The miles are building and so is the soreness. When the alarm went off at 6:30 this morning I reminded myself that we have 10 miles on tap for Saturday's long run on the road to Bermuda Marathon Weekend. Strength training is vital to preventing injuries and keeping the mindset sharp for going the distance.
Team McManus had an energizing 30 minute strength training workout. Training together boosts my energy and confidence. Tom mirrored me as we did the upper body strength training circuit. Ahhh the power of mirror neurons to help my muscles and nerves fire up creating new neuromuscular pathways with each workout.
We find ways to make the workout fun while acknowledging the pain, the sweat and the trembling that accompanies training to go the distance.
This morning on Facebook I just "happened" to see this article about chronic fatigue syndrome. I wanted to throttle my computer as I read how the CDC is reversing its advice about exercise and psychotherapy for those who suffer with chronic fatigue syndrome.
Almost 11 years ago this December I was told that if I use it I would lose it. I was told a cautionary tale about managing the symptoms of Post Polio Syndrome, a progressive neuromuscular disease. Conserve your energy. You have a limited number of nerve cells available to you because contracting the polio virus at the age of 5 wiped out your nerve cells and they continue to die off as you age...It's only going to get worse unless of course, as was implied, you stop living your life and live in fear of the progression of your symptoms.
They told me that I needed to quit my job if there was any hope of stabilizing the symptoms where they were. I was an award winning social worker at the VA just 3 years shy of retirement. I knew I was at a crossroads in my life and had to do something radically different if I were going to have any quality of life.
I asked for Divine Guidance, and after poetry began pouring out of my soul in which I visualized myself as healthy, whole and running free without a leg brace or cane or wheelchair, dancing in the rain, I took a leap of faith leaving my almost 20 year career to heal my life.
After intensive outpatient rehab at Spaulding Rehab Hospital and an angel of a physical therapist who inspired me to heal, I left the VA on 5/25/2007.
I began to feel a little better and as Divine Intervention would have it, I met a personal trainer in October of 2007. I asked her if she thought I could improve in my functioning. I couldn't get off of a low toilet seat or couch. I couldn't pass her initial evaluation to measure conditioning and strength. She said to me that I was too young (at age 54) to be as debilitated as I was. She told me of success stories she was having with clients with Parkinson's Disease, cardiac disease and clients who had never run a marathon before running Boston.
Well I sure as heck had no plans to run the Boston Marathon in the state I was in.....
Our finisher's photo from the 2009 Boston Marathon:
After my first training session with Janine, I could barely move. I had muscles I had no idea existed in my body.
But after that first session I made a choice.
If I was going to experience pain, I may as well hurt on the side of health and wellness.
And so it began....
In December of 2014, I suffered a very serious knee injury. It was a blessing as it lit a fire under me to rededicate myself to my healing journey.
I was incredibly blessed to meet Dr. Ryan J. Means. He is a chiropractor, a healer, a Boot Camp fitness instructor and well versed in the world of quantum healing. He turned me onto the work of Dr. Joe Dispenza. I went back to all that I had learned from Bernie Siegel. Harnessing the power of the mind/body connection I had dissolved a breast tumor through thought alone, so why couldn't I grow a new gastroc muscle, heal my knee injury and continue to heal from the effects of paralytic polio and trauma?
I was going to take a hiatus and not run the Bermuda Half Marathon in 2018.
I see that God had other plans for me using Race Director Anthony Raynor as one of his earth angels as it is vital that I continue to spread my message of healing, hope and possibility to anyone and everyone who needs it.
Training together, Tom, Ruth Anne and I provide emotional and moral support to one another and for me, encourages the physical healing of my body.
I am sore and have that good ache and feeling tired which will ease once I get to my two rest and recovery days before taking on double digits on Saturday.
That choice I made 11 years ago - the vow I made to hurt on the side of health and wellness is as powerful today as it was then. Listen to your body, heart, and soul - not what anyone else tells you about what you should or should not do based on a diagnosis.
Go 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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