"Life's Tough. That's Why We Run!"

Bill Rodgers once said to me, "Life's tough. That's why we run. When we can handle the challenges on the road, we can handle the challenges in life." 

It's been a very challenging year for Team McManus and these past several months have been extremely challenging with Ruth Anne recovering from Functional Neurological Disorder. When she first experienced symptoms, we were told she had an excellent prognosis but it would take a lot of hard work. She's finishing up a series of appointments with physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy at Spaulding Rehab Hospital outpatient therapy center. The recovery has been miraculous and she continues to work hard in her home exercise program. Prior to having a diagnosis we were not sure what was happening to her or what the prognosis would be. She would lose the ability to speak and walk and experience severe weakness and numbness. When I saw the list of therapy appointments, I reminded myself that we are marathoners. We were going to take this one mile/appointment at a time. We were going to dig deep to get through this marathon of healing. Ruth Anne has 3 speech therapy appointments left and has completed her PT and OT treatments. The retraining of her brain's software continues with the exercises brilliantly prescribed by her PT and Speech Therapist. We know how fortunate we are that she was diagnosed so quickly and therapy began within a few weeks of the onset of symptoms.

Tom and Ruth Anne had an unusual training cycle for the Cape Cod Hyannis Half Maratthon last weekend. Yet they nailed their pace and time. Tom, however, tripped and fell a few feet before the finish line. He got up, got his medal and got evaluated by the medical team. On Sunday he went to Urgent Care and was told he had a hair line wrist fracture; use splint, ice and ibuprofen and see the orthopedist. Last Wednesday was an extraordinarily long day as Tom needed a CAT scan to further evaluate the need for cast vs. surgery. We thought it would be a quick in and out appointment to confirm it was healing and no further intervention  was needed. But just like a race doesn't always go as predicted, we took deep breaths to get through the miles of that day. And in the midst of Tom's wrist fracture, there was an issue with a change in Ruth Anne's health insurance. Her PCP was no longer going to accept her insurance.

I asked one of my close friends in a text, "how do we do all this?" She was jugging work and upcoming surgery for her older mom who had fractured her arm in July and now needed surgical repair. After a few moment's reflection I responded,  "Aah it;s because we are marathoners!" She totally agreed that because we tackle challenges on the road, we are physically and emotionally prepared to tackle challenges in life.

Ruth Anne's insurance situation is resolved after several phone calls and back and forth emails. Tom's surgery is scheduled for next Wednesday. It's an 8 week recovery period but he will have a 100% recovery with no residuals after the surgery heals.

No matter how challenging life may seem at times, I know that my endurance and resilience was born when I discovered the most unlikely runner within me rising after the once devastating diagnosis of Post-Polio Syndrome.

In health and wellness,

Mary

Visit my website to be inspired by my journey. May it ignite a spark within you to go farther than you ever believed you could. Be sure to visit the News and Events Page with links to podcast interviews, speaking engagements, where you can find my incredibly inspirational story and upcoming events.

Proud to BU is a podcast highlighting the illustrious achievements of Boston University Alumni. Here is the link to my episode.

My books that pack powerful messages of healing, hope and possibilities are available on Amazon  My 7th book, "A Most Unlikely Runner:Inspiration From The Heart of a Warrior" is receiving rave reviews and is a selection of the WBZ News Radio Book Club.

 

On Gratitude Runs & Perspective

After Saturday's run, I was so grateful to wake up to melting snow and dry ground on Monday morning. As I did my 5K through the neighborhood while Tom and Ruth Anne did their 3 mile tempo run, I felt inspired to pick up my pace while feeling blessed by the glorious sunshine. Sunday was a dreary grey day in Boston and Monday's sunshine provided a delicious contrast to the gloom that dominated Sunday's skies.

Despite all the doom and gloom in the headlines, I felt uplifted with the sunbeams feeling my connection to the Divine in all of her glory. I reflected on the miracle of my healing from the effects of paralytic polio and trauma and the miracle of my being having overcome the diagnosis of Post Polio Syndrome which was due in large part to the unhealed trauma of my youth. We went out over Tom's lunch hour. We all devoured our lunch savoring not only the food but how great it feels to move our bodies outdoors in the winter. 

