Celebrating Ten Years of Running: A Gratitude Run

I connected with a woman who is in the beginning of her journey with Post-Polio Syndrome. She heard my interview with David Hamilton, Ph.D. on Hay House Radio UK as I shared how I've been able to heal from the effects of paralytic polio and severe childhood trauma harnessing the power of my mind through visualization. We've been chatting on Facebook messenger. She takes me back to those early days of my journey with Post-Polio Syndrome as I faced a rather grim and uncertain future and how challenging even the simplest of tasks were for me. She reminded me of the chronic fatigue I experienced. She tells me how much hope and inspiration I give her.

While I have never ever taken anything I can do for granted, especially running, and I live my life with an attitude of gratitude, this morning I felt gratitude overflow in every fiber of my Being. I miss running with Tom who is recovering from a knee injury, but these times of solitude help me to reflect and appreciate how blessed I am to be able to run and all that I have been able to co-create as I heal my life.

When the alarm went off and Tom mentioned that he needed one more rest day before getting back out on the roads with me, I could have easily decided to drop him off at work and then go on my run. But I was feeling really psyched to get out on an early morning run. There was a feeling deep in my soul that urged me on.

Twelve years ago in December I was told I should prepare to spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair. Four years ago in December I was told I should stop running (and that I probably should have never started running as a survivor of paralytic polio) and prepare for a total knee replacement.

Tom did core work with me and sent me off on my run letting me know that he should be back on the roads with me in no time!

I loved the solitude at the Reservoir and kept saying thank you to the Universe for the gift of running in my life.

During my second lap, I heard footsteps behind me. Since it was early in the day, I wanted to be aware of my surroundings and turned around.

"Excuse me. Do you know the distance around this Reservoir?"

"It's .9 of a mile," I answered.

"That's a pretty good pace you're keeping there. I'm having a hard time keeping up."

I beamed inside. I've been working hard at improving my time and here was someone who was having a hard time keeping up with me. We chatted until we got to the entrance of the Reservoir where we parted ways but not before I had a chance to share my story with him.

"It's absolutely amazing what we can do once we put our minds to it," he said.

I captured the beauty of the morning even though it was cloudy and gray:


and Tom took my "selfie" when I got home:


"You look like you had a spectacular run," Tom said to me as I smelled toast and coffee and saw the table set for breakfast.

I checked my pace and splits. After a warm up on the first mile, I did speed work that got my pace into the 16's again. I had a -1.11 split between mile 1 and 2. I felt accomplished and satisfied with my run but the greatest feeling I experienced on this Monday morning run was gratitude for healing, for the gift of running in my life and the joy to be alive!

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 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: A Sneak Peak of "The Adventures of Runnergirl 1953"

Next Wednesday is World Polio Day. So much has been done to eradicate polio in the world but there is still work to be done. No child should have to endure the pain and trauma of contracting polio. I know because I did in June 1959. But my greatest challenge became my greatest gift. Here is a sneak peak preview of my next book, "The Adventures of Runnergirl 1953":

Introduction

“The best way to predict the future is to create it.” ~Abraham Lincoln

Once I received the diagnosis of Post-Polio Syndrome, a disease deemed by Western Medicine Standards to be a progressive neuromuscular disease, I worked hard to live by Abraham Lincoln’s philosophy and the philosophy of many luminaries of the New Age. In December of 2006 life as I had come to know it came to a screeching halt. I was not going to take the diagnosis sitting down.

Sometimes it feels as though life is going to crush us but then we have the opportunity to turn around and crush goals in life! At first I was afraid - very afraid and then I got still and asked for Divine Guidance. The answers came through my pen, what I came to call my divining rod for healing in the form of inspirational poetry; powerful words that inspired mind, body and soul to heal. I was creating my future; a future very different than the one the doctors predicted for me harnessing the power of my imagination to heal. I was told to prepare to spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair, and to anticipate an accelerated decline in functioning as I aged.

I traded in my wheelchair, leg brace and cane for a pair of running shoes. I went on to become an endurance runner. My adventures as runner girl 1953 (the year I was born) started when I was 54 years old!

