Celebrating Ten Years of Running and Blogging!

On October 22, 2008 I posted my first blog on Healing, Hope and Possibility. I have chronicled my healing odyssey and my running journey through the years transforming my blog from Healing, Hope and Possibility to Welcome to a New World and now Going the Distance.

I used to be a daily blogger but now I've been blogging less frequently. I'm focused on finishing my next book, "The Adventures of Runnergirl 1953" and exploring avenues where I can share my journey with a wider audience.

In 2018 I was blessed to have my story included in Dr. David Hamilton's Tenth Anniversary Edition of How Your Mind Can Heal Your Body.



I was blessed to be a guest on David's radio show that complemented the release of his book on Hay House Radio. You can find it in the archives of Hay House UK 10/22 show.

I can feel that it is time to turn my attention to other projects now.

It's been a great run!

I've run the 2009 Boston Marathon and had wondrous adventures on the road to Hopkinton.

I experimented with different healing modalities and am now blessed to partner with Dr. Lizzie Sobel using chiropractic care to supplement my mind/body practices to continue to heal from the effects of paralytic polio and trauma.

I suffered a serious knee injury in December of 2014 and blogged during that time of uncertainty of whether or not I would be able to return to the sport I'd come to love after the diagnosis of Post-Polio Syndrome in December of 2006. What a joy filled journey as I went on to run 3 consecutive Bermuda Half Marathons.

I blogged about businesses, fund raisers, and my daughter's struggles with mental health.

I am deeply grateful for my readers during these past 10 years and my followers on Google.

It's a great time to take a break from blogging to follow Spirit to other adventures on the roads and in my life.

You can follow me on Twitter @runnergirl1953, Facebook and of course my website.

My books are available on Amazon.

Thank you again to all of my faithful fans and followers and I'll look forward to when our paths cross again!

To your health and wellness
From my heart to yours
Mary

My healing journey using the power of visualization is featured in David R. Hamilton's book, "How Your Mind Can Heal Your Body-Anniversary Edition." It's available on Amazon.


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 Runnergirl 1953***

“The Adventures of Runnergirl 1953” takes you on Mary McManus’ healing odyssey from a wheelchair to the finish line of the 2009 Boston Marathon and beyond. After the diagnosis of Post-Polio Syndrome in December 2006, Mary got still and asked for Divine Guidance tapping into the powerful connection she experienced to the Divine from an early age. She harnessed the power of her mind to heal her body, feverishly writing poetry in which she imagined herself healthy, whole and free from the shackles of her youth. Mary’s quest to heal her life led her to the sport of running. Her story is one that will leave you cheering for the underdog, discovering the meaning of different ability and experiencing the stunning view from the back of the pack of a race. You will have the privilege of bearing witness to how Mary overcame every challenge that life presented to her. The sport of running provides the backdrop for her journey of transformation from a survivor of childhood paralytic polio and severe trauma at the hands of family members to a woman who embodies faith, grace under fire, courage, determination, endurance and resilience. Running became a way of life for Mary that tested her mettle while forging friendships to last a lifetime. As you’ll discover in “The Adventures of Runnergirl 1953” nothing, not even a serious knee injury in December of 2014 could stop her on the roads or in her life.

Celebrating Healing: Twelve Years Ago Today

I felt unwell for 10 years before becoming sick and tired of feeling sick and tired. In the summer of 2006, I told my primary care provider that I felt there was something seriously wrong with me. On physical exam and based on my "vitals" and EKG there was no evidence that anything was physically wrong with me. He came out from his supply closet of samples from the pharmaceutical industry and handed me Paxil. He gave me a referral to a psychiatrist. I went home and flushed the Paxil down the toilet, ripped up the referral to a psychiatrist and prayed.

"Google Post-Polio Syndrome", Spirit suggested.

On October 19, 2006, with shaking hands and a trembling voice I picked up the phone and called the Spaulding Rehab's International Rehab Center for Polio and Post-Polio Clinic in Framingham; 30 minutes from my house.

