Run Bermuda! Run Happy! After a week of training....

Another week of training - a 5 day training cycle is in the books for a threepeat of Bermuda Marathon Weekend.

Sometimes training is not pretty - it's a struggle. This is true for anyone training for an endurance event but especially true for me as a survivor of paralytic polio and trauma and 25+ surgeries.

I usually "back down" from my workouts as we add on the miles. It's all about having had a mind set as a survivor of paralytic polio and trauma wary of injury and not completely trusting in my body. It was a subtle mindset that I hardly noticed until I noticed the shift as I embraced and embodied myself as an athlete training for another half marathon. Picture if you will, a Rocky moment feeling a fiery determination. Oh Post Polio syndrome and trauma you were a worthy opponent but oh how you underestimated me!



As I am preparing to write my next book, "Adventures of Runnergirl1953" I am going through my old blogs dating back to 2008 that recap my training for the 2009 Boston Marathon. By all appearances there was no way I should have been able to train for and run the Boston Marathon but on April 20, 2009, after 7 hours and change out on the Boston Marathon course Team McManus crossed the finish line!



After this week of training I realize how far I've come and continue to go in my healing odyssey free from the effects of paralytic polio and trauma.

I feel strength in my body and the determination to embrace all of the challenges that come with training for a half marathon again.

After a week of training I realize the benefits of having worked hard during my off season. On June 20, right before we began to build miles for training for Bermuda, I crushed a goal I set for myself on the Arc Trainer - to go at least .9 miles in 20 minutes - that's the equivalent of 1.8 miles.



During my cross training day on Tuesday, I realized that while Tom and Ruth Anne go out and run 5 miles, I do the equivalent of their run on the Bike and Arc Trainer at the gym. I did 5.2 miles in 50 minutes! I poured sweat and experienced the ongoing transformation of mind, body and soul from a survivor of polio and trauma to a woman achieving her best in health and fitness.



Ruth Anne runs with a friend on Wednesday morning and Tom and I get out to do our final training run of the week. Day 5/5 as I like to call it.



I pushed myself as Tom paced me and was thrilled with the results of our tempo run despite the rather steamy conditions. We passed runners who have shared early morning runs with us around the Reservoir. What joy to greet each other and say, "Good to see you!" and "Good mornin'!'


We don't know each other's names or anything about each other but we are connected through the power and gift of running.

I am working with a chiropractor for wholesome healing after a rigorous 5 day training cycle. In addition to her skillful, healing hands she provides patient education and a down to earth approach to the body.

I can feel the cumulative, positive benefits of the treatment as we balance out my body in the here and now. Through the adjustments, the past falls away and I allow the transformation in my physical body to take hold. My back feels stronger and straighter. We are correcting and balancing out my hips, pelvis, sternum and clavicle and Dr. Lizzie performs adjustments on my knee joints after the pounding I give them on the road to Bermuda.

Today and tomorrow are rest days.

I took time to pause and reflect on this week's training.

After a week of training I realize how far I've come in these past 10+ years. After a week of training I embody the reality that:



After a week of training in which I was able to find my second wind, feel the joy of an early morning run and experience the gift of running in my life, and stepping up to embrace my cross training and strength training days, I realize that I can and will go the distance. A threepeat of the Bermuda Half Marathon with Tom and Ruth Anne by my side with my race, my pace will be happening on January 14, 2018!



Another 8.5 miles on Saturday on tap for Team McManus as we will begin another week of training!

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):

My Running Chronicles: Synchronicity

Synchronicity is a concept created by psychiatrist Carl Jung, which holds that events are "meaningful coincidences" if they occur with no apparent causal relationship, yet seem to be meaningfully related.

Candace Pert wrote in her book, 'Everything you need to know to feel Go(o)d' that Deepak Chopra told her that the more you meditate, the more you will notice and experience synchronicity happening in your life.

