Celebrating Ten Years of Running: Running IS My Therapy

While I always put my best foot forward and remain as positive and grateful as I possibly can, I'd recently been struggling with my runs. I even wrote about Taking a Pause. Tom's knee injury last week was both a stressor and a wake up call for me. The stress of watching our daughter struggle and suffer with psychiatric challenges, and a system that lacks resources and talent and that is profoundly broken to help someone find their way out of the darkness was taking a big toll on me, mind, body and soul. Tom's knee injury was a tipping point of stress and I decided it was time for a shift.

After I dropped Tom off at work, I parked the car across the street from the Reservoir, fastened on my water belt and was deeply grateful for a beautiful Autumn day in Boston.

I felt sluggish during my first mile. "What can I do to shift this feeling?" I thought to myself.

I reminded myself of all of the adventures of runner girl 1953 and embodied myself as a runner. I told myself to ditch the stress into the Reservoir and into the Universe. I kicked my own behind. For some reason, my iPhone deleted my running playlist that I titled, "The 12 minute mile" and I shuffled my library to accompany my run. A talk from Dr. Joe Dispenza came on. While I could not hear the specifics of what he was saying I felt his energy and reminded myself that it was time to think greater than my current circumstances and to embody my future self running a 12 minute mile.

I ended up with a 38 second negative split between mile 1 and mile 2 and an 18 second negative split between miles 2 and 3. But more important than the actual pace was how I felt once again pushing myself and visualizing crossing another finish line at some point in the not too distant future.

When I looked to the heavens, I saw an angel in the cloud formation against the backdrop of a beautiful blue sky:


I captured the beauty of Source in these photos:


and drew strength from the beauty and power that surrounded me.

I was sweating from the inside out cleansing the toxins of stress.

I realized that there is nothing more I can do to help my daughter in her recovery but what I can do is to nourish myself and to find ways to feel happy, healthy and enjoy a state of well being.

That run opened my heart and opened my mind to possibility. Rather than contracting into a state of anger, frustration and vigilance I now surround myself with a cascading waterfall of Divine Love.

This morning I put on my new playlist while I cleaned. I danced and I sang feeling gratitude overwhelm me for our beautiful decluttered home and our new office space. This was the first cleaning since we had our clutter removed. It was the culmination of a month of sorting, sifting and letting go.

I had my chiropractic treatment with Dr. Lizzie this afternoon. I felt ripples of energy flow through me melting away all of the stress in my life continuing to facilitate healing from the effects of paralytic polio and trauma. During my afternoon meditation, I integrated the treatment into mind, body and soul listening to the soundtrack from the Heal Documentary.

Running is my therapy, opening the path to problem solving and supporting my resilience in being able to manage stress in my life.

After Tuesday's run, I was renewed mind, body and soul ready to move forward in my life and my adventures as runner girl 1953.

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 Twelve Years of Healing: Healing Trauma

The past week has been particularly intense for me and sadly for many many women who have been triggered by events in the news. Having contracted paralytic polio at the age of 5 followed by enduring years of sexual, physical and emotional abuse manifested in the diagnosis of Post-Polio Syndrome twelve years ago. Two of the most challenging symptoms were difficulty breathing and swallowing. During my speech and swallow evaluation, we discovered that the left side of my esophagus was sluggish and I was aspirating food into my lungs. I was taught techniques to minimize the risk of aspiration and as my body healed as I healed the breach in my mind/body connection through the power of visualization, the swallowing and breathing issues dramatically improved. I wrote poetry in which I imagined myself healthy, whole and free and running the race even though I sat in a leg brace and was told to prepare to spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair!

When I get stressed, I am vulnerable to breathing and swallowing issues.

The combination of events in the news with the increased family stress challenged all of my coping resources. I added in the image of placing all of the thoughts and situations that were creating physical stress in my body into a hot air balloon. I even downloaded Up, Up and Away and added it to my running playlist. I wrote a lot in my journal peeling away the layers of my reaction to different stressors. Yet I could feel the stress continue to build in my body.



