Celebrating Ten Years of Running: I Am a Runner

From the soon to be released, "The Adventures of Runnergirl 1953":

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, 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!

Ten years ago I laced up my first pair of running shoes. I had never run a day in my life yet something deep within me told me that I needed to run. I had been diagnosed with a progressive neuromuscular disease by Western Medicine standards; Post-Polio Syndrome, a manifestation of the effects of childhood paralytic polio and severe childhood trauma.

Ten years later I celebrate the gift of running in my life and declare I am a runner!

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):

Run Bermuda! Run Happy! Transformation Tuesday: Taming the Dragon

The Gift of Polio
Thank you God for the gift of polio that brought me so close to you
while paralyzed I saw your face no matter what I’d do
Many wonderful healers you sent them to me at age 5
perseverance and triumph life’s lessons learned
but my Spirit could not yet thrive.

At age 53 the gift was sent to me a second time
having time to sit and feel to heal I started to rhyme.
The second time felt worse than the first
yet your love and wisdom I found
out of pain and weakness and fatigue a remarkable spirit rebound.

Reliving all the trauma of special shoes and such
I discovered remarkable healers who brought a loving touch.
I had no clue I had such strength and the ability to grow
no matter what the outcome deep gratitude I show.

This gift so precious I live a new life gratitude flows from me
my heart and soul are filled with grace each day’s a gift from thee.
from "Feel the Heal: An Anthology of Poems to Heal Your Life"

If you look at my Facebook posts about my weekly training cycles and photos of our weekly runs on the road to Bermuda Marathon Weekend, you would never know the challenges I face every day.

Shortly after being diagnosed with Post-Polio Syndrome, a progressive neuromuscular disease by Western Medicine standards, I discovered the gift of poetry in my soul. In my poems I wrote about gratitude, being happy, healthy and whole, splashing in puddles and running unencumbered and free reclaiming my life from the thieves of childhood who tried to steal my life.

I knew that until I was grateful for everything that happened to me and embraced what happened to me as a gift, I was not going to be able to heal my life.

I used to feel and get physically stuck in my body. I would literally freeze in different moments throughout my day such as attempting to get off the toilet without leaning on the sink, freezing at the top of the stairs needing to grasp the banister and go down one step at a time and could not propriocept doing a squat. Those were a result of the severe childhood trauma I experienced coupled with having contracted the paralytic polio virus at age 5.

I met a chiropractor healer, Dr. Ryan J. Means, in early 2015 and all that began to change. Ironically it took a very serious knee injury and negative encounters with the providers I was working with at the time that brought me to Dr. Ryan's table. He prescribed Theraband Stabilizers, strengthening exercises and showed me how to do a squat at the wall loosening up my once frozen patterns combined with the art and science of chiropractic care.

I remember the day I just stood up from the toilet without needing to hold on to anything. It was a combination of creating a new neural net and strengthening the muscles I needed to use to perform such a simple act, yet for me one that reflected powerful healing happening in my mind, body and soul. And what joy I discovered when I could, gingerly at first, and then effortlessly bound down the front steps to my house without the bannister!

On Sunday, Team McManus went to the Wellesley Boston Sports Club to cross train. I worked out in the pool. I didn't see any steps to walk into the pool. I reminded myself how strong my arms are and easily and with confidence lowered myself into the pool. When it came time to get out of the pool, I went over to the steps ... only these steps were not the metal steps that give the space I need to climb out of the pool; these steps were built into the side of the pool.

As I got to the top step, there was a very narrow margin for me to navigate my way onto the deck. There was a big step from the top step to the deck. As I held onto the bars with no easy solution for getting myself out of the pool, I was about to ask the lifeguard for help. I asked God for help and I harnessed the power of Divine Intelligence within me. I organized myself neurologically, took a deep confident breath along with one giant step up and lo and behold I did it! It was one giant step forward for me in my healing journey.

I do not allow all the things that have happened to my body define me or defy me but I do honor the challenges I experience in taking on the challenges I choose to take on in my life - like training for and running Bermuda Half Marathon III.



One of my s-heroes throughout my healing journey has been Wilma Rudolph, a polio survivor who went on to win Olympic Gold.



When I was training for the 2009 Boston Marathon, my personal trainer told me about her story and insisted I google her. Her quotes inspire me when the going gets tough.



