Celebrating Ten Years of Running: Redemption!

In December of 2006, I experienced the dark night of my mind, body and soul. My award winning career as a social worker at the VA no longer fueled my Spirit. I was at a crossroads in my life. My life force was withering away and manifested in the diagnosis of Post-Polio Syndrome, a progressive neuromuscular disease by Western Medicine Standards. I got still, asked for Divine Guidance and the answers came through what became my divining rod for healing, my pen in the form of poetry. The first poem I wrote was called "Running the Race" despite being in a leg brace


using a cane and at times a wheelchair for mobility, and having been told I should prepare to spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair. It foreshadowed my 2009 Boston Marathon. I wrote poetry throughout my training that fueled my journey to run 26.2 miles on the road from Hopkinton to Boston. What a journey it was!

During an interview for Channel 7 news, I noted that after crossing the finish line it was a moment of celebration. It was a moment of redemption that here I was a polio survivor...I crossed the finish line of the Boston Marathon.




At the book launch for Dave McGillivray and Nancy Feehrer's book, "Dream Big", Dave gave a powerful speech about his hope for how the book will inspire children to Dream Big. Dave was always the last pick in gym class (as was I) and he discovered the sport of running in his life. He wants children to know that they can overcome rejection and, through perseverance, feel success and self-confidence.

"When people used to ask me what I did for a living, I'd say Race Director. They'd say what do you do put a chalk line in the road, say on your mark, get set, go and then serve beef stew afterwards? Now I say I help raise the self-confidence and self-esteem of tens of thousands of people in America...." Paraphrasing, Dave went on to say how you have to have the guts to sign up for a marathon, put in the work, run the race and then you get a medal. You go home feeling good about yourself!



Coincidentally, Dave was the one to give us the oral command of "Runners take your mark. Get set. Go." at the mobility impaired runners start of the 2009 Boston Marathon.

I started running in April of 2008. With every mile I shed the image I had of myself as a woman who had suffered irreparable damage as a result of having contracted paralytic polio at the age of 5 and then beginning at the age of 8, enduring years of violence and neglect at the hands of family members. I was transformed into a woman who felt empowered with the strength that I had within me to have come through those years of horror and terror.

While there were many times when I wondered how many of the people who called me "Easy Out Alper" ran the Boston Marathon or 3 consecutive Bermuda Half Marathons in 3 years, the inner redemption and transformation I experienced during these past ten years of running has been the greatest gift in my life.



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:


Going the Distance: The Power of Endurance (With a Foreword by Jacqueline Hansen):


Coming soon *** The Adventures of Runnergirl1953 ****