During taper time it's easy to have the memories of Easy Out Alper come to the surface. Can I really go the distance for the 3rd time in as many years? Do I deserve to be among the running community given how slow I run? Do you even call that running? I think back to when I was interviewed for a Channel 7 News piece about my inspirational 2009 Boston Marathon run:
I said that one of the mental hurdles I had to jump over while training for Boston was that I belonged among the runners.
I am so blessed by an outpouring of support and love for me as a runner.
Race Director Anthony Raynor wanted me to be a part of the 2018 Bermuda Marathon Weekend. He knows my pace and told me during a visit last summer, "As long as you finish before my last marathoner, I don't care when you finish!"
Today Anthony sent this to Team McManus:
It's an invitation from the Bermuda National Athletics Association to join the Sponsors Cocktail Reception to kick off Bermuda Marathon Weekend.
Tom and I went to the reception two years ago but we did not receive a formal invitation from the Race Director. It was clearly an affirmation from the Divine as a response to any doubts I may have toeing the starting line of the 2018 Bermuda Half Marathon.
The story of Team McManus is one of strength, courage, determination, endurance, resilience, love, joy and overcoming ourselves to be the we that we are always meant to be.
In just a few days I will be running my 3rd Half Marathon in as many years; a half marathon that according to the doctors was a prohibitive distance given what the MRI showed three years ago. Eleven years ago the doctors predicted I would spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair.
I may not be fast, but I can go far. And to all those who told me I shouldn't, wouldn't and couldn't run I have four words...
I AM A RUNNER!
To going the distance with strength and courage!
From my heart to yours,
Mary
Proud to be a part of Friends of Blue Diamond Athletic Displays, Inc.
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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