Run Bermuda! Run Happy! A Two Reservoir Run & Finding My Second Wind

It was a rough week for Team McManus but of course nothing as devastating as it was for Houston!

One of Ruth Anne's friends passed away suddenly. Tom was on a business trip to Las Vegas with a 3 hour time difference and I was heartbroken about the news coming out of Houston and how a dear friend of ours was affected by the devastating storm. I was so grateful for my two days of rest after a training week that required changing up my usual training plan because of equipment that wasn't available at the gym and because of Tom's trip. While in the scheme of things, I had nothing to complain about compared to what was happening in Texas, I was affected by the events happening in our lives. While I am healed in so many ways from the effects of paralytic polio and trauma, stress can increase fatigue and fuel my doubts about my capabilities!

When I woke up yesterday morning, my body craved another rest day. Tom got in at midnight on Friday.

We have the Bermuda Half Marathon to train for and we had 8.5 miles on tap!

I focused my morning meditation on affirmations about running unencumbered with ease and feeling lightness in my body. The weather was perfect running weather - cool and sunny. I focused on all I have to be so grateful for!

As summer draws to a close here in New England we can sleep in and not worry about needing to beat the heat of the day.

We did our core work, had our breakfast, loaded up our hydration and fueling supplies in our Camel Back backpacks that Ruth Anne and Tom are so gracious to carry and we set out for our long run.

Ruth Anne and I had planned out the route during our evening meditation on Friday. Two times around the big Reservoir in Cleveland Circle and three times around the small Reservoir on Route 9. Whatever left over mileage we had, we would finish on our street.

We focused on the joy of the run, the beauty of the day and how blessed we are for each other and the gift of running in our lives.

Ruth Anne and Tom have been looking for new running goals. While a Half Marathon is a challenge for me, and they are so wonderful to run at my pace, they both need a full marathon and be able to run at their pace. Tom still has visions of a BQ (Boston Marathon qualifier for my non running readers) especially now that he is 65 and Ruth Anne wants to fund raise for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention by participating in an endurance event. We talked about the research we had done together on line and decided that the Hartford Marathon 2018 seemed like a great goal for them.

As they were talking about their goals, I could feel myself drifting in my thoughts. "Well I won't run Bermuda in 2019 then because they will be too busy training for Hartford. Why did I decide to do a threepeat of the Bermuda Half Marathon anyway? My body can't do this anymore. Leave the endurance running up to them."

The tiny seed of feeling tired grew into an entire scenario of self doubts and of course my body followed my lead.



I knew I had to shake it off and remind myself that it's not about my pace - it's about crossing that finish line in January.

While I slogged through a few miles, when we hit mile 8, my energy shifted and I felt happy and inspired to go the distance.

I had found my second wind!

What a sense of accomplishment we had that, after a week of stress and heartache, we set new running goals for Tom and Ruth Anne that include fund raising for a cause near and dear to our hearts and deposited 8.5 miles in the Bank of Bermuda!



A lesson learned for running and life - somewhere deep inside of us, even when we are weary and feel as though life has given us too much to handle; when we feel as though we can't take another step we can always fire up that spark of whatever we need to go on when we hitch ourselves to the Divine and focus on something greater than ourselves!

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):

A New Decade Begins - Team McManus' Hyannis Adventures - Part I

Last week I celebrated 10 years of healing after being diagnosed with Post-Polio Syndrome, a progressive neuromuscular disease by Western Medicine Standards marking the day I left my 20 year career as a VA social worker to heal my life.

This weekend marked the beginning of a new decade - for me and for Team McManus. After 9 years, our daughter Ruth Anne is joining us once again to train and run. Our last big race together was the 2009 Boston Marathon:


Whenever there's a Paul Collyer/BA Event Promotions race in Hyannis, there is bound to be magic!

Our usual annual pilgrimage to Hyannis happens in February where we gather for Camp Hyannis. When I saw that Paulie (as he likes to be called) was going to have races on Memorial Day Weekend, including a 5K distance, Tom and I decided it was time to have a warmer weather adventure to Olde Cape Cod. I wasn't able to run the Hyannis 10K this year and so it was an extra special treat to be able to run Sunday's race.

