Favorite Runner Quotes and The Power of Endurance

"There is something magical about running; after a certain distance, it transcends the body. Then a bit further, it transcends the mind. A bit further yet, and what you have before you, laid bare, is the soul." - Kristin Armstrong







This past week has been an intense and stressful week with transitions, changes and many demands all around. I reflected on the metaphor between running and life, and felt overwhelming gratitude that I am an endurance runner. The power of endurance has served me well this past week.

As an endurance runner, I know that I always have a little more in the tank than I think I do. I can always push myself knowing that there are less strenuous miles ahead. Next week with the Fourth of July holiday and a strenuous transition behind me, it is going to be a much easier week. I'm looking forward to sharing a cup of tea with a dear friend, going for a chiropractic adjustment to counter the stress I have been experiencing and my dear friend and healer, Dr. Ryan J. Means is going to be in Boston on leave from his job in China.

It would be easy to wish away the "stressful" miles and just get to next week but the tough miles in life or on the roads are the miles where our mettle is tested; the time when my strength, my fortitude and my very soul are refined like the gold in the crucible.

As Jacqueline Hansen wrote in the Foreword of my book, "Going the Distance: The Power of Endurance":

Eleanor Roosevelt once said “Many people will walk in and out of your life, but only true friends will leave footprints in your heart.”

I have found this to be true throughout my life. I have also found that I am attracted to strong women friends, who are strong willed, strong minded, with lots of endurance. At least once a day I must tell myself, “thank goodness I’m a marathoner.” I am guessing that Mary McManus tells herself the same thing. She is certainly someone who has left indelible footprints in my heart. I have rarely met anyone with so many life-threatening challenges who portrays such an onward thinking attitude.

In fact, another Eleanor Roosevelt quotation reminds me of Mary: “You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’ You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”

Tomorrow is Friday! These past 10 days or so have been a marathon in my life in their own right. With my favorite runner quotes, and my power of endurance, I see the finish line and easier miles on the horizon. I am so grateful for all the lessons and blessings of the challenges of these past 10 days and look forward to moving forward!

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):

Run Bermuda! Run Happy! "You must do the thing you think you cannot do."

In a few short weeks Team McManus begins their formal training for the Bermuda Half Marathon. I'm going to do something I've never done before - a Threepeat as my Facebook friend Nicole calls my running the Bermuda Half Marathon for the third consecutive year.

I have to admit that I'm a little scared and a whole lot excited.

There are whispers of the diagnosis of Post-Polio Syndrome as I recently marked the 10 year anniversary of when I left my award winning career at the VA to heal my life from the effects of polio and trauma. There are faint echoes of all of the therapists, doctors and even a former massage therapist I worked with for almost a year who say this can't be done and this shouldn't be happening.

Of course I know that:


Can I really trust my body to go the distance training for a third CONSECUTIVE Bermuda Half Marathon?

Do I have the physical and mental mettle I need to go the distance?

What am I trying to prove anyway?

The words of Helen Keller come to mind:


and this quote that is one of my favs:


So I will be doing the thing I thought I could not do - to trust my body knowing that I can go the distance for a threepeat training for and then running my 3rd CONSECUTIVE Bermuda Half Marathon.

This time I get to go the distance with my bestie AND our daughter Ruth Anne that will make the journey that much sweeter and inspire me in my training. We will inspire each other and those who follow the adventures of Team McManus. While there may be moments of fear and doubt along the journey's way, Team McManus will prevail!

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):

Building Strength and Confidence

I used to have difficulty getting up from sitting without using a table or the bathroom sink to support me. One day a couple of months ago, after practicing squats at the wall per Dr. Ryan of Elevate Health Cambridge, I decided that I could just stand up. I made up my mind to do it ... after realizing what was preventing me from doing it all these years. Yes in part there was physical weakness and deconditioning but what prevented me from completely healing after paralytic polio was bearing the brunt of my father's alcoholic rages. I remembered the phrases, "sit down before I knock you down" along with "who do you think you are? I'm going to knock you down to size." Once I brought these phrases into awareness, I was able to literally stand up to the fear I felt inside. The danger was long gone but in my mind, because I was so little when all of this happened, I was wired for weakness and not being able to find the strength to stand up for myself.

But all of that is changed now. I'd been wrestling with how do I feel strong and empowered without being afraid of my power that I would hurt the people who were hurting me. During yesterday morning's meditation, I thought about martial arts and a class we had in self defense at the VA called Unmuggable. I googled to see if they are still around. I know there are many classes in self defense for women but I couldn't find this particular one. A "mugger" was in a protective suit and they taught us how to defend ourselves in case we were attacked; to disarm the "mugger" hitting his vulnerable areas to give us enough time to get away. They also gave us safety tips such as never getting into a car even if held at knife point, staying in a lighted area and using keys and other objects we might have on hand to ward off the attacker.

I took the class with Mary Pat Regan who was the DAV Transportation Coordinator and we used to sign our emails after taking the class, The Unmuggable One. I can remember the sensations of being able to defend myself and how empowered and invincible we felt after taking the class.