An earth angel by the name of Anna Rubin answered the phone.

She spent 45 minutes on the phone with me as I cried and poured out my heart and soul to her.

"It sounds like you do indeed have symptoms consistent with Post-Polio Syndrome. I'll send out a packet of information for you to fill out and Dr. Julie Silver's Book on Post-Polio Syndrome. If you want to see Dr. Silver you'll have to wait until the first of the year but Dr. Rosenberg can see you next week."

I'd waited long enough to take that first step of my journey back to life.

After doing a series of tests in coordination with my NEW primary care provider, the diagnosis of Post-Polio Syndrome was made. I saw Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Speech and Language Therapy, Brace clinic and orthotics clinic. I was told to prepare to spend the rest of my life in wheelchair. If I had any hope of stabilizing the symptoms where they were that I needed to quit my award winning career as a VA social worker. I "had" 3 years to go before I was "eligible" for retirement. I was terrified ... and then got angry that I was in that predicament...and then in February of 2007 I got very still and asked for Divine Guidance. The answer came in the form of a poem, "Running the Race," and then many many poems in which I imagined myself as healthy, and whole, running unencumbered and free!

The rest, as they say, is motion picture history - well not yet - but it is captured in my books.


I sit here in absolute awe of where I was and how I felt 12 years ago to the woman I am today. The years of dissociation mind from body as a result of having contracted paralytic polio and then enduring years of severe childhood trauma finally caught up with me. While on the outside my life looked "perfect" with an award winning career at the VA, a home in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts and a family with my husband and twins, on the inside my life was falling apart. But out of the depths of my pain and through my struggles to return to a state of health and wellness, I found myself! My healing quest led me to the sport of running. What adventures I have experienced and what friendships I have forged all through that simple little sport of running. My running journey began in February of 2008 when I uttered those fateful words to my personal trainer (who I hired after being discharged from Spaulding Rehab Outpatient care) "I want to go outside and walk. I want to feel free in my body. I want to dance. (I took ballet before contracting paralytic polio)". As Janine was getting ready to leave the house at the end of my session I said, "Wait! I have one more goal...." The words fell out of my mouth before I had time to think. "I want to run the 2009 Boston Marathon for Spaulding Rehab. They have a Race for Rehab Team."

Twelve years since I took that first step on the road back to life. Twelve years and many earth angels to help support my healing. Twelve years and I found an incredible village in the running community. Twelve years and a healing odyssey to inspire others with a message of healing, hope and possibility.

To your health and wellness
From my heart to yours
Mary

My healing journey using the power of visualization is featured in David R. Hamilton's book, "How Your Mind Can Heal Your Body-Anniversary Edition." It's available on Amazon.


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 Runnergirl 1953***
The Adventures of Runnergirl 1953 takes you on Mary McManus’ healing odyssey from a wheelchair to the finish line of the 2009 Boston Marathon and beyond. After the diagnosis of Post-Polio Syndrome in December 2006, Mary got still and asked for Divine Guidance. She harnessed the power of her mind to heal her body, feverishly writing poetry in which she imagined herself healthy, whole and free from the shackles of her youth. Mary’s quest to heal her life led her to the sport of running that tested her mettle while fueling her journey of transformation from a survivor of childhood paralytic polio and severe trauma at the hands of family members to a woman who embodies faith, grace under fire, courage, determination, endurance and resilience. Running became a way of life for Mary. As you’ll discover in “The Adventures of Runnergirl 1953” nothing, not even a serious knee injury in December of 2014 could stop her on the roads or in her life. Mary’s story is one that will leave you cheering for the underdog and discovering the meaning of different ability as Mary overcame every challenge that life presented to her.

Celebrating Ten Years of Running: I'm Now Off the Sidelines

In February of 2007 I faced a grim and uncertain future. I'd been given the diagnosis of Post-Polio Syndrome, a progressive neuromuscular disease by Western Medicine Standards. I got still and asked for Divine Guidance. What's a social worker to do after being told I had to quit my job just 3 years shy of retirement age and prepare to spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair? The answer came through my pen; what I have come to call my Diving Rod for healing as poetry poured forth from my soul inspiring mind, body and soul to heal.