When I presented for yesterday's chiropractic treatment with Dr. Lizzie I shared how my back opened and my breath deepened after our last treatment. My right hip was finally moving freely after putting it through the rigors of 3 Bermuda Half Marathons in as many years.

"But," I went on to say with an involuntary cough.

"You have a cough," Dr. Lizzie said.

We talked about the tightness I felt in my chest and throat. What amazes me about Dr. Lizzie and the way she practices chiropractic care is that whenever I present with an issue, she has something to offer to treat it with a mindful, gentle approach checking in with me to ensure that she is in fact bringing healing and not re-traumatizing me.

I felt wonderful after the treatment but knew I had more work to do to clear the area of congestion.

I got to work in my morning meditation.

I thought about how I could obliterate the perpetrators who abused me for 9 years. I am not a violent person! I went from shooting them to shooting them with an air gun like you do at an amusement park and realized this would not do!

Tom and I have been on a decluttering adventure. It's been several years since we went on a decluttering spree and we knew it was time to do it again. I've been decluttering closets, my thoughts and my laptop. I was over the limit on my iCloud space. I went in and deleted videos and photos.

DELETE! That's it! I can hit the delete button to delete the trauma and the people associated with the trauma. I needed to erase it from my hard drive. So much stress built up inside of me from the past and present and in order to prevent a crash of my hard drive, I needed to dump data!

The next step in the process was to get to work on healing my throat and chest. I could sense that I was experiencing acid reflux that was contributing to the sensations I experienced. I created the image of a beautiful plush elevator with red velvet lining and there was only one direction for the elevator - down! I took deep breaths and allowed healing to happen.

To address the sense of constriction I felt in my throat and heart, I remembered how Dr. Lizzie's hands felt creating space. The image of being on a JetBlue flight with extra leg room and wider seats just popped into my mind. Aaah - feel all that space and reclaim this area as my own.

I thought about those cells in my throat, in my diaphragm muscles and the SCM muscles that Dr. Lizzie worked on while providing me with patient education.

I saw them as happy and free no longer affected by the polio virus or the trauma. I saw them dancing and then the song "Brand New Day" from The Wiz provided the musical accompaniment to my healing visualization.


I felt tightness release and the involuntary coughing spasms ceased! I kept repeating over and over and over again, "Thank You God. Thank You God." I took deep deep breaths and when I felt a hint of the congestion and spasm return I reminded myself of all the images accompanied by "Brand New Day" to fuel the momentum of healing. As the symptoms wax and wane in the face of stress, I will continue to practice these new images and thoughts. I imprinted and gave thanks for every wave of peace, ease and comfort I experienced. I said "Thank you for serenity. Thank you for hearing my prayers. Thank you for the gift of healing."

I am so blessed and grateful for the healing tools I've acquired over the past 12 years. I've dissolved a breast tumor, healed a lesion on my nose, grown new knee cartilage and a new gastroc muscle and prevented the need for a total knee replacement which is what the doctors and PT's said I would need after a serious knee injury in December of 2014. I have certainly stopped the progression of Post-Polio Syndrome and when these spasms and issues arise, I see them as opportunities to heal on deeper and deeper levels. The latest additions to my toolkit for healing, in addition to weekly chiropractic treatments with Dr. Lizzie, are the soundtrack from Heal Documentary, Dr. Joe Dispenza's Blessing of the Energy Centers for afternoon meditations, and reading Dr. David Hamilton's "How Your Mind Can Heal Your Body-Tenth Anniversary Edition." Even though my healing story with Post-Polio Syndrome is included in the book, reading the science and being inspired by others' healing stories is helping me to write the next chapters of my healing journey.