Yesterday, after increasing my squats at the wall and feeling confidence and strength harnessing the power of my hip flexors and core to do a proper squat, I made up my mind that it was time to move away from the wall and just squat. Dr. Ryan said to me one day, you'll move an inch away from the wall and you will do a squat. And voila:



I can feel safe, strong and confident. I have faced every fear and looked death square in the eye at the hands of my alcoholic father and psychotic grandmother and with the neglect of my drug addicted mother.

And now - I get to do the impossible or what the Western medicine model said is impossible. I build strength, create new neuromuscular connections and neural pathways. I change the way I view myself and create a whole new physical reality for myself. I am healed, and I am whole. I am an endurance runner training for the 2016 Newport Marathon and I am happy - so incredibly happy and grateful to be alive connected to The Source that showers me with grace:

The Source

Wellspring of joy flows deep within soul
rising surprisingly healing brokenness whole.
Thawing and melting magnificence made new
cleansing congestion reveals radiance True.

Miracles arise from this sacred space
fears and pain transformed by Your Loving Grace.
Running and laughing happiness free
a raucous rampage a celebration spree.

Grounded sure footed it's time fancy fine
Divine Love a waterfall cascading spine.
Fools were blind to this treasure so rare
unstoppable unceasing heart open to share.

The joy in the journey a sight to behold
the glory her triumphs she runs brave and bold.
Each footstep each mile of 26.2
a champion reborn glorious Spirit shines through.


Be blessed! Journey well! To all good things...

My latest book, "Journey Well" is now available on Amazon along with all of my inspirational books. 50% of book proceeds are donated to the Massachusetts Resiliency Center, a safe, welcoming space for survivors of the Boston Marathon bombing to heal and stay in touch with one another; a virtual hub for a widely dispersed community whose lives have been impacted by the tragic events of April 15th and the events that followed.

When terror struck the world's oldest and most beloved marathon on April 15, 2013, it was a defining moment in Mary McManus’ life and the lives of all those in Boston and around the world. It was her wake up call to return to the sport and community that have been medicine and a lifeline for her throughout her marathon of healing the late effects of paralytic polio and experiencing 9 years of domestic violence as a child and adolescent. Mary captures the essence of Boston Strong through her experience of the 2014 Boston Marathon and as she profiles the people who are Boston Stronger. Through her blog posts, poems and journal entries woven together with excerpts from her memoir, “Coming Home: A Memoir of Healing, Hope and Possibility,” you will experience, through one woman’s journey of transformation and healing, that no matter what happens to us, we can all learn to journey well.

My Running Chronicles: I am a runner!

I am a runner. I am a runner because I say I'm a runner. I'm an endurance runner and I go the distance on the roads and in my life. When things get tough, I get tougher. I love running in perfect weather conditions. But it's great to run when the elements are challenging because I get to show how much of a badass I really am.

I am a runner. I was told I shouldn't run; that running is bad for me. Running is my medicine and my therapy. I am a runner who feels powerful when I run. I am a runner who says what is best for my mind, body and soul. Running heals!

I am a runner transformed by each run.



I learn something new about myself in each run. I am a runner who loves a solo run, alone with my thoughts but never alone surrounded by the glory of nature.

I am a runner who runs with the pack, my village, my tribe where we honor each other and practice the runner's code of no runner left behind. I am a runner who finds strength and courage on the other side of fear.



I am a runner who stands at the bottom of hills feeling a flutter in my soul telling myself oh yes you can. I am a runner who stands at the top of hills with sweat pouring off of me, smiling, feeling triumphant.

I am a runner, an unlikely runner, the likes of Wilma Rudolph who was also an unlikely runner after contracting paralytic polio.



In my mind's eye I am an Olympic Champion for running over the hurdles placed before me in my marathon of my life and never giving up no matter how tough the challenge.

I am a runner. I go the distance. I am a runner...Loving life one mile at a time. I am a runner - Happy and free!



What matters most is how I see myself ... I am a runner ... like a boss!


Be blessed! Journey well! To all good things...

My latest book, "Journey Well" is now available on Amazon along with all of my inspirational books. 50% of book proceeds are donated to the Massachusetts Resiliency Center, a safe, welcoming space for survivors of the Boston Marathon bombing to heal and stay in touch with one another; a virtual hub for a widely dispersed community whose lives have been impacted by the tragic events of April 15th and the events that followed.

When terror struck the world's oldest and most beloved marathon on April 15, 2013, it was a defining moment in Mary McManus’ life and the lives of all those in Boston and around the world. It was her wake up call to return to the sport and community that have been medicine and a lifeline for her throughout her marathon of healing the late effects of paralytic polio and experiencing 9 years of domestic violence as a child and adolescent. Mary captures the essence of Boston Strong through her experience of the 2014 Boston Marathon and as she profiles the people who are Boston Stronger. Through her blog posts, poems and journal entries woven together with excerpts from her memoir, “Coming Home: A Memoir of Healing, Hope and Possibility,” you will experience, through one woman’s journey of transformation and healing, that no matter what happens to us, we can all learn to journey well.