The first poem I wrote was "Running the Race":

Running the Race
Early summer 1959 my kindergarten year
Everyone around me filled with nervous fear
Despite the Salk vaccine hope polio would disappear
The polio virus crept right up and knocked me in the rear.
Dancing all around the gym feeling free just like a bird
I dropped to the ground just like a stone
and no one said a word.
The pain it was so searing-the diagnosis even worse
"It's polio" the doctor said...he was abrupt and terse.
Called one of the 'lucky ones' I had a 'mild case'
But with the other athletes I could never keep their pace.
Miss Holly physical therapist,
curly hair and a warm, broad smile
It tempered the pain of being apart - to walk I'd take awhile.

I always wore those 'special' shoes
the kids they poked and teased
With no support and much abuse
with childhood I wasn't pleased.
But put nose to the grindstone and learned all that I could
I couldn't kick a ball but my grades were always good.
Years went by and no more thought to polio did I give
I accepted the limp and everything else
and decided my life I would live.
But symptoms of weakness and muscle pain did grow
I kept a stoic face hoping no one else would know.

Life no longer was my own I struggled through each day
Suffered in silence, isolated from friends-
trying to keep depression at bay.
And with the grace of glorious God my world it opened wide
I discovered there was a Post Polio team
and they were on my side.

Using wheelchair to travel, set limits on what I could do,
Resulted in joy to realize I could live life anew.
Celebrated my body- creaks, groans and need for a brace
While in my mind I focused on winning a 10K race.
Sought out paths for healing and my spirit flew free
For the first time in life, I could truly be me.
The chains are gone and possibilities abound
I'm a tree with my roots planted firmly in ground.
I'm now off the sidelines, no need to sit and whine
So much gratitude fills my heart and love and beauty shine.
After all these years I can join the loving human race
I exceed all expectations and now I set the pace.

I call your attention to the last two couplets:
I'm now off the sidelines, no need to sit and whine
So much gratitude fills my heart and love and beauty shine.
After all these years I can join the loving human race
I exceed all expectations and now I set the pace.

"Can't we just take a selfie and call it a day?" I said to Tom as we pulled up to Carson Beach at 10am today before our scheduled run.

He laughed.

It was hot. We were both still feeling drained from the "hard" of the last few days and weeks and I'd have to add the cumulative effects of the past 4 years bearing witness and care giving to our daughter who struggles with her mental health. We used the first part of the run to cast our worries, cares and feelings upon the expansiveness of the ocean. We allowed our foot strikes to carry us forward and to help us transform from feeling weighed down by circumstances and feelings to open hearts, gratitude and being able to appreciate the beauty of our lives and of the world around us.

We poured sweat and had to take a lot of water breaks. I was so happy to see my pace drop back to where it's been the past few weeks instead of at the pace it was on Saturday!



After our 3.11 mile run I got under the outdoor shower at Carson Beach. We sat on the beach and marveled at how running transforms us. We also took pause to reflect on the miracle of my healing journey.

Through the power of running I've healed my life from the effects of paralytic polio and trauma and continue to use running for health, well being and to move beyond myself and feelings of limitation or lack.

I celebrate ten years of running...I can unequivocally say that I'm now off the sidelines. There is no time to sit and whine...so much gratitude fills my heart and love and beauty shine. With every run, my foot strikes carry me forward away from negativity and toxic emotions to a place of happiness, gratitude, peace, love and acceptance.

From my heart to yours,
To your health and wellness,
Mary

My healing journey is going to be featured in David R. Hamilton's soon to be released book, "How Your Mind Can Heal Your Body." It's available for pre-order on Amazon.

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):

Celebrating Ten Years of Running: Hard Days Are the Best

We planned to go to South Boston to run but by the time we got ourselves together this morning it was mid-morning. We regrouped and chose to go out the front door and run around the Cleveland Circle Reservoir.

