Poetry in Motion

 

October 1st was National Poetry Day. I discovered the gift of poetry in my soul in February of 2007 after the diagnosis of the progressive neuromuscular disease Post Polio Syndrome in December of 2006.

 

I got still and asked for Divine Guidance seeking the answer to the question what's next in my life? I knew I was at a crossroads and had no idea what would be next for me in my life's journey. I was at the height of my award winning career as a VA social worker and was told that if I had any hope of maintaining the progression of symptoms where they were, I needed to leave work. I was told that I should prepare to spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair and expect a rapid decline in functioning as I aged. I was given a list of resources to consider either making my Cape home handicapped accessible or move to a ranch style house.

 

I was scared, depressed, anxious and yet oddly enough hopeful that somehow a new path would be made clear to me if I allowed the Divine to guide me.

 

As I sat in a leg brace using a cane, a toe up leg brace and at times a wheelchair for mobility, this poem flowed out of me:

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.

 

Poems flowed out of me as if a spigot turned on in my soul. I was healing the past through poems of forgiveness, gratitude and embracing the challenges of paralytic polio and trauma from my childhood while creating a future very different from the ones the doctors predicted for me. My pen became my divining rod for healing!

 

This collection of poems can be found in "Feel the Heal: An Anthology of Poems to Heal Your Life".

 

 

 

Through the sport of running and crossing the finish line of the 2009 Boston Marathon, I became a woman transformed from victim of my past to a thriver experiencing the fullness of life free from the shackles of my past. My life became poetry in motion.

 

This past March, with the onset of the pandemic in the US, I once again turned to my divining rod for healing. I am creating my next book Hope: A Collection of Poems and Essays from the Pandemic of 2020. I open my heart and soul to receive messages that will uplift and inspire others noting how creation can help us navigate the most challenging times in our lives.

 

May we all move through life as poetry in motion.

 

From my heart to yours

In health and wellness

Mary

 

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

 

My books are available on Amazon

Foliage, Flowers, and Family on a Fun Run

Running is an integral part of Team McManus' life. We cannot imagine a Saturday morning without filling up the water bottles, putting on our fuel belts and choosing a route to enjoy together unplugged and tuning into the rhythm of life.

We get to experience the change of seasons embracing the beauty and the challenges that each season in New England has to offer. While the transition from Winter to Spring is my favorite change of season, I have come to celebrate and find the joy in every season.

We chose Heartbreak Hill for Saturday's 5K run.

There is a house right before Center Street and Commonwealth Avenue on the Carriage Road that has the most beautiful gardens.



We saw an older woman, the keeper of her beautiful gardens lovingly tend her flowers. What a wonderful start to our run!

The trees are just beginning to change colors and many leaves lined the carriage road.


We paused to take our selfie:


We bantered about what foods we are looking forward to preparing this Autumn and Winter and had to pause to take this picture:


We cherished our time together expressing what we are grateful for as we get ready to embrace the season of Thanksgiving.

We shared our feelings about the pandemic and how so much has changed. There is no Heartbreak Hill Run Club with runners conquering the Newton Hills and then gathering in the store celebrating runs and plans for upcoming races. There are no high fives and great job as we'd pass familiar faces or just smile at runners passing by. We talked about the upcoming election and our energy shifted from sadness to optimism and hope.

While there may be so much sadness and heartache in the world, through running, we are able to find our way to celebrate life and appreciate the beauty of the season with foliage, flowers and family fun time.

To learn more about my journey from being told to prepare to spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair in December of 2006 to the finish line of the 2009 Boston Marathon and beyond, be sure to visit my website at www.marymcmanus.com

My books are available on Amazon

To your health and wellness
From my heart to yours
Mary

Welcome to Marathon Monday - Saturday Edition

I've lived in Boston since 1971, a transplanted New Yorker and have always felt a connection to the Boston Marathon. Since crossing its finish line on April 20, 2009 just 3 years after having been told I should prepare to spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair after the diagnosis of Post Polio Syndrome, a progressive neuromuscular disease, the Boston Marathon is a part of my heart and soul.



I was blessed to be a member of a panel, "Late Life Running and Whole Life Running," at this year's Virtual Boston Marathon Expo


and support crew for our dear friend Rachel Glazer last Saturday:


This was the final weekend of the Twelve Days of the Boston Marathon.

We decided to get our 5K in on Heartbreak Hill with the hope that we might see a Virtual Runner or two out on the course.

The Hills were alive with the Spirit of the Boston Marathon. Charity Teams were advised to not run on the course and finish at Boylston Street, but Tedy's Team was very creative in creating an out and back route that took them from the Boston Common to the Newton Hills and back for a finish at the Boston Common.

There was a DJ blaring music, cheering on the runners saying, "Welcome to Marathon Monday - Saturday Edition."

Charity teams' support crews and family members lined the marathon route.

