There is a unique energy surrounding the Boston Marathon that you can’t help but feel. It includes every runner and every person along the course. It brings every person there together as one. ~Amy Hastings
Nine years ago today, I ran the Boston Marathon! While that is a great claim to fame for anyone, I was a most unlikely person to cross the finish line of the 2009 Boston Marathon. In December of 2006, I was given the diagnosis of Post-Polio Syndrome, a progressive neuromuscular disease by Western Medicine Standards. It was a result of the effects of having contracted paralytic polio at the age of 5 followed by severe childhood trauma.
In February of 2007, as life as I had known it came to a screeching halt I got still and asked for Divine Guidance. The answer to my beseeching prayer of 'what now' came in the form of a poem:
Running the Race
Early summer 1959 my kindergarten year
everyone around me filled with nervous fear
despite the Salk vaccine hope polio would disappear
the polio virus crept right up and knocked me in the rear.
Dancing all around the gym feeling free just like a bird
I dropped to the ground just like a stone and no one said a word.
The pain it was so searing-the diagnosis even worse
"It's polio" the doctor said...he was abrupt and terse.
Called one of the 'lucky ones' I had a 'mild case'
but with the other athletes I could never keep their pace.
Miss Holly physical therapist, curly hair and a warm, broad smile
it tempered the pain of being apart - to walk I'd take awhile.
I always wore those 'special' shoes the kids they poked and teased
With no support and much abuse with childhood I wasn't pleased.
But put nose to the grindstone and learned all that I could
I couldn't kick a ball but my grades were always good.
Years went by and no more thought to polio did I give
I accepted the limp and everything else and decided my life I would live.
But symptoms of weakness and muscle pain did grow
I kept a stoic face hoping no one else would know.
Life no longer was my own I struggled through each day
Suffered in silence, isolated from friends- trying to keep depression at bay.
And with the grace of glorious God my world it opened wide
I discovered there was a Post Polio team and they were on my side.
Using wheelchair to travel, set limits on what I could do,
resulted in joy to realize I could live life anew.
Celebrated my body- creaks, groans and need for a brace
While in my mind I focused on winning a 10K race.
Sought out paths for healing and my spirit flew free
for the first time in life, I could truly be me.
The chains are gone and possibilities abound
I'm a tree with my roots planted firmly in ground.
I'm now off the sidelines, no need to sit and whine
So much gratitude fills my heart and love and beauty shine.
After all these years I can join the loving human race
I exceed all expectations and now I set the pace.
and then many many more poems in which I imagined myself running unencumbered and free reclaiming my life from those that tried to snuff out my life force with violence.
I took a leap of faith and left my award winning career as a VA social worker having been told by an earth angel of a physical therapist that I needed to reduce the stress in my life and follow my new found bliss as a poet, returning to my first passion in college as a writer.
After she discharged me from outpatient physical therapy, I "just happened" to meet a personal trainer. I asked her if she thought there was anything we could do to help me get stronger building on the rehab program I received at discharge from outpatient care at Spaulding Rehab.
Her response was:
I couldn't even pass the initial assessment.
We got to work and 6 months later in February of 2008 I improved in all areas of the fitness assessment.
After rattling off a list of goals for the next 6 months of our work together, while Janine feverishly wrote them down ... walking outside without my leg brace, taking dance classes (I took ballet before I contracted paralytic polio), diversifying my workouts ... Janine gathered up her things having shared in the excitement of my healing odyssey, and had her hand on the door knob getting ready to say goodbye.
Wait - I said.
I have one more goal.
What's that she asked me.
And before I even had time to process what I was saying, the words came out of my mouth, "I want to run the Boston Marathon for Spaulding Rehab. They have a Race for Rehab Team and I want to run it next year."
She certainly could have told me I was out of my mind and perhaps we should start with more modest goals but instead she put down her things, took a deep breath and said, "You are going to need to get yourself a pair of running shoes!"
We built up my cardio endurance and strength indoors until the weather improved enough for me to take the first steps on the road to 26.2 miles from Hopkinton to Boston.
I love this photo of me from the Brookline Tab out on one of my first training runs:
We eventually bought running clothes and had a crash course in everything you need to know about running, the running community and the Boston Marathon.
I remember so many of the highlights of that incredible day when I, a polio survivor ran the Boston Marathon:
It took us 7 hours and 49 minutes but we did it! And proudly display our bling (along with the bling from my 3rd consecutive Bermuda Half Marathon January 2018) on our Blue Diamond Athletic Displays medal holder:
What a journey it has been! To think that it all started with a poem that has taken me on 10 years worth of running adventures ... and the journey continues!
To your health and wellness
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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