The "magic" began when David O'Leary who I was blessed to meet two years ago as part of his work with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, and on air talent for Boston's radio station Magic 106.7 posted this on Facebook: "I NEED RUNNING SONGS!!
The Johnny Kelley Half-Marathon is less than a week away!! I'll be running 13.1 miles this Sunday to raise awareness about depression and mental illness, and to fund raise for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. You can help me! For a donation of ANY AMOUNT I'll add whatever song you suggest to my running playlist. You name it!! Frank Turner, Loverboy, Nat King Cole, ANYTHING!! Please leave a song title for my playlist in the comments, then click the link below, make a donation and know that I'll be thinking of you with every step on Sunday. In gratitude- D.
#StopSuicide #Project20205 #AFSPNational"

He followed it up with a post and tagged Tom and me in it:
"Getting ready to run! THANK YOU to Nancy Farrell, Tova & Ron Cohen, Savita & Michael Brewer, Melissa Rogers, Teri King, Jenn Adams, Cynthia Durney, Colleen Bresnahan Creamer, Jim & Sheryl Stockless, Kathy Schreiber, Linda Marino, Mary & Tom McManus, Susan Davies. Maureen & Steve Condon, Alicia O'Leary, Jill& Mark Andrew, Peter Miller, Carolina Sala-Kotz, Kathy Davies O'Leary and everyone else who has made a donation to AFSP.

Click the link in the comment below to make a donation of your own and help save lives. With thanks- David"

The excitement for race day began to build.

Suicide has touched our family with the loss of my father in 1971 and my nephew in 2011. Knowing that we had donated to support David's run and that part of the proceeds from the race were going to the AFSP fueled my excitement for Sunday's race!

A Facebook post from one of our friend's that we made in Bermuda in 2016 said that she had hoped to see us on Sunday. She was running the Half and we have seen her at Camp Hyannis 2016 and 2017.

We made it over the Sagamore Bridge and into Hyannis before 9am. We decided we wanted to do all the things that were unique to the Cape. We pulled in to have breakfast at the Hearth and Kettle.

The skies that had brought misting and showers during some of the drive to the Cape and the clouds that hovered in the early morning would later give way to glorious Sunshine!

When we arrived at the Resort and Conference Center in Hyannis we were greeted by the manager Jim who kindly upgraded our room for no extra charge since Ruth Anne would be joining us for the weekend. He gives a whole new meaning to customer service! He warmly welcomed us back. We had a room at the end of the first floor hallway overlooking the golf course:


After we unpacked we went into downtown Hyannis. I've never had the opportunity to play tourist in Hyannis because I would be working a table at the Hyannis Marathon Expo Weekend. You can see how the skies cleared! We went to the JFK Memorial, and the Korean Veterans Memorial, enjoyed walks on the beach on Ocean Street and Craigville Beach before heading to Main Street.



What better touristy thing to do than to take this kind of a photo:


We strolled up and down Main Street, had a delicious lunch at the British Beer Company and then went to Bib Pick Up:


We spent the afternoon relaxing in the beautiful Hyannis sunshine at the hotel, watching golfers out on the course, playing cards, reading and checking in on Facebook. So many of my runner friends were getting race ready for Sunday races from the Cape to Boston to Vermont.

Our go to place for dinner when we are in Hyannis is the Roadhouse Cafe. What a treat to experience the restaurant with the uniquely Cape light streaming in through the windows. We savored their salad with their homemade salad dressing. Ruth Anne and I fueled ourselves with their Cedar Planked Roasted Salmon with orange Jack Daniels glaze, sauteed spinach and jasmine rice and Tom devoured their Chicken Saltimbocca boneless chicken breast topped with parma prosciutto, fresh sage, spinach and fontina cheese in a marsala wine sauce, served with parmesan risotto:


To relax and get ready for race day, we returned to the beach.

We tried to take a selfie and laughed so hard at our foiled attempts:


There were two lovely young ladies playing around on the Lifeguard stand and were gracious enough to take this photo:


I captured this beautiful father/daughter moment:


Tom and Ruth Anne captured me in my happy place:


We watched the sun set:


It was early to bed Saturday night after showers and getting everything ready for the return to the roads of mighty Team McManus. We had a 7:30am gun time which meant we had a 5:30am wake up call.

To be continued....

To going 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):