On our outbound route we encountered Dana Farber's Unicorn:


There were hydration stations set up with a wide selection of foods to fuel the runners:


while blue and yellow balloons and ribbons lined the course like a hashtag for #bostonstrong and #finishstrong.

We discovered that it is quite challenging to simultaneously be a spectator and a runner. We got in our miles but the pace was slowed by the need to social distance while cheering on those incredible virtual Boston Marathon runners who experienced a historic longest training season ever that extended from January to September.

The only other time I experienced the intensity of the Spirit of the Boston Marathon was in 2014. Just as the bombs stopped runners in their tracks on 4/15/13, so too did the pandemic stop runners in their tracks. Half of the runners who were registered for the 2020 Boston Marathon took on the challenge of a Virtual Boston Marathon around the globe. The BAA, and Conventures, Inc., under the leadership of T.K. Skenderian made sure that even though the world couldn't come to Boston, Boston would go to the world.

A hawk soared above; a harbinger of hope and a message from Spirit to see things from a higher perspective rather than feeling the constraints of the current reality.



We took our traditional photo of the Johnny Kelley statue and our selfie.


As we drove home, we honked and cheered on runners along Heartbreak Hill and Beacon Street.

Tomorrow wraps up the Twelve Days of the Boston Marathon 2020.

We don't know when there will be the next Boston Marathon. September registration is on hold for now while a panel convenes to develop a plan.

There were many "Marathon Mondays" shared and celebrated in Boston and around the world during these 12 days.

Team McManus was thrilled to be a part of the Saturday edition on Heartbreak Hill. While our hearts were broken with the news that the Marathon would be postponed, then cancelled, then made into a virtual event, we rose above with resilience and strength as we in the Boston Strong community have always done and will continue to do.

To be inspired and motivated by my health and wellness journey from having been told to prepare to spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair to the finish line of the Boston Marathon and beyond, be sure to visit my website at www.marymcmanus.com

My books are available on Amazon

To your health and wellness
From my heart to yours
Mary

My Monday Morning Run

Ruth Anne and I were having a rough start to our Monday morning run. Despite the clear blue sky, sunshine and moderate temperatures, Ruth Anne was feeling very anxious about her upcoming appointment with her primary care provider and meeting with professors via Zoom for her Masters Degree Program at U Mass Boston in Urban Planning and Community Development that begins in January.

As can so often happen with anxiety and trauma, Ruth Anne couldn't directly express herself. We were both frustrated and almost decided to part ways but we hung tough together knowing we had not come so far to only get this far.

I quietly asked the Divine for guidance during the silence. I felt Spirit speak to me, 'Run!' I turned to Ruth Anne and said, 'Come on. We need to get in some speed work.' I took off and she followed saying, "Whoa Ma. You can't run that fast!" as she tracked me at a 12 minute mile on her Garmin. We hadn't done speed work in what seemed like forever although we had been doing tempo runs but certainly not at that pace.

We did a fartlek to the next bench and while we stood breathless, something magical happened. After we broke out into a fast run, Ruth Anne was able to pour her heart out to me. It was one of those magical moments that can only happen during a run.

We decided to do fartleks with a sense of play and joy while capturing the end of summer sensational scenes:


We breathed deeply and problem solved making mental notes of what we wanted to write on our jotter on our refrigerator for affirmations and gratitudes.

We each felt a sense of contentment and accomplishment leaving yesterday's problems in the dust (or in this case in the gravel on the path around the Reservoir) and experienced a magnificent Monday filled with possibilities. We imagined her receiving a clean bill of health from her PCP along with his being in awe of her transformation from last year. That is exactly what happened this morning at her appointment. When we whisk away our fears and replace them with affirmations and imagining what we want rather than focusing on the anxiety of what we don't want, we get to create rather than react to our lives! Running provides a powerful vehicle to move beyond fears and step into a new future.



To be inspired by my journey from a wheelchair to the finish line of the 2009 Boston Marathon and beyond be sure to visit my website at www.marymcmanus.com

My books are available on Amazon.

From my heart to yours
In health and wellness
Mary

Used wheelchair to travel...

Our panel, Late Life Running and Whole Life Running for the Virtual Boston Marathon Expo aired yesterday. Boston Marathon Champion 1973 and pioneer of women's running, Jacqueline Hansen took the screen shot and tagged me on Facebook:
Mary, nicely done! Your role on the Boston Expo panel was splendid. You were eloquent and inspiring! I'm so proud and pleased for you! You sure spoke with all your heart :)
💙💛

I am still in awe of how I went from an award winning social work career at the VA, to having been told to prepare to spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair to the finish line of the 2009 Boston Marathon and beyond. I've met champions such as Jaqi, Bill Rodgers and Frank Shorter and they embrace my story making me feel like a champion in my own right.

