Every Finish Line is a Starting Line: What's Next?

Mary McManus you ran the Bermuda Half Marathon, what are you going to do now?



I'm going to run the Hyannis 10K on February 28th!

What is so striking to me after running the Bermuda Half Marathon is how well I feel. I feel that I am ready to continue to build strength, endurance and improve speed on my shorter distances.

It's quite the miracle when you stop and think about it.

For the first time in my healing journey I am experiencing momentum. Chronic fatigue and pain have been replaced with feeling "vibrant sore."

I am experiencing confidence in my body and I am finding joy in running.

This morning, less than one week after running the Bermuda Half Marathon, Team McManus was back out on the roads. We did a good stretch to warm up along with a plank (now increasing time and we are up to 3:05), clams with weights on and 65 crunches. I layered with running tights under my running pants and two layers on my upper body with my Boston Marathon jacket. A Brooks hat and glittens from Saucony



completed the winter gear outfit.

We decided to take the mileage down to a 5K and build back up to a 10K to continue to give my body the chance to continue its recovery from 6 months of intense training and then running the Half.

There was a strong wind and we decided we should not run around any bodies of water but stay on Beacon Street in an out and back route from our home.

After training for and running 13.1 miles, running 3.11 miles, despite the weather conditions, was a joy. I began to crank up the pace a little bit but listening to my body in the weather conditions I dialed it back. I did about a 16:00+ minute/mile pace overall. There were patches of black ice and little snow mounds here and there. During every training run of the past 6 months we would imagine how it would feel coming into the finish line on Front Street. In today's run we remembered that feeling of exhilaration and how it was exactly as we imagined it would be.

After the Hyannis 10K, we will maintain our 10K distance on the weekends and work on speed at the 5K distance as we get ready for the Harvard Pilgrim Finish at the 50 5K on July 3rd - the race where my road to the Bermuda Marathon Weekend all began. And then Team McManus begins to train again for January 15, 2017.

It will be amazing to compare how I feel this year versus last year. Everything was so new and uncertain given my journey of the past 9 years and especially after the December 2014 knee injury.

Every finish line is a starting line and I am so excited to experience what's next.

Here's Team McManus after running 3.11 miles this morning:

My Running Chronicles: 15 is the New 16

When we last left this intrepid runner, I was following the advice of Billy Mills and I finally broke that 16 min/mile pace on my training run. Last Saturday, Tom and I set out to do our 4 miler. We knew we needed to incorporate hills and a lot of tough hills because two weeks from this Friday, I will be toeing the starting line of the Harvard Pilgrim Finish at the 50 and I've got my sights set on a time of 46:52 or better. So I have the course map with my time written on it on our refrigerator:



You see dear readers, I am no longer running as a survivor of paralytic polio and violence -- I am running because as I recently said in this blog, I was born to run and born to run free. It's just there was a little interruption of oh 5 decades or so that was a hurdle I needed to get over. When I told my muscular therapist who is partnering with me on this next phase of my journey that I am no longer running as a survivor of paralytic polio and violence but as the runner I was always meant to be and that I want to run fast, he commented, "Ah to be swift of foot - like the god Mercury."



What a wonderful image. Coincidentally Mercury and Mercury's Greek counterpart Hermes are both patrons of poets!

Paralytic polio initially took me out of the athletic realm and I didn't have a chance to get back in the game because I was fighting for my survival every night and on weekends with my wildly dysfunctional family.

But now I am fired up and fierce with determination to allow the runner within to fully take form and emerge from the gunk of my past.

Why you may ask ... why is she so obsessed with running and being her personal best? What is she trying to prove and at close to 62 years old - really?

Yes really -- and in truth I have nothing to prove yet I have everything to prove to myself.



During Saturday's training run with Tom and God bless him for running with me rather than doing a brisk walking pace because it is helping my journey of transformation (and more about mirror neurons in another post), we talked about how we were no longer going to live in fear. It's important to be mindful and run from the inside out as I like to call it, but we can no longer behave as though my body is going to get injured or break down again.

Those days are over!!!

I am healing and "every day in every way I am getting better and better" (as Dr. Emile Coue so eloquently stated it).

I have new mantras:
Trust don't test and see if in fact that left knee has full range of motion or that the right IT band discomfort is gone. Just trust and act as if it has already manifested in reality.
Feel the joy in the challenge rather than experiencing a sense of struggle and overcoming. It's a whole new ball game now and as race director Dave McGillvray loves to say, "My game. My rules." Coincidentally he is the race director for the Finish at the 50. He wrote in my book, "The Last Pick," "Set goals not limits."
Focus on the healing not on the wound.
Feel the heal.
Focus on the wave not on the particle.
Love is stronger than fear.
I am an ambitious god.

Tom and I had an amazing run together. I once again ran a sub 16 minute/mile pace and my pace at the 5K mark puts me well within striking distance of my PR for race day.

As I climbed into a post training run ice bath, I had a moment of pause as living in my polio/trauma/injured body briefly surfaced. How can I get in and out of the tub? "Oh yeah," I reminded myself, "I am strong and can do squats and besides we do have a railing in the tub but I am flexible and I move with ease and grace." (more mantras)

The ice bath felt amazing.

And after the ice bath I had this epiphany bathe every cell in my body. I am no longer a victim to my body. From the time I was 5 years old I lived in fear of my body and then I lived in fear of what others would do to my body but NO MORE! Those days are over. I can have my mind and body work together and my mind heals my body. I can love myself well and allow love to be so much stronger than fear.

Today I did cross training in the pool at WaveHealth where I use that time and space for moving meditation and healing as well as gaining strength washing away all the old beliefs.