After writing my second memoir, "Going the Distance: The Power of Endurance," my friends encouraged me to write another book about my healing odyssey from the effects of childhood paralytic polio and severe childhood trauma. The theme of this book came to me during a run in August 2017. I knew I needed to take a broad brush look at my healing journey across over a decade of healing and to highlight the transformational and redemptive power of the sport of running. Through my running and life adventures my mettle was tested and friendships were forged to last a lifetime. In "The Adventures of Runnergirl 1953," I'll briefly take you back to when I contracted paralytic polio at the age of 5 and to receiving the diagnosis of Post-Polio Syndrome at age 53.

I’ll answer the question, “How did you go from being told to prepare to spend the rest of your life in a wheelchair to the finish line of the 2009 Boston Marathon?”

You’ll be inspired by my response to a major setback of a serious knee injury in December of 2014 that “they” said would sideline me from running for the rest of my days.

It's the 10 year anniversary of when I bought my first pair of running shoes, a perfect time to take a look back and share with you the adventures of this runner girl. In my quest to heal my life, I was led to the sport of running and found the treasure of myself along the way. Come along with me as I share the adventures of a lifetime after life as I had known it came to a screeching halt with the diagnosis of Post-Polio Syndrome.

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: Life is a Marathon!

I could never play sports as a child after contracting paralytic polio at the age of 5 but I ran the 2009 Boston Marathon at the age of 55! I remember the day my personal trainer took me outside to learn how to run in April of 2008. We did a lot of work indoors from February (when I declared that I wanted to run the Boston Marathon for Spaulding Rehab) to get me ready to run for the first time in my life. My heart rate went up to over 170 and I thought my heart would jump out of my chest on that very short first run/walk. But it didn't! While my mettle had been tested in life from a very early age; contracting paralytic polio at the age of 5 and enduring years of abuse at the hands of family members until my father died by suicide when I was 17, I lived in a survival mode fighting my way through and dissociated from my body in order to survive. When I took on training for the 2009 Boston Marathon, I learned how to live in my body. I learned how to live through discomfort and come out on the other side by transcending the pain rather than abandoning my body to get there.

I went from running for 1 minute and walking for 4 minutes to running 30 minutes at a time to running my first 5K in June. In July I ran the Marathon Sports 5 Miler and wanted to quit as the pack of runners took off in front of us leaving us far behind. Tom would not let me quit knowing that if I did not finish that race, I would not have discovered that I did have what it would take to run the Boston Marathon! I discovered that I was capable of so much more than I realized. I was celebrated for my courage and determination as everyone cheered me onto the finish line on a hot steamy July evening. I could not tell where tears ended and sweat began as, for the first time in my life, I was cheered rather than jeered in an athletic endeavor. I ran the Tufts 10K in October while building miles on the weekends with long runs. We ran the 2009 Hyannis Half Marathon which introduced me to running greats Frank Shorter and Bill Rodgers and runner friends to last a lifetime.

I transformed from "Easy Out Alper" (the name I was given in gym class using my maiden name) to Runnergirl1953 as I crossed the finish line of the 2009 Boston Marathon:


After a serious knee injury in December of 2014, I had to regroup on my healing journey after running 9 races in 9 months with several PR's and no cross training. After being told I shouldn't run but if I did to cap my distance by the Western Medicine practitioners, I doubled down my healing efforts growing a new gastroc muscle, cartilage in my knee, dissolving bone spurs and reversing degenerative changes. I incorporated cross training. I went on to run 3 consecutive Bermuda Half Marathons.

We've faced a very tough challenge during these past 4 years. Our daughter suffers from severe psychiatric impairment. Despite our best intentions and working hard to try to help her recover, she continues to go down a path of self-destructive behaviors, refusing treatment and insisting on living life on her own terms consequences be damned. There are days when I feel as though I can't possibly endure another minute but ah that's where my experience as a marathoner kicks in. I know that I can go one mile at a time. I harness the power of my mind, my power of Faith and the power of the Love in my village to carry me through. I've learned that I can only run my own race with all of my strength and determination to be MY best self. It's hard to let go and yet I've come too far to allow any circumstances in my life to bring me down.

