike+ for the run, our elevation ascent was 420 feet!

Our pace was around a 17:30 on the hills! For 9.5 miles! That accounts for these smiles along with knowing that we deposited another 9.5 miles in the Bank of Bermuda. I felt I could have gone the 3.6 miles needed to complete a half marathon yesterday.



I usually take an ice bath as part of my post run recovery but my low back was feeling very sore. I decided a warm Epsom Salts bath was in order. After my hot shower I let ice cold water run on my legs and hips.

I stretched and visualized and repeated my mantra, "My body recovers quickly and with ease from the rigors of training for the Bermuda Half Marathon."

When I woke up this morning my right knee was barking at me. I iced, stretched and after a few moments of panic, I reminded myself that there are going to be all sorts of sensations as I train to go 13.1 miles again. I waited until this afternoon to do my strength training to give my body a little extra time to recover from the run.

I felt surprisingly strong during my strength training work out with a renewed confidence that I am going to run my SECOND CONSECUTIVE Bermuda Half Marathon in 74 days.

It's the first time on my health and wellness journey that I am able to maintain positive momentum.

It's the first time that I can unequivocally say I am healing the effects of paralytic polio and violence.

What do normal people do on a Saturday morning? I wonder - I only know that you'll find me building miles and counting down to the Bermuda Half Marathon from now until January 13th!

To your health and wellness,
Mary

Going the Distance: The last time I was in New York...

was in December of 2009.

A dear friend messaged me on Facebook and said he was coming to the States and would be in New York over Thanksgiving weekend. Without missing a beat I said we could come meet him in New York City.

Tom and I tried to remember the last time we were in New York. It took some time to remember...It was for the End Polio Now concert in December of 2009; a fundraiser by Rotary International where Itzhak Perlman, a polio survivor performed with the NY Philharmonic.



I wrote a blog post, "Shoes," talking about the fact that, despite going to Lincoln Center, I was going to be wearing black tie polio shoes with an AFO, ankle foot arthosis.



Here's an excerpt from that blog:
When I trained for the Boston Marathon and did a lot of strength training, I was able to relinquish the AFO - as if the AFO was something to be relinquished. I realize now that I probably would have been a lot more comfortable running the Marathon in the AFO but old habits die hard. The 'polio' mentality was one of coming out of braces and orthotics as soon as possible and to lose any outward signs of having been affected by the polio virus. As Katherine Ott said in a video about "Polio:Forgotten But Not Gone" it was the AIDS of its day.

I could not shed my identity as a polio survivor and at that early part of my healing journey was not yet aware of how much my history of trauma was affecting my ability to find a steady path of health and wellness.

After 8 plus years of being on a healing quest, I was led to Dr. Ryan Means, a chiropractor healer who reminded me of the power of the mind to heal using the work of Dr. Joe Dispenza.

I am training for my second consecutive Bermuda Half Marathon.

I work out 5 days a week.

As I continue to imprint the healing work I did with Dr. Ryan and use meditation, the power of intention and effective action through training, the effects of paralytic polio and trauma are transformed.



The last time I was in New York I was constricted, living and embodying the effects of paralytic polio and trauma. We enjoyed the beautiful concert and I enjoyed being back in my hometown, New York City sampling what the City has to offer as best I could.

This year is going to be rather epic! We are planning to sight see on foot and take a horse drawn carriage ride through Central Park on Friday. We are staying in mid town near Times Square and see where our feet take us. We have tickets to see "The Front Page" on Saturday.

I am going to feel like Mary Tyler Moore (even though her show was set in Minneapolis)


Love is all around no need to waste it...you can have the Town why don't you take it...You're gonna make it after all!

Yes I am ...going the distance and 7 years later I am taking NYC by storm!

To your health and wellness!
~Mary

Going the Distance: We Shine with Nine - Miles in the Bank of Bermuda

With each training run for the Bermuda Half Marathon, I feel that I am conquering the world!

I was feeling sad about not going to Cape Cod for the weekend of the Marathon this year so Team McManus created our own staycation this weekend. We had glorious weather for our training run. I was having a hard time getting myself together. Things with our daughter's psychiatric condition had been rapidly deteriorating and Tom said, "Come on...Let's head over to Southie." There are no excuses for me to not train.

I am so glad he did! We started at M Street, ran to Castle Island and looped around the Castle. We ran around Pleasure Bay and out to beyond U Mass Boston and the JFK Library. I remembered how different this year's run felt from last year when I was still finding the endurance runner within me. Here is Team McManus with a shine after our divine 9 miles:



It feels incredible to be training again for the Bermuda Half Marathon. What makes the journey even sweeter is that Nicole, one of my dear runner friends in cyberspace is training for the Houston Marathon again that takes place on the same day as Bermuda. Houston was her first Marathon and we are on the same training cycle again supporting each other while we relish training for these races the 2nd time around.

After our training run we had lunch, went into the pool at our Health Club to stretch and recover from the run and I took a hot shower with an ice cold water flush.

Yesterday Tom and I went for retail therapy. I must admit that I like the way I look and feel in clothes now. Shopping used to be such drudgery for me - especially for dress shoes and clothes other than running gear. It was a dreary rainy day so it was perfect weather to head to the mall. I tried on one suit and ordinarily I would settle but not yesterday. I found a fabulous Calvin Klein suit on sale with a gorgeous sleeveless top to wear underneath it. Shoe shopping was at first a little frustrating and then I said, "I find the shoes that I need with ease." I found these adorable Lucky Brand flats that reminded me of the Capezio ballet shoes I wore before I contracted paralytic polio.

We had to go out Route 9 West in order to turn around to come back into Boston. We passed by Spaulding Rehab's International Rehab Center for Polio and Post Polio where, 10 years ago, I was told to prepare to spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair, possibly needing a feeding tube, definitely needing a sleep apnea machine and facing a grim prognosis.

Instead I was heading home after having 9 miles in the Bank of Bermuda on Saturday, having strength trained Sunday morning and coming home with a new outfit and new shoes to shine the way I was always meant to shine!

To your health and wellness!
Mary