Two weeks from Friday I'll be testing myself for the first time since last October when I PR'ed the Tufts 10K.

I'll be channeling my inner Wilma Rudolph, Forrest Gump, Seabiscuit, Billy Mills and embody Mercury and Hermes with winged feet to have a phenomenal race day.

15 is the new 16 and I'm going to keep moving forward with my training embodying and embracing the runner I was always meant to be.

Feel the Heal

The Potter’s wheel with loving hands a figure forms brave and true
breaking mold cast by others, Triumphant Spirit shining through.
In likeness of Divine’s image, all excess baggage gently melts away
unbridled freedom, joy fired up whole without fringe or fray.
Rhythmic turnings ever so slowly, tender kindness she feels the heal
Potter pauses work now finished, she leaps from Potter’s wheel.
Color and shape beyond compare magnificent in radiant sun
going the distance helps others to heal fueling her 26.2 mile run.
Transcending transforming no pain can last,
grit and gratitude fill heart and soul
leave doubts and fears in dust of memories past
sights set clearly on finish line goal.
In the distance the Potter’s cheering
that Voice so clear rises above the din
she feels in every fiber of her Being this race is hers to win.
Pacing, persistent and patient in each moment she feels the heal
reminded of her humble true beginnings
blessed by grace on Potter’s wheel.





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.


50% of book proceeds from all of my books, available on Amazon are donated to the Arredondo Family Foundation whose mission is to provide a helping hand to those experiencing a tragedy and to provide education on matters relating to military, veterans, military families, and the issue of suicide.

I am working on my new book, Feel the Heal: An Anthology of Poems which brings togeth

My Running Chronicles: #tbt My First 5 Mile Road Race - A Defining Moment

July 2008 - the Marathon Sports Annual 5 Mile Road Race. No time like the present to get acclimated to road racing. My first road race was in June 2008, the Corrib Pub Road Race. It was a 5K distance and the neighborhood came out in droves to cheer, to offer water and to hose us down. Tom, my husband, my life and running partner would shout out to the people cheering us on that I was a survivor of paralytic polio and this was my first road race ever. The time didn't matter. I was out there doing something I'd never done before and I was training for the 2009 Boston Marathon. I hadn't run for more than 40 minutes continuously so I had to walk for part of the race. There were still many people finishing with us and I felt triumphant finishing my first road race:



By July, we had become members of the Marathon Sports family. I was fitted for my first pair of running shoes at Marathon Sports in February and they were enthralled with my journey.

The atmosphere was quite different from the Corrib Pub and it was a very fast field. Everyone took off and Tom had to convince me that it was okay; that we were just going to run our race. There were a few back of the packers but there were no spectators and we had no idea where we were or where we were going. Talk about trust and faith.

From Coming Home: A Memoir of Healing, Hope and Possibility:

Our first 5 mile race was the Marathon Sports 5 miler. It was a hot, steamy evening in July. We got lost on the way to the race. Tempers were running as hot as the thermometer because I was so anxious about running my first five mile race. My energy tended to wane by the evening as I was continuing to deal with the late effects of paralytic polio. We finally arrived and walked around trying to enjoy the pre race festivities. As everyone took their place at the start, I could see that this was a serious, competitive running crowd; quite a contrast to my first race ever, the Corrib Pub Run 5K in June.

Runners went out fast and Tom, Ruth Anne and I were in the back of the pack with a few other people. Even they took off and I told Ruth Anne to go out ahead of us. I experienced my first (of many) marathon training meltdowns. I cried as I shared with Tom all the memories of having kids take off and leave me behind that were bubbling to the surface. I was sweating and tired and hot. I couldn’t tell where my tears ended and sweat began. I told Tom I had no business training for the Boston Marathon. Tom was wonderful and he told me that I couldn’t quit. We would make it through this race and we would make it through every training run. He believed in me when I did not believe in myself. I did know, however, that if I didn’t finish that race, I would never make it to the starting line of the Boston Marathon. Alison gave me water and a high five out on the course. She was worried about me in the heat and wanted to make sure I was okay.

Despite finishing dead last, members of the Marathon Sports family who knew the story of Team McManus, had air horns and a truck on the field honking and blowing and cheering us on to the finish. Ruth Anne circled back around to bring us into the finish line. She was there at the finish line to give me a hug and celebrate my first 5 mile road race ever. I knew training for Boston was not going to be easy, but I knew I had what it was going to take to make it happen.

The Marathon Sports 5 Miler was a defining moment for me early on in my running career. I learned about how the running community celebrates the last runner as though they were the one to break the finisher's tape and how wonderful it feels to be celebrated for going beyond limits. I realized that I had to leave the past behind and could not carry the taunting and teasing voices from the past with me in my head. I learned that I was stronger than I thought I was and there is always something left in the tank especially when the journey is fueled by love, support and kindness.

I'm moving forward and carrying that defining moment in my heart on the road to the 2016 Newport Marathon along with the beautiful friendships that have blessed my life during these past 7 years. I'm excited to experience the thrill of racing again on July 3rd at the Finish at the 50 5K at Gillette Stadium and eager to begin building miles after the race. The joy is in the journey even when you don't have any idea where you are or how you are going to make it to the finish line.



BE BLESSED! JOURNEY WELL! TO ALL GOOD THINGS.....

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.


50% of book proceeds from all of my books, available on Amazon are donated to the Massachusetts Resiliency Center to support 4/15/13 Boston Strong survivors and their families.

I am working on my new book, Feel the Heal: An Anthology of Poems which brings together my best poems of the last 8 years and will include my latest poems as I continue to feel the heal and move forward in my life.