This quote came up in my Facebook memory this morning:
"Every time you meet a situation, though you think at the time it is an impossibility and you go through the tortures of the damned,once you have met it and lived through it you find that forever after you are freer than you were before."
~Eleanor Roosevelt

While I'm not signed up for any races in the near future, I am working on my speed at the 5K distance. I am also running an ultramarathon off of the roads in my life with the challenge of our daughter's condition.

I'm running my life like I own it - because I do! Running taught me to know that no matter how tough a challenge I may face, I am tougher than any challenge. I was capable of so much more than I imagined after first receiving the diagnosis of Post-Polio Syndrome 12 years ago and was told to prepare to spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair. I have brought forth the treasure of who I was always meant to be out of the rubble of my past and I use that strength and soul power to manage whatever challenge life presents to me.

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: It All Began With a Poem!

Tom posted on Facebook that he still gets moved every time he reads the first poem I wrote. He put a link to the poem on my website.

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.

It was the dark night of my mind, body and soul. Two months prior to putting pen to paper and writing this poem, I was diagnosed with Post-Polio Syndrome deemed to be a progressive neuromuscular disease by Western Medicine Standards. Gosh I hope in these past 12 years the medical establishment has had time to rethink their thoughts about what happens to polio survivors in their later years. I was told to quit my award winning job as a VA social worker and to prepare to spend the rest of my life in wheelchair.

I was scared - very scared...then I got angry...and then I got still and asked for Divine Guidance.

It was a cold dark day in February of 2007. I felt a stirring in my soul as I was surrounded by teachings of Wayne Dyer, Lisa Nichols, Bernie Siegel and Tony Robbins. Lisa Nichols suggested in her newsletter to express gratitude in advance of your prayers being answered. A practice that goes back to Jesus and has been suggested by many wonderful modern day healers and teachers. The prompt was, "I am so happy and grateful now that I can..." and the word "create" ended the sentence for me.

Create? Create what? My twins were grown and I was told my career was over. What was left to create?

I took a pen to paper but then the words flowed so fast I had to get on my laptop.

My heart opened and I cried.

My curiosity was piqued. Why was I writing a poem about running a race when I was in a leg brace using a cane and at times a wheelchair for mobility having been told to prepare to spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair.

I felt unwell for about 10 years leading up to the diagnosis of Post-Polio Syndrome. For the first time in 10 years I felt joy, hope and possibility. I had felt trapped in my body and trapped in my life despite having an award winning and very rewarding career at the VA up until I started to feel unwell. A door to my future opened after I wrote "Running the Race".

It was as though a spigot was turned on in my soul and poems flowed out of me in which I imagined myself healthy, whole and healed running unencumbered and free releasing the shackles of my past rife with violence from my childhood and the effects of having contracted paralytic polio at the age of 5.

I had never run a day in my life but in my mind's eye I saw myself as a runner. I never owned a pair of running shoes and the "closest" I ever got to the sport of running was being a spectator for the Boston Marathon.

In February of 2008, the personal trainer I hired after being discharged from Spaulding Rehab's Outpatient Clinic, asked me for my next health and fitness goals. My initial health and fitness goals were to be able to get off of a low seat without assistance, diversify my workouts and see if I could get a little stronger.

From "Coming Home: A Memoir of Healing, Hope and Possibility":
“Well I want to feel free in my body. I want to dance. I want to be able to walk outside and feel unencumbered when I take a walk.”

Janine wrote feverishly and we worked out a plan. She gathered up her belongings and had her hand on the door knob.

“Wait. I have one more goal.”

Janine stopped and turned around.

“I want to run the Boston Marathon for Spaulding Rehab Hospital. I know they have a Race for Rehab team and I want to do it next year.”

So began my journey as a runner.



What a blessing to celebrate a decade of running. And to think that it all began with a poem!

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***