Runners World Classic Weekend - The Celebrity Mile - A Day Filled with Magic

A dear friend and member of my running family, Kelly told me about the Runners World Classic Weekend happening this weekend. I knew that life was just a little too hectic to fit one more thing in so I told her I'd help spread the word but there was no way I could see us getting up there for the event. Of course Kelly totally understood. And then I "just happened" to see Tom Licciardello's Facebook post putting out the call for volunteers for the Runners World Classic Weekend. How could we say no to our running family....We looked over the volunteer jobs and I thought volunteering for the Celebrity Mile might be a good spot for us. At the time I did not know that Tom's wife Lyn would be our Team Leader or the magic that was going to happen once we arrived on the Merrimack College Campus.

Our first stop was at the Student Center to pick up our volunteer t shirts. We walked into the Expo and were greeted by Anthony Raynor's warm smile and green eyes. We first met Anthony at the Finish at the 50 Expo last year. I was heart broken that they weren't at this year's Finish at the 50 Expo thinking I would have to wait until January to be reunited with the Race Director for the Bermuda Marathon Weekend. Warm hugs and smiles all around and we were introduced to Elizabeth founder of a new company, "Runaway Bermuda." We chatted. I was able to get my Bermuda Marathon Weekend Postcard for my refrigerator to replace our 2016 card, a pink pen and goosebumps realizing that once again I am going to train for the Bermuda Half Marathon.



As we walked toward the Celebrity Mile Tent we had to pass through "Charity Village." Dana Ewan Seigel was standing underneath the "Voices of Hope" tent! We met Dana through our dear friend Jordan Rich a few years ago watching them in a performance of "Love Letters" to benefit "Voices of Hope" that benefits Mass General Hospital Cancer Center.



We went to the Celebrity Mile Tent and reunited with our Strider family. There was this cool lobster ice sculpture:


and everyone worked together as a team to get the tent ready to greet our guests.



Once the set up was complete and we were waiting for the arrival of the celebrities, I asked if anyone had seen our dear friends the DiLorenzos. Tom suggested I check her posts on Facebook to see where she might be. Sure enough she was posting Live from the Finish Line. It was so great to be reunited with her and to see the boys.


Tom waited to see if he could catch a glimpse of Paul finishing the 10K.



It's always a special day when Geoffrey Smith is in the house and we took this fun selfie:


We had so much fun being able to greet the celebrities, get their swag bags, t shirts and bibs and snap a few photos. Boston Police Commissioner Bill Evans was incredibly generous with his time and kept thanking us for volunteering. I was honored and humbled to meet Bill Richard who also kept thanking us for all we did today. You could see how much he has healed and how proud he was to have a solid representation of Team MR8 at the event. I got goosebumps when I saw them gathered before the Celebrity Mile and the lengthy applause Bill received during the introduction. It's always a joy when I get to see Dave McGillvray who has inspired my life and running in so many ways.



Jeff Bauman arrived along with Adriane Haslet-Davis, Carlos and Mel. The media surrounded them and the energy was electric as Jeff was about to participate in his first road race since 4/15/13 walking his first mile. I was blessed and honored to talk with him before he ventured out on his challenge. We had met on the first anniversary of 4/15 at his book signing where I shared my journey with him and he was moved to tears to hear what is possible and then again on the 2nd anniversary of 4/15 as I was just in the beginning of my running comeback. I was thrilled to let him know I'd run the Bermuda Half Marathon in January.



Our dear friend David Brown was part of the Celebrity Mile along with friends we've met along the many miles on the road of life -- Amby Burfoot, Steve Cooper, Becca Pizzi and John Young just to name a few. Here are the celebrities gathered before the mile run:


After we saw the celebrities run the first loop, we headed toward the finish line and cheered on the celebrities. The crowd went wild as Jeff Bauman with Carlos in a wheelchair recovering from foot surgery and Melida came toward the finish line. Dave McGillvray had us clear a path saying, "He has one more lap to go," and Jeff echoed, "I have one more lap to go."

Dave encouraged the celebrities and volunteers to walk the 2nd lap with Jeff. Talk about magic!

As we neared the finish line, Tom captured this video of Jeff completing his first mile walk:



Three years ago Carlos pushed Jeff in a wheelchair and saved his life. Today Jeff pushed Carlos and as Dave McGillvray said, "It could not have been scripted better."

The whole day could not have been scripted better as we walked as a Boston Strong community celebrating healing, resilience, strength; as a community that gives back through running and weaves a tapestry of love that only gets stronger with greater resolve in the face of terrorist actions. As the brilliant July sun shined brightly, we as a community shined our light:



It was a day of love, of joy, of magic and one truly orchestrated by the Divine.

To your health and wellness,
Mary

Sweet Victory!

Zig Ziglar was spot on when he said:



When I was interviewed on the Jordan Rich Show in September, Jordan asked me how I didn't become angry and bitter with all of the violence I experienced as a child and adolescent. He paused for a moment and went on to observe that I was angry but I turned the anger against myself despising my body and being filled with shame, blame and guilt.

All of that has slowly transformed during the past 8 years. During the past 7 months, the healing process has accelerated thanks to the combination of meditation, running, Aquatics Therapy at Spaulding Rehab and weekly treatments at Sollievo Massage and Bodywork.

After my last treatment with Joseph, I was inspired to write the poem

Sweet Victory

On the battlefield of life
when we fight the good fight
with compassion
a heart for a heart
to the victor goes the spoils.

A treasure trove of Truth
scars merely badges of honor
wounds healed
secret weapon of loving kindness
vapors of fear
tears spilled
water bathing the garden of my soul
yielding to joy
as treaty signed with forgiveness
sweet reward of peace.

Lush landscape
fragrant green grass
a winding road leading to everywhere
I run
unencumbered
untethered
strapping and healthy
free to be me
my victory lap.

Give someone a bit of your heart rather than a piece of your mind today. You'll feel a wave of peace of heart and mind flow back to you. You'll experience the sweet taste of victory over the enemies of fear and anger that keep us from being who we are truly meant to Be.




Knowing the challenges first hand of living with a neuromuscular condition, on Thanksgiving, I will be running the Boston Volvo 5K Village Road Race to raise money for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society New England Chapter. When we unlock the key to one neuromuscular condition, we can unlock the door to many. You can donate to my run on my fund raising page.

The first 7 years of my healing odyssey are chronicled in Coming Home: A Memoir of Healing, Hope and Possibility available on Amazon. I donate 50% of royalty payments to The One Fund Boston to help survivors and their families who were affected by the tragic events of 4/15/13.



I'm working on my 2nd book, "Journey Well," due out later this year:

Words to Heal By - "Never Lose Hope"

When Jordan Rich asked me what helped me on my healing journey when I was interviewed on his show last week, he said "Well of course you had your writing." It was words and writing poetry that opened my door to healing shortly after being diagnosed with post polio syndrome in December 2006.

It is words that continue to help me heal.

I was introduced to the work of Bernie Siegel, MD by Beth Jordan, an earth angel of a nurse in the 1980's when hospitalized for over 6 weeks with an infection in my shoulder. She told me about his work. Tom and I went to hear him speak at Harvard and he has been my "chosen dad" and labor coach through the years guiding me throughout my healing journey. I encourage you to take a few moments and read his article "Deceiving People Into Health." It was through Bernie sharing a story about how his son strung together wordswordswords in an art project with no space between them that I realized how words can heal or words can become swords.

I am mindful of my choice of words and notice how they have the power to change what is happening in my body. While I worked very hard in outpatient treatment at Spaulding Rehab following my initial diagnosis of post polio syndrome, I was also writing poems about gratitude, health, wholeness and feeling joy, feeling alive in my body. Perhaps the most powerful testament to words to heal by was that in the first poem I wrote after the diagnosis of post polio syndrome, I visualized running a race! Imagine that - I was in a leg brace, using a wheelchair at times for mobility and feeling the worst I had ever felt in my life, mind, body and Spirit, but writing the poem Running the Race - the power of those words - helped to pierce the darkness and gave me a sense of hope. As Bernie often says, quoting Jung, "The unconscious prepares the way for the future," although at the time I had no idea I would go on to run the 2009 Boston Marathon.

If I'm feeling stressed and anxious (that also means I am not living in the present moment), I say the words peace and equanimity over and over again or be here now and I can feel my body let go of the tension. I break the cycle of looping where thoughts create bodily sensations and those bodily sensations fuel the thoughts that keep me feeling stressed and anxious, by using healing words.

Recently I have been focusing on ease and lightness and wrote this poem:

Lightness and Ease

Be light
delight
beneath darkness
worry
doom and gloom
Spirit waits in the wings
by your side
eager to please
deliver you to this luscious
spacious place
of ease
of peace
only a breath away

Freedom.

From the age of 5 years old, I have known struggle and challenges. Being rejected, neglected and abandoned by my mother after contracting paralytic polio and being cared for by my dad and grandfather who, God bless them, tried to do their best but were not deeply nurturing, loving and caring men, left me feeling a sense of heaviness in my body. Paralysis will also do that to you. My body was a burden. Wearing a full, long metal leg brace for years and then needing a full length cast on my right leg for 6 weeks at the age of 11; numerous (over 25) surgeries including reconstructive leg surgery and hardware removal added to this feeling of heaviness. And then there was violence....

But now I choose to focus on ease and lightness. These are my words to heal by. With the combination of Aquatics Therapy at Spaulding Rehab and weekly treatments with Joseph at Sollievo Massage and Bodywork, there are moments when I feel balance, ease and lightness in my body and feel as though nothing ever happened to me. I imprint those moments and then let everything be as it is. And I never lose hope no matter what may be going on in my body. I know that every day, every moment is an opportunity for me to harness the power of words to heal by and let all of my helpers, seen and unseen continue to help me heal.

Thank you to Jordan for a wonderful interview and for playing this inspirational song at the close of my interview:




The first 7 years of my healing odyssey are chronicled in my memoir:

"Wait, I have one more goal," Mary McManus told her personal trainer in February of 2008 shortly after coming out of her toe up leg brace. "I want to run the Boston Marathon for Spaulding Rehab Hospital." Mary traded in her polio shoes for running shoes and embarked on the journey of a lifetime. Mary McManus was at the height of her career as a VA social worker when she was told by her team at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital’s International Rehab Center for Polio in December of 2006 that she needed to quit her job if she had any hope of preventing the progression of post polio syndrome, a progressive neuromuscular disease. In “Coming Home: A Memoir of Healing, Hope and Possibility” Mary takes you on her seven year healing odyssey as a survivor of paralytic polio and trauma from her diagnosis, to taking a leap of faith to leave her award winning career at the VA to heal her life and follow her passion as a poet and writer. You’ll experience her trials, tribulations and triumphs as she trains for and crosses the finish line of the 2009 Boston Marathon and discovers the opportunity for healing in the wake of new trauma: the suicide of her nephew in 2011, and the aftermath of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings. This is Mary's journey of coming home to her human form free from the influences of the ghastly ghostly invaders who had invaded her sacred earthly home. Her memoir includes journals and blog posts from her seven year healing odyssey. This is her journey of transformation and her message of healing, hope and possibility.

I donate 50% of royalty payments through on line sales at Amazon to The One Fund to help Boston Marathon survivors and their families. Copies are also available at Brookline Marathon Sports. $5 of each book sold at Marathon Sports is donated to The One Fund.

A Day of Remembrance - My Hope for Today

Thirteen years ago today I was seeing a patient in my office at the VA Outpatient Clinic on what was a glorious New England September morning. Upstairs, the Drop In Center had on the TV as they did every morning while veterans gathered with coffee and donuts to shoot pool and be part of a safe, therapeutic milieu to help them heal.

When I came out of my office to see if my next patient had arrived, everyone was gathered together looking for leadership or guidance of what we were to do next. They filled me in on the scant details we knew at the time. We shared our building on Causeway Street with State employees. They evacuated. As federal employees we were ordered to stay in place.

The phone lines were busy but eventually I was able to get through to my husband who fortunately was at home for the day. He would be available to our 8th grade twins. My job as a clinical social worker was to be available to the veterans to provide support and crisis intervention.

Last Saturday I was interviewed on The Jordan Rich Show. Jordan asked me how did I not become angry and bitter after living through 9 years of unrelenting violence; sexual and physical assaults at the hands of my father and grandmother. He went on, thinking out loud, you turned it inward didn't you?

Indeed I did until my body, mind and Spirit cried out for healing in the form of post polio syndrome, a progressive neuromuscular disease.

Gratitude and forgiveness became the cornerstones of my foundation for healing. I looked to the wisdom of those who went before me who also suffered man's inhumanity to man to find comfort and healing.



On this, the 13th anniversary of 9/11, my hope is that we can experience healing.

I'd like to soften never forget into always remember...always remember and hold dear in your heart those who died. Love never dies and they are with us today to bless our lives with the legacy and memories they left behind.

Always remember the bravery of those on the flights and those who lost their lives saving others. Always remember the kindness, caring and compassion that followed 9/11 and let us remember that we don't need a tragedy to be kind, caring and compassionate to ourselves and to each other.

Always remember that love is stronger than fear and darkness never wins.

My hope for today is that when we face a person's wrath, we can maintain equanimity within ourselves. When life circumstances shake us to the core, my hope for today is that we do remember who we are and be soft