I'm celebrating twelve years of healing, ten years of running and finding creative ways to take my health and wellness journey to deeper and deeper levels of healing. I shed the identity as a victim of my past and feel empowered as I let go and fly free unencumbered by the circumstances around me. As Peter A. Levine said, "Trauma is hell on earth. Trauma resolved is a gift from the gods."

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***

Celebrating Ten Years of Running: I am in competition with no one!

After completing 3 consecutive Bermuda Half Marathons, I decided to take a break from endurance running, heal and recover from the 3 years of training for a half marathon and focus on running the distance of a 5K. I wanted to see what I could do to increase speed rather than endurance. In my mind's eye I see it all coming together with speed and endurance but for now I am focusing on seeing what this body can do with speed.

A few weeks ago I wrote a blog about being at a new starting line. I'm feeling momentum in my health and wellness journey.

The first step in my recovery from the 3 consecutive half marathons was to heal a hip/back/groin issue. Weekly chiropractic treatments, cross training and strength training, stretching, rolling out with a massage stick and visualization have helped my body's healing process.

I've been extremely patient with my recovery process. It's a miracle that, given my history of childhood paralytic polio and trauma, and the diagnosis of Post-Polio Syndrome 11 years ago that I run and am able to maintain a 5 day a week training regimen! I get a flood of emails for races and have declined all but one: The 5th Annual Middlemiss Big Heart 5K. I signed up as a walker but given my last two outings, I could have signed up as a runner.

On Saturday Tom and I did an out and back route from Carson Beach out to U Mass Boston. It was a hot and humid day. I tend to wilt in the heat and have difficulty pushing myself. We took frequent water stops, enjoyed the magnificent views and I ran one of my fastest times since last year ... a pace of 17'47"/mile, a tremendous feat for me as I wrote about in a recent blog post.



This morning we set the alarm for 6:00am given the searing heat and humidity that has been hovering over Boston. We meditated and did our core work. We have intensified our core work and strength training. Lots of water, a banana and off we went on Day 3/5 on my 5 day a week training cycle. There was a lot of shade and a downhill that I took advantage of. When we got to the Bridge before we crossed over to the Reservoir, I took a quick water break. My first mile was a 17'50" but that included a slow warm up as we went out the door.

Once we got on the Reservoir path I picked up my pace. I stopped at our halfway point for a water stop. We had to take a detour since part of the Reservoir was closed off this morning. We decided to go up a steep hill to Chestnut Hill Avenue and loop around the Reservoir on Beacon Street. When we stopped for a quick water stop at mile 2, our time was 17'05". I felt so proud of how well I was doing on the run. Chestnut Hill Avenue is a downhill which I know helped my pace for the last 1.1 miles. I clocked it at 16'32" with an overall pace of 17'05".



With the detour we had an opportunity to do a cool down before we got home.

Success breeds success! I knew that I could and would improve my pace once my hip/back/groin healed. Having a stronger core and building muscle strength contributes to running a faster pace with greater ease.

My endorphins were kicking after our run. I can see in my mind's eye that I can get back to running 5K races and enjoying every mile of the journey. It's great to not have any pressure to achieve any particular goals right now. After all...I am in competition with no one...I just want to be my health and fitness best ... I just aim to improve ... that's me and I'm free.

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):

Inspiring Others With What's Possible!

"Alice laughed: "There's no use trying," she said; "one can't believe impossible things." "I daresay you haven't had much practice," said the Queen. "When I was younger, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast." Alice in Wonderland

David Hamilton, Ph.D. wrote the first edition of "How Your Mind Can Heal Your Body" ten years ago. He put out a call for healing stories from people who healed themselves through visualization.

Here is what I sent to him:
Eleven years ago I was diagnosed with Post Polio Syndrome, a progressive neuromuscular disease by Western Medicine Standards. My life came to a screeching halt. I was at the height of my award winning career as a VA social worker yet was told if there were any "hope" of stabilizing the symptoms where they were I needed to quit my job, be prepared to spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair possibly needing a feeding tube because I would aspirate my food due to weakness on the left side of my esophagus. I was weak and in chronic pain, anxious and depressed.

