Celebrating Ten Years of Running: Enjoying the Fruits of My Labor

For the first time in 3 years, I am not training for an endurance event. I am not training by choice not because I am injured or feeling the effects of Post-Polio Syndrome. I am choosing to enjoy the fruits of my labor from the past 11 years since the diagnosis of a progressive neuromuscular disease.

For the first time in my life, I can enjoy living in my body. Oh sure there is still pain at times and there is that delicious soreness that comes with working out and challenging myself. Overall I feel well and I love the feeling of Being in my body. I'm continuing to recover from 3 Bermuda Half Marathons in as many years:


I'm running without pain now as my hip/back/groin issue resolved and I am extremely happy with a 5K - for now. I want to work on my pace but I know that will come in time.

This is the time of year when I geared up for training for the Half Marathon. I am content, grateful and happy to not be training for any events right now. In September I will run the 5th Annual Middlemiss Big Heart 5K Run, Walk, Roll. I signed up as a walker! I can relax and enjoy the day and see what this body will feel like doing come race day in September.

I'm going to be support crew for Tom as he trains for another Bermuda Marathon Weekend. He is debating whether he wants to do the Triangle Half Challenge again, the Half Marathon or the Full Marathon.

I am loving my time in the pool challenging myself with my swimming workouts and experiencing the joy of freedom in my body in the water. It's a time to experience stillness in my mind and the benefits of the healing waters as they continue to wash away the past and continue to create my feelings of health and wellness in my body.

I know that my body can achieve anything that I put my mind to and it has! We ran the 2009 Boston Marathon and many races leading up to that triumphant day:


After a serious knee injury in December of 2014, I harnessed the power of my mind with chiropractic care to heal what the physiatrist and physical therapists told me would lead to a total knee replacement in a few years. I went on to run the 3 Bermuda Half Marathons in as many years. This past year of training did take a lot out of me but I feel incredible gratitude that I pushed myself through to finish the trilogy of events.

Having accomplished so much in these past 11 years on the roads and in my life and celebrating ten years of running overcoming the odds of what I was told Post-Polio Syndrome would do to my body, it's time for me to enjoy this summer and enjoy the fruits of my labor.

From my heart to yours,
To your health and wellness,
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):