The temperatures were cooler than in recent weeks but I could still feel the humidity.

During the past several weeks, I have been extremely successful at pushing my pace, celebrating 10 years of running; focusing on speed rather than endurance. They were hot and tough runs yet I wouldn't classify them as hard runs.

I define a hard run as one in which I don't feel a mind/body coherence. It's a run that challenges me to be present and to go beyond the sensations I may be feeling in my body.

These last few days challenged me in ways that took me by surprise. I did not think there was anything left to surprise me as I journeyed through these past 4 years with our daughter's mental health challenges but these past few days really topped anything we'd experienced in these past 4 years. The details aren't important but the stress certainly took a toll on me. As soon as we began our run I felt a tightness in my right IT band and knee. I dialed back the pace. Tom and I debriefed about the events of the past few days while we ran. I felt the heaviness in my body from a poor night's sleep. I could have easily turned around and gone home. There's no accountability for my runs and workouts except to myself and perhaps my followers in social media. It is so important for me to honor my goals and commitment to my health and wellness journey.

The Reservoir was beautiful and we could sense the transformation from summer to autumn in the shades of green on the trees.

The water glistened with the reflection of the sun.

My pace was much slower than what I'd been running the past few weeks but still an improvement from post Bermuda Half marathon 5K pace. I sent lots of love to my right leg and had the epiphany that the events of the past few days stirred up the trauma I experienced as a child. With that realization, I drew from the sun and the water to send healing energy to my right IT band. I've been meditating to the soundtrack of the Heal Documentary and heard Michael Bernard Beckwith's voice saying, "You can heal anything. Life has trusted you. Breathe into that!"

I felt deeply grateful for the gift of running in my life and the gift of running with Tom every Saturday and Monday morning. After the diagnosis of Post-Polio Syndrome, having been told to prepare to spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair, every step on the pavement is a gift. We honored how hurt and tired we felt yet there we were out on the roads doing everything we could to shake off the events of the past few days.

We had negative splits.

Even though my pace was slower than what I'd been running in recent weeks, my mental game was strong. When we came off of the Reservoir and ran up the hill, I pushed myself to not stop before our water stop at the 2nd yellow pole on the bridge heading toward a downhill. It was a big victory for me to be in charge of my run rather than allowing the circumstances to impose on my run.



Tom went on to deposit a total of 8 miles in the Bank of Bermuda on the road to his fourth consecutive Bermuda Half Marathon!

I saw this post on Facebook from Kelly Noonan Gores, the Director of Heal Documentary:

“Life will give you whatever experience is most helpful for the evolution of your consciousness. Accept, and then act. Whatever the present moment contains, accept it as if you had chosen it. Always work with it, not against it. This will miraculously change your life.” -Eckhart Tolle
Of the many “aha moments” I had earlier this week, the biggest was about resistance to what is. Therein lies our suffering. To truly believe that Life/Universe/God is always for you, never against you, and to TRUST and BREATHE while you are going through an unwanted circumstance, that is the key to freedom and healing.

When I woke up this morning and at the beginning of my run, it would have been easy to take another rest day. I refused to let external circumstances overtake me.

Hard days and hard runs: They are the best....When you push through them you know you can get through anything!

Celebrating 10 years of running deeply grateful for the gifts that running has brought into my life...especially when a 5K run helps me make it to the other side of hard.

From my heart to yours,
To your health and wellness,
Mary

My healing journey is going to be featured in David R. Hamilton's soon to be released book, "How Your Mind Can Heal Your Body." It's available for pre-order on Amazon.

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):

Celebrating Ten Years of Running: On Faith and My First Race Medal

When I decided to leave my award winning career as a VA social worker just 3 years shy of when I was eligible for retirement in May of 2007 to heal my life from the effects of childhood paralytic polio and trauma, it was an act of faith. I couldn't see the whole staircase of what was ahead for me financially, physically (I'd just been diagnosed with Post-Polio Syndrome a progressive neuromuscular disease by Western Medicine standards), emotionally or spiritually. When the words, "And I want to run the Boston Marathon for Spaulding Rehab Hospital next year" fell out of my mouth when my personal trainer asked me what my next health and fitness goals were in February of 2008, I had no idea what I was doing. I was following a call.