I am blessed by my amazing village. Ruth Anne and Tom support and encourage me every step and every mile of the way on and off of the roads. I have an incredible village on line and in real life who embrace me and my journey. They celebrate my accomplishments and give me the strength and inspiration I need to tame the dragon! Oh what treasures I have discovered within myself and in life.



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):

Going the Distance: 8 Bermudaful Miles

Last week's 8 mile training run was filled with struggles and challenges yet Team McManus felt a sense of triumph after those 8 miles.

When we woke up this morning to another glorious sunny day we decided to head over to South Boston to get in our 8 mile training run for Bermuda Marathon Weekend. The weather is reminiscent of Bermuda in January and while there is nowhere in the world that has the blue waters of Bermuda, the water hugging the coast in South Boston was a radiant blue.

Rather than run our typical out and back course from Castle Island to U Mass, I suggested we park at Carson Beach, run to Castle Island, circle the Castle and then head out to U Mass. It's always important to give your body something new and interesting out on those long runs.



The miles seemed to fly by! There was ease, laughter and joy in this run as we relished a day that was a true gift from the Universe on 9/17 in Boston. We talked about our jobs, our dreams (yes you better believe you still have dreams in your 60's!) and healing.

I realized there are still some things in my life that reflected my old behavior patterns and on the run was able to get clarity on what I needed to release. Tom and I formulated my exit strategy. There is no time to waste and as Christopher Walken posted on Facebook:
"None of us are getting out of here alive, so please stop treating yourself like an after thought. Eat the delicious food. Walk in the sunshine. Jump in the ocean. Say the truth that you’re carrying in your heart like hidden treasure. Be silly. Be kind. Be weird. There’s no time for anything else."

I really had to push through the last mile and wondered what was going on. Tom realized that we had not stuck to our hydration and fueling plan on our run. We were so caught up in how good we felt and the beautiful day that we lost track of our hydration and fueling plan. I cramped up at the end of our run; fortunately it was at the end of our run. I have total confidence in my body's ability to recover from our long runs, even if we mess up a little. This runfie captures the joy of the day:


Tom and I shared a grapefruit and I drank a lot of water. I stretched and we went into the ocean for an ice bath to encourage our bodies to begin their recovery.

We had a fantastic lunch at 75 on Liberty. I had their Salmon BLT with a side salad and we indulged in a dessert following Christopher Walken's advice.

We felt as though we had a wonderful vacation day together. As we pulled into the driveway, for a moment, I was wondering why I was feeling so sore... and then I remembered ... it was because we ran 8 Bermudaful miles together preparing for our return to Bermuda Marathon Weekend in January.

To your health and wellness,
~Mary

On Struggles, Taking a Leap of Faith and Triumph!

The other day I received a call from the Social Work Executive at the West Roxbury VA Medical Center. They are having a celebration of 90 years of social work at the VA. At the staff meeting on 2/29, they are going to honor those social workers who retired from the Boston VA Health Care system in recent years to honor their contribution to the mission and vision of social work at the VA.

On 5/25/2007, almost 9 years ago now, I walked away from my almost 20 year career as a VA social worker. In December of 2006 I was diagnosed with post polio syndrome, a progressive neuromuscular disease and told that I should prepare to spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair. After intensive outpatient treatment at Spaulding Rehab with a physical therapist who would not treat me as a polio survivor but rather believed in the body's capacity to heal, writing poetry, meditating, visualizing, making dietary changes and finding the strength within me to take a leap of faith and leave my career



I began to feel better than when I walked into Spaulding in October of 2006.

I remember the day I gave my notice to my nurse manager at the VA. At first she was happy for me but within 24 hours she told me that I couldn't leave; that my plan to write poetry and heal my life made no sense whatsoever. In fact it did not make any sense if you look at the stark reality of what I was doing but I had a vision and was living in my imagination of what my future could hold for me despite all appearances: physical, emotional and financial. She wanted me to consider my options - work part time; give myself more time to make my decision but she could see that my mind was made up and in 6 weeks time I would separate from my job at the VA.

Wearing a leg brace and no longer needing a wheelchair I walked out of the Jamaica Plain Campus of the VA Healthcare System. (I write at length about this leg of my journey in my memoir, "Coming Home: A Memoir of Healing, Hope and Possibility"available on Amazon)

I experienced triumph when I crossed the finish line of the 2009 Boston Marathon:



And since then it was a journey of more struggle than triumph.

Little did I know how much was going to manifest into reality from all those poems in which I visualized my healing.

The struggle was real and hard. Every day I feel greater ease.