Wednesdays are rest days for Tom and Ruth Anne so it's up to me to get my motivation gears in motion and get out the door to do my 5K. Temperatures were still in the teens when we got up but the forecast called for moderating temperatures. By 11:30 the temperature went up to 36 degrees! Talk about perspective thinking temperatures were UP to 36 degrees Fahrenheit. I was ecstatic the the arctic blast of minus 10 degrees with wind chill had quickly moved through. We've had winters when we've been 'trapped' in the Polar Vortex.

Ruth Anne insisted on taking a photo of me since I am the one who has been documenting their Providence Marathon run:

Gratitude filled my heart that she wanted to acknowledge what I continue to accomplish in my own way at my own pace. After all, 15 years ago I was told to prepare to spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair as a survivor of paralytic polio having been diagnosed with Post Polio Syndrome, a progressive neuromuscular disease.

I let the sun's warmth bathe me mind, body and soul reflecting on the miracle of healing in my life. Since we are in the middle of winter here in New England, I looked to the skies for beauty. I captured the presence of the Divine and angels through my camera's lens.

 

 I often use the hastag every step is a gift and every mile is a blessing. I felt it with every foot step on Monday's and Wednesday's runs. I was running what could have been a boring and mundane run around the neighborhood. Instead the run was transformed by the attitude I chose to bring to the run. I feel inspired by Tom and Ruth Anne's dedication, consistency and persistence with their training on the road to the Providence Marathon for Victory Programs and ReVision Urban Farm. Despite the climate of fear and uncertainty that dominates the headlines these days, people are incredibly generous with donations and words of support and encouragement. They know the marathon of healing that Ruth Anne endured and they know the integrity and passion that fuels Team McManus' journey on and off of the roads. The work that Victory Programs does saves lives and transforms lives. Their staff is second to none.

It could be so easy to get swept away once more, as we did in 2020, by the tsunamai of divisiveness, terror, panic and hopelessness yearning for the pandemic to end. During these challenging times I find it is vital for our family and me to stay focused on goodness, doing good, feeling well, being well and, as I talked about in a previous post, being unrelenting with compassion and kindness.

An attitude of gratitude and keeping perspective in my corner of the Universe sends out ripples of positive energy, love and moves the world into the light.

From my heart to yours

In health and wellness,

Mary

Be sure to visit my website at https://marymcmanus.com to learn about my journey to health and wellness in the wake of paralytic polio and trauma

Visit the News and Events tab to listen to my inspiring and uplifting interviews

My books to motivate, uplift and inspire you are available on Amazon

 

 

                                                                                                                                                                                

 

 

 

When The Pace Picks Up...

Last week events happened that left me feeling overwhelmed and frustrated. Summer is usually a time to kick back and savor a slower pace. Of course we didn't quite anticipate that last summer our pace would be slowed to a crawl but pandemic life forced us to slow down, notice things we might have allowed to rush by us and feel immensely grateful for health and simple pleasures.

The pace of life has picked up this summer with plans to return to in person work and school, signing up for races again and the once empty spaces surrounding magnets on our refrigerator are now filled with event invitations.

I am thrilled that we don't need masks in most settings, can safely socialize and life has resumed with activities we enjoy but it seems as though the pace has quickened beyond what I have become accustomed to during these past 16 months.

One of the ways that I manage feeling overwhelmed and frustrated is to push my pace on a run. Saturday, Ruth Anne and Tom paced me on our Jamaica Plain run. It wasn't planned. It evolved from the inside as my annoyance about last week's events needed to be released. 

Despite picking up the pace on our run, we made sure to pause savor the beauty around us. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By the end of the run my mood was lifted and I enjoyed that feeling of being spent after a good run. We haven't been racing for the past 16 months {and I am still undecided about whether or not I am going to return to racing again}. There is a special feeling when you push yourself and pass people ahead of you and sweat pours even after finishing the run. 

The stillness of the water helped my heart and soul to settle and the endorphins enabled my parasympathetic nervous system to kick in.

When the pace picks up and the world seems to be resuming its pre-pandemic frenzy, I can pause, breathe and get my bearings. There's no need for me to get swept along in the current. 

I enjoy being my only competition these days. Initially, I missed our annual races complete with what we affectionately called "race-cations". I missed hugging friends and gathering with members of our L Street Running Club. I missed challenging myself going for PR's and the thrill of Facebook feedback when I conquered the clock at a race.

As we emerge from the pandemic, everyone should find their own pace just as we do when we toe the starting line of a race. There are no judgments for what choices people make and what suits them mind, body and soul. I do want to cherish the soul lessons we've learned and preserve some of the habits we developed during the pandemic. Some may choose to go out fast when the gun goes off and stay out in front resuming pre-pandemic activities at a pre-pandemic pace. Others may hang in the middle of the pack keeping a steady pace finding their way along the course. And still others, like me, will be at the back of the pack finding my way into a new rhythm of life emerging from the pandemic remembering that life is a marathon, not a sprint and to pace myself accordingly. 

From my heart to yours
In health and wellness,
Mary

Visit my website to learn more about my journey of transformation in the wake of paralytic polio and trauma to the finish line of the 2009 Boston Marathon and beyond.

Be sure to listen to my recent conversation with Liz Brunner, award winning journalist, now CEO of Brunner Communications on her podcast Live Your Best Life. I share how I live my best life despite the challenges that I faced at an early age.

For all of my recent appearances, be sure to visit my News and Events tab on my website.

My books to inspire and uplift you are available on Amazon. 

Dare To Go The Distance

 

...a phrase that President Biden used before we turned the corner of the pandemic. He reminded us that we'd come so far but needed to go the distance before letting up on safety precautions and the need to get vaccinated. We continue to go the distance as we emerge from the pandemic ever mindful that we need to take steps to ensure we are part of the prevention of COVID instead of the spread.

During our Father's Day conversation with our son, I momentarily forgot about COVID. We were making plans for celebrating the twins 34th birthday together. There were reminders that we still have more miles to go before we can cross the finish line of the pandemic. He hasn't been able to see a dentist and his partner Michelle hasn't seen her physician because of the pandemic. We were also mindful about how things have changed. In pre-COVID times, Autumn would not hesitate getting on a bus and coming into Boston but now he and Michelle need to work out logistics to manage a visit while tending to their farm and animals. None of us is ready to eat indoors at a restaurant yet. It was reassuring to hear Gayle King say that she was anxious about going to the theater when they covered the story of Bruce Springsteen's show reopening Broadway for the first time in 16 months.

My daughter and I have wanted to go for a swim but when we found out being fully vaccinated was not a requirement at our Town pool, we decided to wait. We are so close to the finish line!

I've been reflecting on words and phrases that we didn't know before the pandemic and the emotions that are associated with this new vocabulary:

Socially distanced  
Mask up  
Fully vaxxed  
Quarantine   
Lock down    
Phased Reopening     
mRNA technology   
Variants  

There were some incredibly rough miles during these past 16 months and there is still some uncertainty on the road ahead, but I fervently believe that we will go the distance in leaving the pandemic in the past.  

I've also been reflecting on my own journey of transformation and the analogy of life being a marathon not a sprint; a phrase often used by epidemiologists and leaders as they reference ending the pandemic and one that is apropros to my life in the wake of childhood paralytic polio and trauma. Nobody would have judged me for accepting the diagnosis and prognosis of Post-Polio Syndrome after all the challenges I endured. I could have decided that leaving my award winning career as a VA social worker and accepting the progression of accelerated aging as a result of the initial polio virus  would be the finish line of my journey in this lifetime.

Instead, I dared to go the distance and defy the diagnosis and my past to heal my life.

In Massachusetts, we are blessed with a very high vaccination rate. We are still mindful that we have not yet crossed the finish line, arms thrust in the air feeling victorious that the miles of the pandemic are behind us. We are close and my hope and prayer is that every individual chooses to dare to go the distance in caring for ourselves, our communities and our world choosing health and well-being, love, kindness, forgiveness and compassion.

From my heart to yours in health and wellness,

Mary 

Be sure to listen to my conversation with Greg Chastain and Ed Siegel on their Voices of Hope podcast, The Cardinal Cafe. From Greg Chastain: The latest episode of The Cardinal Cafe is up! On this episode we meet Mary McManus. Mary is a motivational speaker, author, poet, 2009 Boston Marathon Finisher, polio and trauma survivor. She has a remarkable story of resilence, healing, Hope and possibilities. Once you hear her tell her story you will want to rush out to purchase her newest book of poems “Hope is a Garden” which she wrote during the recent pandemic. So please join us for this incredible story.

For more information about my journey from childhood polio and trauma to the finish line of the 2009 Boston Marathon and beyond, visit my website.  

Be sure to check out my website's News and Events page for upcoming and past interviews where I share my remarkable and inspirational journey as a survivor of paralytic polio and trauma.

My books to inspire and uplift you are available on Amazon.