When we arrived in Hyannis for the Hyannis Marathon Weekend in February of 2009, I felt like a fish out of water. Here I was among all these runners sporting their Boston Marathon jackets, shopping at the Expo and seeming far more knowledgeable than I about running. There were signs and synchronicity that let me know I was right where I was supposed to be instinctively sharing my inspirational story about coming out of a leg brace and a wheelchair to take on the running of the 2009 Boston Marathon.

I was in awe that people were in awe of my story. I didn't know that the running community was not only inclusive but embraced my courage to find my way to the sport of running at the age of 54 years old.

I was embraced by the running community AND running greats Bill Rodgers and Frank Shorter.

The races leading up to running the Hyannis Half Marathon did not offer medals so you can well imagine my thrill at receiving a medal after I crossed the finish line of my first half marathon race:


As we trained for the 2009 Boston Marathon and committed to our fund raising goal, I had to have the utmost trust and faith that I would succeed. I had no idea where the monies would come from when we first set out on the journey nor did I have any idea how I was going to run 26.2 miles when I'd never run a day in my life before March of 2008.

With patience, perseverance, taking it literally one step and then one mile at a time having the utmost faith in what I was doing, I crossed the finish line of the 2009 Boston Marathon and we raised $10,535 for Spaulding Rehab.


Becoming a part of the running community, meeting running greats and earning my first race medal at the Hyannis Marathon Weekend are some of my fondest memories as I celebrate ten years of running!

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 ****

Celebrating Ten Years of Running: Enjoying the Fruits of My Labor

For the first time in 3 years, I am not training for an endurance event. I am not training by choice not because I am injured or feeling the effects of Post-Polio Syndrome. I am choosing to enjoy the fruits of my labor from the past 11 years since the diagnosis of a progressive neuromuscular disease.

For the first time in my life, I can enjoy living in my body. Oh sure there is still pain at times and there is that delicious soreness that comes with working out and challenging myself. Overall I feel well and I love the feeling of Being in my body. I'm continuing to recover from 3 Bermuda Half Marathons in as many years:


I'm running without pain now as my hip/back/groin issue resolved and I am extremely happy with a 5K - for now. I want to work on my pace but I know that will come in time.

This is the time of year when I geared up for training for the Half Marathon. I am content, grateful and happy to not be training for any events right now. In September I will run the 5th Annual Middlemiss Big Heart 5K Run, Walk, Roll. I signed up as a walker! I can relax and enjoy the day and see what this body will feel like doing come race day in September.

I'm going to be support crew for Tom as he trains for another Bermuda Marathon Weekend. He is debating whether he wants to do the Triangle Half Challenge again, the Half Marathon or the Full Marathon.

I am loving my time in the pool challenging myself with my swimming workouts and experiencing the joy of freedom in my body in the water. It's a time to experience stillness in my mind and the benefits of the healing waters as they continue to wash away the past and continue to create my feelings of health and wellness in my body.

I know that my body can achieve anything that I put my mind to and it has! We ran the 2009 Boston Marathon and many races leading up to that triumphant day:


After a serious knee injury in December of 2014, I harnessed the power of my mind with chiropractic care to heal what the physiatrist and physical therapists told me would lead to a total knee replacement in a few years. I went on to run the 3 Bermuda Half Marathons in as many years. This past year of training did take a lot out of me but I feel incredible gratitude that I pushed myself through to finish the trilogy of events.

Having accomplished so much in these past 11 years on the roads and in my life and celebrating ten years of running overcoming the odds of what I was told Post-Polio Syndrome would do to my body, it's time for me to enjoy this summer and enjoy the fruits of my labor.

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:


And my latest and greatest book - Going the Distance: The Power of Endurance (With a Foreword by Jacqueline Hansen):