And I have to tell you...when I return to the VA on Monday 2/29, I am going to experience the glorious triumph of my healing and to celebrate the work I did while I was at the VA serving those who served. And as my shero and fellow polio survivor Wilma Rudolph so eloquently stated, "The triumph can't be had without the struggle."

My Running Chronicles: Nothing Can Stop Me Now!

During my meditation on Sunday I was starting to feel a little anxious about these next miles on my healing odyssey. What if's and doubts started to surface. I told myself, "You are a runner. Everything is healed. Everything is rewired. The more you do, the more your body will respond to the messages of confidence and strength and will do everything it needs to do to get stronger. Here is your schedule: Run long...strength train ... swim and strength train in the pool ... run short for speed and hills ... strength train. Recover for two days.

And then this song came into my thoughts:


Nothing CAN stop me now as long as I keep my thoughts focused on health, well-being and fully embracing and embodying myself as an endurance runner; feeling the incredible power in partnering with the Divine Mind within me to clear the energy from the past, sticking to my plan knowing my body can rise to the occasion.

I knew that Tom and I needed to tweak our strength training plan as we increased miles. I wanted to do it from a place of well strength and not fear.

On Sunday, we turned to our dear friend and Coach Reno Stirrat's website Distance Running Tips. I had instinctively ordered ankle weights to decrease repetitions and maximize strengthening those all important quad muscles and hip flexors. Tom and I reviewed the videos that Reno has posted on his website and got to work.

It was so funny to see how I had a moment's pause before doing straight leg lifts on the floor with an ankle weight. I smiled and reminded myself that my mind and body need to work together for me to go the distance this time and finally cross the river of change as Dr. Joe Dispenza calls it in "You Are the Placebo."

And you know what? This time I am going the distance. I have everything in place mind, body and Spirit and will be vigilant when thoughts and feelings express doubts and fears and replace them with knowing and believing in every fiber of my Being that this time, total healing is mine to claim. I've worked hard for it. I deserve it. It is my birthright and the Universe has blessed me with everything I need. I am surrounded by a village of believers who know as I know that nothing can stop me now!

Get you gone, you sky of grey!
Farewell, you furrowed brow!
Now my future's crystal clear!
No more woe for me to fear!
I'm gonna stand this world upon its ear -
And I'll succeed somehow!

I'll walk a million miles
For life's full of smiles.
Nothing can stop me now!



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.


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

My Running Chroncles: Advice from Olympian Billy Mills

The subconscious mind cannot tell the difference between reality and imagination ... Relive the moment the way you want it to be. - Billy Mills Olympic Gold Medalist

Heading out on my training run, I wanted to break that 16:00 minute/mile pace that has been with me since I returned to the roads in March. I had it in my mind's eye last Saturday but it didn't happen. I'd been watching Billy Mills YouTube video as I retrain myself as a runner after last December's injury. I've been keeping a healing journal and writing affirmations.



I wanted to write down in my training journal a 5K run with a sub 16:00 minute/mile pace but to be honest, I was afraid to write it down in case I missed my mark. Now I know that you have to be willing to commit 100% to goals. I am still clearing out the messages from doctors and therapists who discouraged me from running or pushing myself. I guess too there was a part of me that didn't want to "fail" if I wrote down the goal and fell short today and that's okay. The important thing is that although I couldn't commit to writing down the goal, I made a shift in my thoughts before I went on my run.

I reminded myself that I am a runner. I imagined Forrest Gump and Wilma Rudolph and Billy Mills. I am fearless when it comes to setting and achieving goals when I move out of the way and allow the transformation to happen.

I thought about the work of Dr. Joe Dispenza, and "You Are the Placebo" and rather than focusing on the how's or why's or what's of breaking the 16:00 min/mile pace and beginning to focus on a PR for my race on July 3rd, I decided to set the goal and just let it happen.

I reminded myself of how I felt when I ran in 2010 breaking PR after PR by setting my mind and intention squarely on the outcome and visualizing how I wanted the moments to be. I ran and flowed from the inside out.

I could tell when my mind was straying from working coherently with my body and I reeled it right back using the imagery that Joe uses in his You Are the Placebo book about taming a stallion to focus during meditation.

I felt a side stitch and nauseous and I reminded myself to run from my soul. I kept coming back to running from my soul and allowing the beautiful elegant runner within me to emerge.

I did not look at my time but had every confidence that I was running a sub 16:00 minute/mile pace. I believed it with every fiber of my being and asked the Universe to work with me to just make it happen.