I got still and asked for Divine Guidance and I began writing poetry in which I imagined myself being whole, healed and free in my body. My first poem was "Running the Race" - yes I know pretty incredible as I sat in a leg brace using a cane and at times a wheelchair for mobility. I went on to run the 2009 Boston Marathon as a mobility impaired runner. In addition to using poetry as a vehicle for visualization, I meditated several times a day imagining God as my master electrician rewiring my neuromuscular system and healing the effects of both childhood paralytic polio and severe childhood trauma that manifested as Post Polio Syndrome.

Three years ago, my left knee "blew out". I was pushing myself way too hard in my running without cross training. MRI indicated an atrophied gastroc muscle, bone spurs, degenerative changes due to osteoarthritis and multiple knee surgeries, shredded cartilage and a fatty lipoma. I was told to stop running and prepare to need a total knee replacement in a few years.

I returned to visualization and found my way to a wonderful chiropractor who supported my using visualization and a set goals not limits philosophy. He was also a personal trainer who prescribed exercises to support me as a runner. We used KT tape and the power of visualization to heal my knee and grow a new gastroc muscle.

I upped my game of time spent in meditation using visualization harnessing the power of my mind and the Divine within and around me and in January crossed the finish line of my 3rd Bermuda Half Marathon in as many years.

At the age of 64 years old not only am I not in a wheelchair and have not had a total knee replacement but life a full, vibrant life through the power of visualizing myself from illness to wellness claiming my birthright to be healthy.

After I sent him additional information about the specifics of how I turned around my prognosis, he wrote,
Thank you so much, Mary. What wonderful use of visualisation!!! I LOVE it. :-)

I love how creative you were and also how committed you were. I think your examples of visualisation will give many other people hope, who have none!

I’m meeting with my publisher at the end of the month to go through the examples I’ve been sent. Is it OK if I get back in touch with you then to confirm if we’ve been able to use your example? Personally, I really love it so I’m pretty sure it’ll make the final edit. :-)

Thanks again, and have a lovely day,

I am so excited to share with you that my story is going to be included in the newest edition of David's book, "How Your Mind Can Heal Your Body."


You can pre-order it on Amazon.

An authoritative and accessible book by a qualified scientist, showing incredible proof of the mind-body connection.

There is no longer any doubt that the way we think affects our bodies: countless scientific studies have shown this to be true. For former pharmaceutical scientist Dr David Hamilton, the testing of new drugs highlighted how profoundly the mind and body are connected. Time and time again, the control group of patients in drug trials improved at similar rates to those who actually received the medicines. Astounded, Dr Hamilton decided to change the direction of his work to explore the relationship between the mind and the body.

This bestselling acclaimed book was first published 10 years ago. In it, Dr Hamilton explores the effect of visualization, belief and positive thinking on the body, and shows how using our imagination and mental processes can stimulate our own defences and healing systems to combat disease, pain and illness.

In this new edition, Dr Hamilton has added four new chapters to discuss the latest cutting-edge information and extraordinary new techniques. These include using imagery to stimulate the immune system - a method that can benefit cancer patients undergoing conventional treatment - effectively using the mind to speed up rehabilitation from stroke, and powerful visualization strategies to help facilitate recovery from injury and illness.

While I share my story on Facebook, in this blog and in my books, having my story included in David's book is going to have a wider audience reach. He has appeared in the movie Heal Documentary, and is an internationally renowned speaker and author. His publisher is Hay House UK.

So often people do not know what is possible when it comes to healing our bodies harnessing the power of our minds.

I've heard many stories of people who say, "Oh I tried this or that and it doesn't work."