I emerged from contracting paralytic polio at the age of 5, enduring years of abuse at the hands of family members, becoming High School Valedictorian and going on to an award winning career in social work when I began to plan my retirement in 3 years with a vision of working at Bloomingdale's and being able to read trashy novels and take vacations with my husband who would then also plan to retire in short order.

But the Universe had other plans and I had no idea what they were when my life came to a screeching halt in December of 2006 with the diagnosis of Post Polio Syndrome, a progressive neuromuscular disease. I was told to quit my job, plan to spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair needing all sorts of special equipment to accommodate to the rapid decline in functioning as I aged and to either move to a ranch or adapt our Cape house.

As I'd done throughout my life, I got still and asked for Divine Guidance.

This was the answer I received: {From Coming Home: A Memoir of Healing, Hope and Possibility}

And then I felt a stirring in my second chakra (only then I didn’t know it was my second chakra – I thought it might have been something I ate). I went over to my laptop in the corner of the living room and I wrote this poem:

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.

I sobbed to write those words. I had never spoken about polio or the abuse I endured. I became curious. Why am I writing about winning a 10K race?

At the time, I had no idea that the poem was a foreshadowing of my 2009 Boston Marathon run!


Poems flowed out of me. As I wrote poems in which I imagined a powerful transformation and a future very different than the ones the doctors predicted for me and healed my past through the power of forgiveness and gratitude, I experienced healing in my body and in February of 2008 started to run.

I landed in the middle of a sport where champions and every day runners mingle and talk about running as a metaphor for life. I landed in the middle of a sport where someone like me was cheered instead of jeered despite finishing last at a race. I landed in the middle of a sport where resilience, strength, community, health, honor, respect and wellness are the themes that weave together the fabric of a very powerful community.

When once I used a wheelchair to travel, I am now a 2009 Boston Marathon finisher, inspirational speaker, runner girl,and poet. There's still time to see our panel on Friday 9/11 at 3pm by following this link.

To be inspired by my journey from a wheelchair to the finish line of the 2009 Boston Marathon and beyond be sure to visit my website at www.marymcmanus.com

My books are available on Amazon.

Good luck to all the virtual runners! As Meb said, "Run to win. That doesn't mean being in first place but in getting the best out of yourself."

From my heart to yours
In health and wellness
Mary

It's Kind of Fun to do The Impossible!: Setting and Achieving Goals

In December of 2006, I was diagnosed with Post Polio Syndrome, a progressive neuromuscular disease by Western Medicine standards. I was told to prepare to spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair and, if I used it I would lose it. Yes you read that right. I was given the advice to conserve my energy and not overuse my already rapidly declining muscles.

I did a review of the literature before writing this blog hoping that, given proven research about neuroplasticity and the power of the mind/body connection along with countless documented case studies of healing and transformation, that perhaps the medical community might have taken a new perspective on Post Polio Syndrome. As recently as 2019, the information and cautionary tales along with a profound lack of research or understanding of the mechanisms of Post Polio Syndrome still exists.

That is why I share my healing story!

On Saturday, while running the Virtual Becca Pizzi 5K, Tom took this photo:


I am sometimes self conscious about photos of me running. My two feet don't fly off the ground and I am not the personification of what one would think of when one thinks of a runner.

But with that photo, my breath caught. I was swept away by how strong my legs looked; especially my left leg.

After a serious knee injury in December of 2014, I briefly returned to Western Medicine to find out what I needed to heal. The MRI indicated shredded cartilage, degenerative osteoarthritis, and an atrophied gastroc (calf) muscle. When the results were reviewed with the physiatrist who specialized in Post Polio Syndrome, he off-handedly said that I'd probably need a total knee replacement in a few years, should stop running or cap my distance at a 5K and that there was nothing we could do about an atrophied gastroc muscle.

After a horrific appointment with a physical therapist, I turned to chiropractic care. My chiropractor revamped my strength training and cross training regimen, used chiropractic care with KT taping and I intensified my mind/body interventions through visualization and meditation. I went on to run 3 Bermuda Half Marathons in 2016, 2017 and 2018.

Clearly there WAS something I could do to grow and strengthen a new gastroc muscle. One picture is worth a thousand words!

At the beginning of August, I set a new goal for myself. To run 50 miles during the month of August.

We got up at 6:30 this morning with only 3 miles to go to reach my goal.



We did 3.3 miles bringing my monthly total to 50.52 miles!

My goal for September is to run consistently for 40 miles at the 5K distance and to work on pace, and continuing to up my game with my strength training/cross training workout. While gyms remain closed and opportunities for in person races are on hold, I am using this as an opportunity to continue to do what I was once told was impossible.

After all, as Walt Disney said, "It's kind of fun to do the impossible!"

To learn more and be inspired of how I did "the impossible" going from a wheelchair to the finish line of the 2009 Boston Marathon and beyond, be sure to visit my website at www.marymcmanus.com.

My books are available on Amazon.

From my heart to yours
In health and wellness
Mary

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