Now just as a side note - I have also been strength training and cross training in the pool to become the runner I am today but my beliefs about my running and setting goals are just as crucial as the physical training. Joe Dispenza talks about the importance of coherence with the mind body. During my run today I kept coming back to feeling everything working together releasing doubts and placing all of my physical, mental and spiritual energies into the outcome I wanted for today's training run.



And so it happened! My fastest pace since 9/20/14 and 1 minute and 46 seconds within striking range of my 46:53 PR at the Bill Rodgers 5K in August. ***46:52*** is the time I want to see on the clock when we cross the finish line at the Finish at the 50 on July 3rd. I believe in setting goals not limits and I know how amazing it feels to open this body up and just run as well and as fast as I possibly can.



I'm back feeling strong and confident as a runner once more surrounded by a great support crew in my husband and my running family. And when doubts or fears rear their little head, I can now outrun them. I'm retraining myself mind, body and Spirit for speed and endurance. Success breeds success. Seeing an average pace of 15:33 with splits of 15:44, 15:14 and 15:47 (the last mile had a hill!) makes me smile from ear to ear.



Life is indeed a marathon and I am so blessed on the roads and off.

Cheers! To Life! Love yourself well!

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.


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.

My Running Chronicles: Born to Run - Run Free - Wilma Rudolph and Me

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

"Do you know who Wilma Rudolph is?" my personal trainer asked me as I struggled through an early run training for the 2009 Boston Marathon.

"No," I said. "I never heard of her."

"Well Google her when you get home. I want you to read her story," she told me in no uncertain terms.

From Wikipedia:

"Wilma Glodean Rudolph (June 23, 1940 – November 12, 1994) was an American athlete and an Olympic champion. Rudolph was considered the fastest woman in the world in the 1960s and competed in two Olympic Games, in 1956 and in 1960.

In the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, Rudolph became the first American woman to win three gold medals in track and field during a single Olympic Games. A track and field champion, she elevated women's track to a major presence in the United States. As a member of the black community, she is also regarded as a civil rights and women's rights pioneer. Along with other 1960 Olympic athletes such as Cassius Clay, who later became Muhammad Ali, Rudolph became an international star due to the first international
television coverage of the Olympics that year. The powerful sprinter emerged from the 1960 Rome Olympics as "The Tornado, the fastest woman on earth".

Why did my trainer refer me to Wilma Rudolph for inspiration? Because when Wilma was four years old she contracted paralytic polio. Her mother was told she would never walk again. Then she was told she would never walk without a leg brace. With the fierceness of a mother's love and surrounded by a loving, supportive family, Wilma Rudolph came out of her leg brace. She was on the high school basketball team and ran track as something to do in the off-season.

While I did not have the love and support of my mother during my recovery from paralytic polio and had the added challenge of family violence from the age of 8 until the age of 17, I had my Spirit and I had earth angels who would support me throughout my life. Miss Holly, my physical therapist, offered me the tender love and support that a mother would offer to her own child. Miss Dupres was my French Teacher who nourished me in junior high and high school. After graduating high school, and following my father's suicide on August 1, 1971, she invited me into Manhattan to meet her for lunch before I began my freshman year at Boston University. She gave me a sewing kit. She told me that no matter what life may rend apart, I would always be able to put it back together again.

After being diagnosed with post polio syndrome, Allison Lamarre Poole came into my life. She helped me to believe that I could and would get stronger. She had enough faith for both of us until I could believe that I could heal and was not destined for a future in a wheelchair. Then I met Janine. She could have walked away from me when I told her I wanted to run the 2009 Boston Marathon shortly after coming out of my leg brace and never having run a day in my life. But, like Wilma Rudolph's mother, she believed that I could move beyond the late effects of paralytic polio and achieve the dream that was in my heart. It took a village to help me cross the finish line of the 2009 Boston Marathon and it takes a village to support me getting back on the roads.

"No matter what accomplishments you make somebody always helps you." ~Wilma Rudolph

I can feel in every fiber of my Being that I was born to run and to run free. I wasn't afforded the luxury or the opportunity as a child to run free as paralytic polio followed by violence prevented my body from making a full recovery from polio as Wilma Rudolph was able to do ... UNTIL NOW!

There were several factors that prevented my body from complete healing. Until now I did not believe that complete healing was possible for me, but I am reading "You Are The Placebo", watched, "What The Bleep Do We Know..." and "What the Bleep:Down the Rabbit Hole."