During these past 11 years I have experienced and experimented with many different paths to healing. I am so blessed and grateful that I found my way to chiropractic care with Dr. Lizzie Sobel. I meditate 3 times a day. My morning and evening meditations are 20 minutes each; my afternoon meditation is a 45 minute meditation. I use either a meditation from Dr. Joe Dispenza, Dr. Bernie Siegel or the soundtrack from Heal. It has taken me persistence and dedication to maintain momentum on my health and wellness journey healing the effects of childhood paralytic polio and severe childhood trauma. I work out five days a week; two days of running, two days in the pool and one day strength training on land.

My dedication is to myself and my own well being but it's also to send a message of healing, hope and possibility to others inspiring them to know just what is possible despite all appearances to the contrary!

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):


Coming soon *** The Adventures of Runnergirl 1953 ****

Countdown to Bermuda: Visualization and Mental Rehearsal

You can see Team McManus coming into the finish chute at 2:43:17 of the 2016 Bermuda Half Marathon:





Facebook told me that 3 years ago today I was at MRI Shields with my husband for a "date night." The purpose of the MRI was to find out what was going on in my left knee after it "blew up". Of course that was after 9 races in 9 months going for PR after PR and no cross training or strength training and no meditation. While my running tribe cheered me on every mile of the way, I was also surrounded by people who were not supportive of my running in the Post-Polio rehab community. The results of the MRI indicated shredded miniscus, a fatty lipoma, bone spurs, degenerative changes from osteoarthritis, an atrophied gastroc muscle and I can't even remember what else. The recommendation was to stop running or if I did run to cap the distance at 5 miles at most and prepare for a total knee replacement in a few years. Has it been a few years?

I was led to a healer chiropractor Ryan J. Means, DC who in addition to helping me get back to the sport I love, reignited my passion to heal my life from the effects of paralytic polio and trauma. He suggested urged me with a sense of urgency to read "You Are the Placebo" by Dr. Joe Dispenza. He even sent me this photo from a page in Dr. Joe's book while I waited for my book to arrive:


He recommended "Everything You Need to Know to Feel Go(o)d".

He gave me strength training and cross training exercises to augment my running and used every tool available to support my healing. He used KT tape to stimulate healing of my knee and to grow a new gastroc muscle. And even though he now lives in China, his healing imprint continues on my heart and in my life.

I got back on the roads - first with a 5K and then as synchronicity and serendipity would have it, the Bermuda Half Marathon in 2016. We just had to go back for a 2nd time and I learned a lot of lessons both while training and out on the course to ensure a happy race day experience. I was going to take a break from running another half marathon until we received an invitational entry from the Race Director.

Initially I thought it would just be Tom and me training for the 2018 Bermuda Half Marathon but we were so blessed that Ruth Anne could join us for a powerful healing and therapeutic experience on the road to Bermuda.

The day after tomorrow we're leaving on a jet plane. The first time in many years that Ruth Anne and I have been in Bermuda. The last time we were in Bermuda I was in a toe up leg brace and she had to push me around in a wheelchair at the airport. Aside from spending our time packing we are spending a lot of time using visualization and mental rehearsal along with Dr. Joe's meditation, The Blessing of the Energy Centers. As Dr. Joe says rehearse it in your mind until it becomes automatic in your body.

We have the course map marked up with our fueling and hydration plan:


We planned out our activities leading up to race day to ensure adequate rest time. We've exchanged numbers with friends who are going to be a part of International Race Weekend and we'll experience the joy of reunions.

The Bermuda Marathon Race Weekend website tells me it's 2 days and 23 hours until race weekend.

Team McManus is mentally rehearsing and visualizing their success crossing the finish line of Bermuda Half Marathon 2018.

To going the distance with strength and courage!
From my heart to yours,
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):

Countdown to Bermuda: Why There Will Be No Madness in Taper Time This Year

When I trained for the 2016 Bermuda Half Marathon, I experienced serious taper madness. I had not run an endurance event in 7 years. I knew I was well trained and that I would and could go the distance but there was a lot of baggage from the past that I brought with me before I crossed the starting line that reared its head during taper time especially a few days before race day.

