The only time you should look back...Wollaston Beach Then and Now!

I clearly remember the day early in the summer of 2007 when I gingerly stepped out of our car to walk a little bit on the sidewalk adjacent to Wollaston Beach. Although I had been through intensive outpatient rehab at Spaulding Rehab following the diagnosis of Post Polio Syndrome, a progressive neuromuscular disease in December of 2006, I was still deconditioned from the effects of childhood paralytic polio and trauma. I wore a toe up leg brace:


and was walking without a cane. I knew that the prediction the doctors made of me spending the rest of my life in a wheelchair would not come to be but I had a long road ahead of me to regain strength and a vibrant quality of life.

We did many training runs on the road to the 2009 Boston Marathon at Wollaston Beach.

Since the pandemic, we had not been to the beach this summer. We desperately needed a change of scenery for our run, especially since we had the relief of Tom testing negative for the virus as mandated by BC.

I may have gotten emotional when I saw the sand and the expansiveness of the ocean, sun and sky and experienced these beauty moments on our run:



I recalled with Tom and Ruth Anne that first day we came to Wollaston Beach and the transformation I experienced through the sport of running; how we have all been transformed by running.

The 4 mile run was a bit challenging with people riding bikes, roller blading, and maintaining social distancing on the sometimes narrow sidewalk, but the views and breathing in sea air was well worth the trade offs.

Four miles in the books as I count down the miles my goal of 50+ miles for the month of August. In the summer of 2007, could I have ever imagined that 13 years later I would have run the 2009 Boston Marathon, with many races leading up to Boston; 3 Bermuda Half Marathons in 2016, 2017 and 2018 and been part of a panel for the Virtual Boston Marathon Expo in September? I imagined myself healthy, whole and free through my poetry and visualization but had no idea where the road would lead from those shaky steps to today.

I often say "Don't look back you're not going that way." The only time you should look back is to see how far you've come!

I am in awe and deeply grateful to see the miles I have traveled on the road and in my life during these past 13 years!

To learn more about my inspiring journey, please visit my website at www.marymcmanus.com

My books are available on Amazon

From my heart to yours
In health and wellness
Mary