I BELIEVE!

I held onto my identity as a survivor of polio and violence but now I see myself as completely healed, healthy, whole. Instead of seeing myself as a mobility impaired runner, I see myself as an endurance runner. I focus on what I DO want rather than focus on what is. I keep a healing journal with affirmations. I meditate and go down the rabbit hole of pure consciousness to allow my body to do whatever it needs to do to heal. Every time I notice a change that's occurred such as steady hands or no head tremors, pain releasing from my leg, I imprint those memories and celebrate the changes.

Did I mention that I BELIEVE?!



Wilma Rudolph experienced complete healing after paralytic polio and went on to become an Olympic Champion with intention and attention and the power of belief along with daily massage and rehab exercises by her mother and family members.

Another factor that prevented my body from completely healing was fear.

One of the things that terrorized and terrified me was that the violence started three years after I'd been paralyzed. I was weak and deconditioned and no matter how wonderful my physical therapist and physiatrist were, we were all swimming upstream against the current of healing because of daily assaults.

But now - there are no assaults and the fear is gone because I realize I can run. I can outrun them just like Forrest Gump did when he outran the bullies.



I was born to run - and I am now able to run free -- just like Wilma Rudolph - and just like me!

Cheers! To Life!

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.


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.

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.

Channeling my Inner Wilma Rudolph and Reflections on the Healing Power of Touch

When Wilma Rudolph was four years old, she contracted paralytic polio and went into a leg brace.



Doctors told her mother she'd never walk again. With the fierceness of a mother and family's love, they combined regular physical therapy sessions with leg massage. While massaging her daughter's legs, her mother set the powerful intention that her daughter would come out of the leg brace and walk again. Her 20 brothers and sisters took turns massaging her legs four times a day.

Not only did she come out of the leg brace and walk again but she went on to win 3 Gold Medals at the 1960 Summer Olympics.



Before each treatment with Joseph at Sollievo Massage and Bodywork, I set an intention. Last week, knowing that I have the Spectacle Island Run tomorrow and the Tufts 10K coming up in two weeks, I set my intention on running. I told Joseph that I shifted my imagery for healing from electrical wiring to plumbing. Joseph reminded me that just a few weeks ago I mentioned to him that I felt as though he were bleeding a radiator on my right knee allowing the murky water to be released and warmth to flow. We work together to heal the injury from a belt buckle beating that literally brought me to my knees. It's an old injury that is healing and one, that interestingly enough, feels better when I get out for a run. There is also a "clog" in the flow of energy from when I was in a leg to ankle cast for 6 weeks when I was 11 years old.



With each treatment, I feel wounds healing and energy flowing. My Spirit becomes stronger no longer cowering in fear from violence and death threats. Joseph empties himself to allow the power of unconditional love to flow through him and to allow Spirit to guide the work. I know how blessed I am to have found my way to Joseph and Sollievo; I know that it was my intention and fierce determination to heal no matter what that led me to him. It was an after thought for my running friend Gail Martin who is also a licensed massage therapist to refer me to Joseph. We know that she "got out of the way" so that Spirit could work through her.

As I take my place tomorrow at the start of the Spectacle Island Run, I am going to channel my inner Wilma Rudolph. I will carry the love, the care and compassion of my physiatrist, Dr. Moskowitz and Miss Holly, my physical therapist, who worked with me for 8 years to help me come out of my leg brace and walk again, and Joseph with me. I will be running on trails on an unfamiliar course but knowing I have the incredible support of the race director and will be running with Tom by my side, I know that I am going to have a great race. I'm not concerned at all about the distance, just the terrain and being unfamiliar with the course. I've trained up to 7 miles and two weeks ago ran a 5 mile race with a stiff headwind on Ogunquit Beach. The race director Alain told me that he can't wait to see me rock Spectacle Island and that I am going to crush it. I've been meditating on ease, lightness, Truth and freedom releasing the shackles from the past.

Every race presents its own challenge and triumph for me. Every starting line is an opportunity for me to begin again to rise to meet the challenge. With each challenge met, I feel more confidence, and more strength to meet the next challenge surrounded by so much love and support and healed through the power of touch.



The first 7 years of my healing odyssey are chronicled in Coming Home: A Memoir of Healing, Hope and Possibility available on Amazon. I donate 50% of royalty payments to The One Fund Boston to help survivors and their families who were affected by the tragic events of 4/15/13.



I'm working on my 2nd book, "Journey Well," due out later this year: