Being Born Again

The sport of running helped me to transform from a survivor of paralytic polio and trauma to a confident, determined woman defying the odds of the diagnosis of Post-Polio Syndrome, a progressive neuromuscular disease.

During the past several months, with the stress of caring for Ruth Anne and supporting her in recovery from PANDAS along with the cumulative stress from the past 3 years, I'd been experiencing mild neuromuscular symptoms. At first it was disheartening to experience the symptoms after so many years since the diagnosis in December of 2006 but I knew it was related to stress.

I reminded myself of how much I have healed in my life through the power of the mind/body connection and rededicated myself to my health and wellness journey.

I imbued myself with positivity, increased my meditation and the focus of my meditation, focused on the power of chiropractic, removed myself from certain Facebook groups and friends that turned out to be an energy drain and joined/connected with others that uplift me.

I decided to rekindle my love affair with running.

Running 3 consecutive Bermuda Half Marathons in 2016, 2017 and 2018 took quite the toll on my body. I decided that I would only run the 5K distance. I did several races last year at the 5K distance. August through December was dedicated to caring for Ruth Anne.

As Tom and Ruth Anne trained for the 10K distance, I was inspired to increase my distance.

I was running 4 miles consistently on Heartbreak Hill.

Last Saturday, my 4 mile run turned into a 5.22 mile run because I dropped my phone.

Magic happens to me when I go out for a run especially when I feel that inspiration to push beyond what I once thought were limits.



While in my quiet moments I can feel a whisper of fear bubble up inside of me concerned about the physical symptoms that sometime come to the fore, when I am out on the roads, those fears melt away.

I feel my connection to the Source of all that is and am reminded of Dr. Joe Dispenza's phrase, 'The power that made the body heals the body.'

I hear the voice of Michael Bernard Beckwith from the Heal Documentary Soundtrack, 'You can heal anything. Breathe into that.'


I pass runners and we smile knowing the power of the sport. There are no strangers as we are all being born again.



Moving beyond the 5K distance, I feel a deep stirring in my soul reminding me that I am not my diagnosis and that running is my medicine and therapy nourishing me mind, body and soul.



Running 5.22 miles on Saturday reminded me of what my body is capable of doing and that despite a recent resurgence of symptoms, I am healed from the effects of childhood paralytic polio and trauma.

With every run, I am being born again transcending all that went before more and more confident of my health and well being.

From my heart to yours
In health and wellness
Mary

Be sure to visit my website at www.marymcmanus.com

Be inspired by my interview with Kendra Petrone on the award winning Exceptional Women Show by following this link

To experience an epic race weekend and hear me share my journey from a wheelchair to the finish line of the 2009 Boston Marathon and beyond come to the Hyannis Marathon Weekend February 21-23 2020.