On Saturday as we came to the end of our 5.5 mile training run for the Bermuda Marathon Weekend,


I visualized the finish as we were coming up on our final hill. I was totally there and I created the scene for Tom. I told him who is going to be at the finish line including Vince Cann, Sundown and Kirk Dill who were members of the Blue Waters Anglers Club who we knew when we went to the Island and when they'd come up here to Falmouth to compete against Boston's Sea and Surf Anglers Club. When we met Stoker Smith at the Finish at the 50 Race Expo he thought that Vince might have passed on. When we skyped with him last week, he said that he would reach out and see if he was still around. I told him where he lived. By the way Vince lives in Warwick near Mike Douglas' house on the Island but I digress.

So I cried and had goosebumps seeing us at the finish line of the Bermuda Half Marathon. It was as though we were there and I could experience the sense of jubilation and exhilaration as well as the sights and smell of Bermuda.

After our training run, I got into my ice bath and had post run fueling with Blue Diamond Gluten free crackers with sesame seeds, an orange and water. I posted our run to Facebook via Nike+ and let myself enjoy the benefits of a post run ice bath feeling my body recover from the run in which we took of 24"/mile of our pace.

We relaxed the rest of the day and I worked on my book, "Going the Distance."

I remember what training for a marathon feels like and it's kind of like going through a pregnancy. Your body is changing and you get all sorts of cravings. Mine came in the form of mashed potatoes so we fixed mashed potatoes and barbecued chicken on the grill with a huge salad. I wanted a decadent dessert and we settled for a half of a Luna bar. We had been considering going out for dessert but something told me to just stay at home....

My phone rings just as we finished dinner. It's a Bermuda number - yup it was Vince! He didn't know what happened to us and said you just kind of disappeared from our lives. I briefly told him about my journey. He was so happy that we are coming back to the Island and said to give him a call as soon as we get in in January.

Not five minutes later, I receive a Skype call from Stoker! He told us that he used the phone book to find Vince once we told him where he lived. He said he was so happy to hear that McManus was fine and was coming to the Island. He was delighted that Vince called us and did not know it would happen so fast. He is going to make plans to meet up with Vince. He thinks they might have met before but now with the connection to us, he wants to reach out to him.

We talked with Stoker as though we have been friends for life. We talked about families, the race and Stoker's plans to return stateside to help out at the Falmouth Road Race Expo. He mentioned that the RD for Bermuda was heading to Maine for the Beach to Beacon 10K and would be meeting with Joan Benoit Samuelson to see if she'd come back to Bermuda to run the marathon in January.

The conversation was filled with magical moments and I just knew and felt in every fiber of my Being that the Divine has a hand in everything that is happening in my life now. Stoker told us that he is working on changing the marathon course from an out and back to one loop saying how you really can't ask volunteers to be out there for 6-8 hours while everyone finishes the race. He told us they have cups of water, bottles of water and gatorade available on the course. "It's a very relaxed atmosphere and few people come to actually race it." He told us one story of how he went to do a sweep of trash and people making sure everyone was fine out on the course if they still wanted to finish and was very distressed that he couldn't find a couple of runners who had registered for the race. He found them in a restaurant enjoying a meal and they had decided to ditch the race. I usually have so much anxiety going into a race that I have not run before but Stoker put me completely at ease. I know it is going to be an absolutely amazing experience to be running my first 13.1 since running Boston in 2009 on that beautiful island of Bermuda.



The Universe is orchestrating a beautiful symphony for my life. Ahh the sweet sounds of synchronicity!

I chronicle the first 7 years of my healing journey after being diagnosed with post polio syndrome, a progressive neuromuscular disease as a survivor of childhood paralytic polio and 9 years of childhood domestic violence in Coming Home:A Memoir of Healing, Hope and Possibility.


In Journey Well, the journey continues in the wake of my nephew's suicide on 3/4/11 and the events of 4/15/13. Through my journey of healing and transformation, we learn that no matter what life circumstances happen to us, we can always find a way to journey well.


"Feel the Heal: An Anthology of Poems," my latest collection of inspirational poetry is now available soon on Amazon