Training for the Tufts 10K

I am over the moon excited that I have worked my way back to the 10K distance. 6.1 miles. I do love going the distance.

It's been four years since I last ran Tufts. Tufts was my first 10K ever in the fall of 2008. In 2009, I was recovering from my Boston Marathon run. I was working with a wonderful physical therapist at the time who told me that if I had any hopes of getting back to running, I had to take a hiatus and allow my body time to recover and heal. We didn't know if I would be able to run again.

As I stood at the finish line of the 2009 Tufts 10K waiting for my daughter to cross the finish line, I heard the announcer say, "And don't let anybody ever tell you you can't do something. All these women crossing the finish line today started strong and are finishing stronger."

That's all it took to light the fire within me to do everything I could to get back on the roads. I began running in the Spring of 2010 and worked my way back to a 10K distance. I still had my base from marathon training.

Here I am before running the 2010 Tufts 10K wearing a Superman dog tag from the Christopher Reeve Foundation that says, "Go Forward."



In March of 2011, my nephew's suicide pulled the rug right out from under me. I experienced a relapse of symptoms and took a detour on my healing path. It took the events of 4/15/13 to awaken me to what was truly important in my life for well being of mind, body and Spirit.

It's been a year of healing, of building strength, of building endurance. Now I am in full on training mode but the beauty is my only goal is to cross that finish line with a smile. I am blessed that I will have my daughter by my side. Me being me, I will work on my speed in my weekly and occasional biweekly 3.1 runs but as I have been saying of late, I am running from the inside out.

The journey of transformation is never easy. It requires hard work. Trust. Patience. Faith.



When we are able to heal and let go of what weighs us down; when we are able to remember our strength and our beauty regardless of what happened to us during the journey; when we are able to find the courage to accept the darkness and abide in the pain, then we are able to fly free once more.

The Chrysalis May 2014

Trembling with excitement
shaking it off
allow yourself to be with a capital B

Being who you were always meant to be
unencumbered

yet time well spent
on tiny legs
grounded to earth’s energy
garnering wisdom along the way

gathering together
possibility

a time of uncertainty
certain
this is the path
abide in darkness
surrender

lose grip on grasping
turning inward
discovering beauty
strength
free now
to
fly


My memoir, "Coming Home: A Memoir of Healing, Hope and Possibility" is now available on Amazon.

"Wait, I have one more goal," Mary McManus told her personal trainer in February of 2008 shortly after coming out of her toe up leg brace. "I want to run the Boston Marathon for Spaulding Rehab Hospital." Mary traded in her polio shoes for running shoes and embarked on the journey of a lifetime. Mary McManus was at the height of her career as a VA social worker when she was told by her team at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital’s International Rehab Center for Polio in December of 2006 that she needed to quit her job if she had any hope of preventing the progression of post polio syndrome, a progressive neuromuscular disease. In “Coming Home: A Memoir of Healing, Hope and Possibility” Mary takes you on her seven year healing odyssey as a survivor of paralytic polio and trauma from her diagnosis, to taking a leap of faith to leave her award winning career at the VA to heal her life and follow her passion as a poet and writer. You’ll experience her trials, tribulations and triumphs as she trains for and crosses the finish line of the 2009 Boston Marathon and discovers the opportunity for healing in the wake of new trauma: the suicide of her nephew in 2011, and the aftermath of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings. This is Mary's journey of coming home to her human form free from the influences of the ghastly ghostly invaders who had invaded her sacred earthly home. Her memoir includes journals and blog posts from her seven year healing odyssey. This is her journey of transformation and her message of healing, hope and possibility.

I donate 50% of royalty payments through on line sales to The One Fund to help Boston Marathon survivors and their families. Copies are also available at Brookline Marathon Sports. $5 of each book sold at Marathon Sports is donated to The One Fund.