The beginning of my bio and book description for "Going the Distance: The Power of Endurance" states:
Mary McManus has known challenges since she was five years old beginning with contracting paralytic polio followed by nine years of enduring violence at the hands of family members. Those early challenges helped Mary to grow into the woman that she is today and prepared her to take on the challenge of post polio syndrome, a progressive neuromuscular disease. Mary was diagnosed in December 2006 when she was at the height of her award winning career as a social worker at the Department of Veterans Affairs. As Mary had done when faced with life’s trials and tribulations, she got still and asked for Divine Guidance. It came through her divining rod of healing, her pen, as poetry poured forth from her soul. She took a leap of faith leaving her career just three years shy of when she was eligible to retire to heal her life. The first poem she wrote, “Running the Race,” foreshadowed her 2009 Boston Marathon run as a mobility impaired runner. Mary feverishly wrote poetry asking the question, ‘How will I ever reclaim my life?’ and yearning for a healer that would partner with her to help her live her life and run unencumbered and free. Eight years after beginning her quest to heal the effects of paralytic polio and trauma, Mary was led to a chiropractor and muscular therapist who answered the call she put out to the Universe in her poetry.
Life is filled with challenges and as Vince Lombardi and Rocky like to say:
It takes determination, and mental toughness to go the distance on the roads and in life.
As with any new challenge, there are often doubts and fears especially at the end of a 5 day training cycle where I feel tired and sore from the challenges of training and the inevitable challenges that life presents.
Training for an endurance event is 90% mental and the other 10% is in your head!
Part of me was having second thoughts about whether or not to run a third consecutive Bermuda Half Marathon. I've never been one to shy away from challenges. The seeds of determination and mental toughness were planted early in my life and now they are bearing fruit.
I am so blessed to have so many wonderful gardeners who are helping me to reap the harvest of my life.
One more week at 5 miles and then Team McManus will begin to slowly build miles on the road to the Bermuda Half Marathon.
Will I go the distance again? Hell yes because nothing can stop me now.
To going the distance with strength and courage!
~Mary
Be sure to visit my website by following this link.
My books are available on Amazon.
Feel the Heal: An Anthology of Poems to Heal Your Life
Coming Home: A Memoir of Healing Hope and Possibility that chronicles the first 7 years of my healing journey:
And my latest and greatest book - Going the Distance: The Power of Endurance (With a Foreword by Jacqueline Hansen):
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