Last year I put so much pressure on myself about finishing in under 4 hours that I couldn't enjoy the victory lap of all the hard work I'd put into training for 2017. I had not allowed for enough taper time nor did I take advantage of my cross training and strength training days once we started building miles. I focused more on my miles and less on all that I needed to do mind, body and soul to prepare to go the distance. My taper madness went into cheering on Tom and our friends at the Front Street Mile and the 10K. I was not well rested heading to the started line. My head and heart were not in the right space and I ended up cramping at mile 10. I was still able to finish and learned a lot in those last 3 miles. I was blessed to meet an earth angel at mile 12 who helped me get to the finish line and that was the start of a beautiful friendship.



This year I am ready to taper.

We had a dress rehearsal for race day during last Saturday's 12 miler.

Training for Bermuda Half Marathon 2018 has gone way beyond training for an event.

When we went from Team McManus party of two to Team McManus party of 3 we added a whole new dimension to our training. Ruth Anne had just gotten out of St. Elizabeth's Hospital. It was her 6th hospitalization in a year. As Ruth Anne often says, "Mental illness is no joke." It's not! Severe depression and psychotic thinking brought on by severe trauma is hell. But we know that our past doesn't dictate our future and know the therapeutic power of running and running together and so we trusted that training for the Bermuda Half Marathon was going to work for all of us!

We weathered freezing cold days, rain, heat and humidity while Ruth Anne weathered the ups and downs that go with any recovery and healing journey.

All 3 of us knew that last week was the last double digit long run we would need.

I am going to relish having extra time on weekends especially as we head into the holiday season. Thank you Bermuda Race Weekend for the timing of your race.

I am looking forward to the flexibility of whether or not we train outdoors. We have been so blessed to get in every training run outdoors during these past 7+ months. Last year we took to the treadmill and bike to get in the miles on several occasions. Being able to get outdoors for every long run builds a sense of confidence, physical strength and mental toughness.

My body is ready for a rest. There was a restlessness on my rest days as we built miles anticipating the weekend's long run. I had to make sure we had everything we needed for long run days heading into the weekend. Thursdays and Fridays are my rest days and today I feel relaxed knowing that we are either going to do 6 miles outdoors depending on the weather or head to the gym and do a treadmill run perhaps topping off the tank with a 6 mile bike ride. I do love those indoor bikes at our gym. I am leisurely doing the laundry, doing the grocery list rather than heading to the grocery store which we can now do on Saturday afternoons again and letting my body let go and heal from the grueling training I've put myself through since May.

I've had hip and back issues that haven't interfered with my running but made for uncomfortable times. I'm looking forward to experiencing my weekly chiropractic care without "undoing" some of it on the weekend long runs. My body can relax and integrate the work getting me in top shape for January 14th.

This training cycle has been a beautiful spiritual journey of healing, of hope and recovery. These past 3 years have been a marathon of their own. Ruth Anne will be the first to tell you that there were times she wasn't sure she was going to make it through. We weren't either. There is no worse feeling for a parent than to feel helpless over their adult child's situation; to know that all we could do was turn to prayer and allow Ruth Anne to find her path - wherever it may lead.

It leads to the starting line of the Bermuda Half Marathon and to a new beginning for all of us as a family and as individuals having crossed the finish line of the past 3 years.

One month from Monday we board Delta Flight 561 for Bermuda. I am using my extra time and energy to imagine how incredible this trip is going to feel and to attend to travel and packing details while enjoying the anticipation of Christmas and my birthday.

As we count down the days to Bermuda and taper our training, there will be no madness in taper time - only joy, gratitude, anticipation and excitement for our runcation. There is a sense of overwhelming appreciation for what we've already accomplished during these past 7+ months of going the distance.

It's time to taper!

To going the distance with strength and courage
From my heart to yours,
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):