Run Bermuda! Run Happy! On Hope & Confidence and Buffalo Wings

By all appearances, I should not be running Half Marathons at the age of almost 64 years old after the diagnosis 10 years of Post-Polio Syndrome, a progressive neuromuscular disease by Western Medicine Standards. As Anthony Raynor, Race Director for Bermuda Marathon Weekend said when he was at our house recently for lunch, "You sure know how to mess up people's credibility."

As Walt Disney once said, "It's kind of fun to do the impossible."

During my meditations, I have been focusing on healing, confidence and hope knowing that I can go the distance on the road to my threepeat of the Bermuda Half Marathon 2018. Last week's training run was a tremendous confidence booster! I realize now my body had been fighting a virus all week long; to go out and get in the miles and complete my training plan without missing a beat was quite the accomplishment!

Waking up this morning and feeling well after a week of feeling under the weather due to stress, seeing beautiful blue skies, low humidity and sunshine was a gift. I expressed my gratitude during morning meditation. We did our core work, had our breakfast, packed up our hydration and fueling and out the front door we went. We were planning to just stay at the small reservoir and do 6 loops but halfway through, Ruth Anne and I needed to make a pit stop. We decided to finish with 3 loops, take a pit stop at home and then finish our run around the big reservoir at Cleveland Circle.

"What does my Nike+ say?" I asked Ruth Anne.

"3.00 miles."

"What? We had our water stop at 3 miles awhile ago. How is that possible?"

Tom checked his Garmin. "We're at 3.86 miles."

"Oh no," I groaned. "It didn't restart after I hit resuming workout after 3 miles."

We realized we'd have to go by his Garmin rather than my Nike+ for total distance.

Do you ever wonder about the conversations that happen during a Team McManus training run?

Sometimes we work out different issues we need to address or talk politics, music, sports or current events.

We enjoy being together and love the special time of being unplugged, out in nature, doing something so wonderful for mind, body and soul. What a thrill to have our sights set on Bermuda Marathon Weekend.

We do have one cardinal rule for conversation on our training runs. There is no talking about "what's for lunch" until we our halfway through the run.

Ruth Anne broke that rule today and all she could say well before we hit the 4 mile mark was how much she wanted wings for lunch today.

We talked about the pros and cons of having wings as part of a post long run meal.

"Did you guys ever want wings when you were training last year?" Ruth Anne asked.

"Did we ever. I don't know what it was but we would go to Pace's in the Seaport area after running Castle Island and South Boston and I had to have wings."

Well rules are made to be broken right and we started talking about foods we'd eat after our long runs last year.

After our pit stop we picked up the pace and ran down Eliot Street to the Cleveland Circle Reservoir.

What a beautiful day with geese, turtles, the sun glistening off of the Reservoir and Team McManus getting in our miles.

After a 1.6 mile loop it was time to calculate how much farther we needed to run to meet our 8 mile goal for the day.

Tom miscalculated how much extra we needed to do at the Reservoir and we hit the 8 mile mark before we were back at home.

Rather than use it as a cool down, I suggested we keep going.

As we do at the end of every training run as we approach the "finisher's chute" we imagine how we are going to feel in Bermuda.

We join hands and raise them high in triumphant jubilation.

At the end of today's run we deposited 8.2 miles in the Bank of Bermuda.



And do you know what we had with our salad and smoothies for lunch?

Buffalo and bbq wings - what else?

We feel incredibly accomplished and move forward on the road to Bermuda with hope, confidence, faith and optimism knowing that a threepeat of Bermuda (and Ruth Anne's first Bermuda Half Marathon) is well within our reach.

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):

Run Bermuda! Run Happy! On Optimism and Impossibility

Ten years ago I had quit my 20 year award winning social work career at the VA to "heal my life" after the diagnosis of Post-Polio Syndrome, a progressive neurommuscular disease by Western Medicine Standards. I imagined a new life for myself through the healing power of writing poetry. My pen became my divining rod for healing.

I wrote the poem, "Running the Race", and, even though by all appearances there is no way I should have been able to run - never mind run a marathon - and not just any marathon but the 2009 Boston Marathon, I did! I came out of using a wheelchair at times for mobility, a leg brace and a cane to go on to train for and cross the finish line of the Boston Marathon!



Fast forward to December 2014 when my left knee "blew out." By all appearances on the MRI, I should not have been able to run again and was in need of a total knee replacement. Instead, I found my way to a healer/chiropractor Dr. Ryan J. Means who introduced me to the work of Dr. Joe Dispenza. Here we are a few days before Dr. Ryan left to practice chiropractic medicine in China:


He reminded me that I am the Placebo and infused me with the power of belief in my body's ability to heal itself as he cued my body to heal through chiropractic care. As a trainer, he helped me to create a cross training and strength training program.

I set the goal of running the Bermuda Half Marathon at his urging of "Why set limits? Set goals!" replacing fear of my body breaking down with optimism and the belief of potential and possibility to go the distance.

I'm training for a threepeat now......Like the bumblebee I should not have been able to run after suffering the effects of paralytic polio and trauma. Like the bumblebee I keep on running anyway.

I'm training with intention, passion and purpose. Today I swam and did a cross training workout in the pool at Boston Sports Club.

I'm now partnering with Dr. Lizzie Sobel, a gifted chiropractor and healer. On her LinkedIn profile she states, "I offer complete holistic healthcare, offering a true alternative to traditional medicine. I will take the time to listen to your questions, offer you solutions, and heal your symptoms at their root." I had been experiencing left arm pain for several months; residuals from having contracted paralytic polio at the age of 5, and trauma. After two treatments with Dr. Sobel and no longer incorporating holding plank as part of my core work, the pain is almost gone but as importantly, I feel new neuromuscular connections happening that are allowing me to build strength in my left arm. I have a newfound confidence in my body with a sense of greater balance and opening as Dr. Sobel's gentle, holistic approach encourages my body's natural capacity to heal and my energy to flow. Dr. Sobel works with my entire body finding areas that need adjustments and encouraging balance and healing with her professional yet gentle, caring hands!

I am in awe of how the Universe has delivered everything and everyone I've needed to go the distance.

It's been a little over 10 years since I first set out to heal my life. Optimism, seeing beyond appearances and having fun doing the impossible are the torches that light my way on the road to the Bermuda Half Marathon and on the road of the marathon of my life.

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):

Going the Distance: Countdown to Bermuda: "We don't recommend running for polio but it's your life!"

A memory popped up in my Facebook news feed from two years ago:
Thank you everyone for all the well wishes and the support. It looks like we're looking at a lateral meniscal tear. I'm going to go for an MRI. We're going to go for a conservative approach with physical therapy to start with. We have to see what else is going on with the structure in this beautiful left knee of mine that is been through many surgeries. It was a great visit. My favorite quote was when he said you know we don't recommend running for polio but it's your life and it works and you have to do what's right for you. He is totally on board with finding the quickest and safest way to get me back on the roads.

He wasn't quite totally on board with getting me back on the roads. After the results of the MRI came in he told me that I should not run farther than a 5K; that my knee was too far gone for any surgical repair with bone spurs, osteoarthritic degenerative changes, degenerative changes from reconstructive leg surgery, a fatty lipoma, along with an atrophied gastroc muscle, and that I should be prepared for a total knee replacement not too far down the road. He wanted me to go back to the post polio clinic for a complete reevaluation to see what interventions they could offer me because after all, "you are aging." I thought about that for a New York minute. Hmmm maybe they can help with the tremors or some OT for my fine motor skills or.....

The Universe sent me the physical therapist from hell. The massage therapist I was working with at the time wanted to collaborate with my medical team because he needed to take his cues from them. When I said that I wasn't going to have another knee surgery he shrugged his shoulders. I wanted to scream kind of like Charlie Brown in A Charlie Brown Christmas...Isn't there anybody out there who knows the true meaning of Christmas only insert to help me heal?



Why yes there is the Universe answered. Dr. Ryan, a healer chiropractor's office was just a stone's throw away IN THE SAME PRACTICE from the massage therapist I was working with at the time only he never thought to refer me to him for help with my knee and for my healing. My powerful intention to heal that I set forth in my poetry was a Force that could not be stopped. Dr. Ryan who knew how running was in my blood. Ryan supported and encouraged me every mile of the way and encouraged me to set goals and be the very best I can be on my health and wellness journey!

Tom and I reflected on that appointment with the physiatrist at Spaulding Rehab's Post Polio Clinic. While he tried to be supportive of me, and in the early days of my healing odyssey, was extremely helpful, he came from a constricted view that often happens in Western Medicine. The massage therapist I was working with at the time and the physiatrist had never known the joy of running. They weren't fully alive and vibrant embracing all that life has to offer. That's not a judgment by any means and I'm sure that both of them have helped their patients and clients but for me, I need people in my life who like to do epic shit and take risks.

What running does for me can best be expressed in this quote by George Sheehan:


or in this quote by John "The Penguin" Bingham:


So Dr. Darren, you might not recommend running for polio but I don't run for polio. I run for my health, for my soul, for my mind and body.

One week from today I run my second CONSECUTIVE Bermuda Half Marathon. I'm nervous, excited, enjoying taper time with awe and anticipation and getting ready for our race-cation.

It's my life indeed and while "they said" no distance longer than a 5K or a 5 miler at most -- I say 13.1!



To your health and wellness!
~Mary

Choose Happiness - I'm a Cockeyed Optimist

Anna McNuff posted a video on Facebook in which she said, "Welcome to today. It's pouring with rain for the 3rd day in a row. And I've got about 30KM to run. The way I see it - you can do two things you can get miserable or you can get happy and I'm gonna get frickin' happy so I'm smiling and waving and talking to the sheep and singing ... it's only 4 hours of running...come on!"

There is, in each moment, an opportunity to choose happiness. Now please understand that I'm not saying we choose happiness to the exclusion of other emotions. There are times when we need to express sadness, anger, and frustration and allow those feelings to move through us.

What's important is that we not stay stuck in those emotions that weigh us down and that we practice choosing happiness.

When I wake up in the morning, I give thanks that I am alive to greet a new day. I meditate and allow nature's soundtrack to feed my soul; sometimes it's the rain on the window, the birds singing or our cat purring next to me.

This morning as I felt free floating anxiety and old thought patterns wanted to sink their tentacles into me, I had this image of pheresing or dialyzing my beliefs. Pheresis or dialysis is a way to purify the blood. I recognized the old thoughts and after imagining them being whisked away, thought about all the amazing people and things in my life that I am grateful for. I started to percolate a poem about pheresis of beliefs and had fun with word play. When I thought about my latest creative endeavor, Feel the Heal, an Anthology of Poems I felt happiness and joy.

I tapped into the energy of healing, of hope and of possibility as I train for the 2016 Newport Marathon. I thought about how I graduated from Aquatics Therapy at Spaulding Rehab to now do strength training on land (or as I did today, took advantage of a week long free membership at Wave Health Club to do strength training in the pool) and do lap swimming for cross training as I embrace and embody my inner marathoner.

Visualizing and imagining my upcoming races both in the short and long term brings me happiness and joy and supports my body's healing and sense of well being. I read stories, listen to music and choose people to be with in my life who also choose happiness and optimism. I am learning to say yes to me and am mindful of how I expend my energy making sure that what I am choosing supports my sense of well being and happiness. I'm learning how to play and enjoy and feel good in my body.

If I solely looked at appearances of my medical record and psychosocial health history, I would have every reason to be very depressed. If I scrutinized the scars and the shape of my body rather than feeling happy that I am doing everything I can to heal and be in the best shape possible, I would be miserable. But I choose to look beyond appearances because I know everything is in flux, always changing, always improving and I remain committed to the outcomes I want in my life that support happiness, peace, comfort, safety and well being. As Nellie says in "South Pacific":

"I just can't work myself up to getting that low."

"I'm stuck like a dope on a thing called hope."



So some may call me a cockeyed optimist but first, last and always, I choose happiness.

Be blessed! Journey well! To all good things...

My latest book, "Journey Well" is now available on Amazon along with all of my inspirational books. 50% of book proceeds are donated to the Massachusetts Resiliency Center, a safe, welcoming space for survivors of the Boston Marathon bombing to heal and stay in touch with one another; a virtual hub for a widely dispersed community whose lives have been impacted by the tragic events of April 15th and the events that followed.

When terror struck the world's oldest and most beloved marathon on April 15, 2013, it was a defining moment in Mary McManus’ life and the lives of all those in Boston and around the world. It was her wake up call to return to the sport and community that have been medicine and a lifeline for her throughout her marathon of healing the late effects of paralytic polio and experiencing 9 years of domestic violence as a child and adolescent. Mary captures the essence of Boston Strong through her experience of the 2014 Boston Marathon and as she profiles the people who are Boston Stronger. Through her blog posts, poems and journal entries woven together with excerpts from her memoir, “Coming Home: A Memoir of Healing, Hope and Possibility,” you will experience, through one woman’s journey of transformation and healing, that no matter what happens to us, we can all learn to journey well.