A Change in Course, Hills, Headwinds and Happiness

As Tom and I started running around the Chestnut Hill Reservoir as part of my Tufts 10K training run, I told him that I needed to change our course. I couldn't stay running there. It was a reminder of when I would go there to train for the Brookline Symphony Orchestra 5K with the person I was working with in KMI. He would talk about how my compensations looked better when I race walked but when I started to run, they would become apparent. He would point them out to me and let me know that we could continue to work on them to correct them. I remember how labored and uncomfortable I felt in my body even though I tried my hardest to convince myself otherwise.



I'm so blessed that I found my way to a mind/body therapist at Sollievo Massage and Bodywork where I have the opportunity to experience deep relaxation and healing. I realized in my last treatment that there was nothing to fix and I was perfect just as I am. There was/is nothing wrong with me. Running around the Reservoir reminded me of when I didn't believe that to be true about me.

Tom was amazing. He said let's get out of here then and he began figuring out a new route for us.

As we came out onto Beacon Street, we bumped into my friend Barbara who was at last week's Bill Rodgers 5K Run/Walk for Prostate Cancer. She won in her age group and was at the finish line cheering me onto my PR. We hugged. I thanked her for all of her support on Facebook. She told me it was an honor for her to be there at the finish line. Coincidentally, Tom had run with Barbara. They met up during one of his training runs and ran part of their run together. What a joy to share in that moment of reconnection.

Further down on Beacon Street we were being "chased" by two members of our running club, L Street. Tina has known me for several years and even videotaped my talk at L Street in 2011. Monica came to my book release party. They are both beautiful women inside and out. We exchanged warm, sweaty hugs and went on our way.

It was as if the Universe was sending me a reminder about all that is good and beautiful and right and true with my life now. I can let go of then and heal the emotional and physical hurts that remain shaking loose the work of KMI Structural Integration and healing the wounds of paralytic polio and violence. I feel the most hopeful I have ever felt on my healing journey.

We ran down Beacon Street and Tom took us through some back roads of Brookline with hills - lots and lots of hills. We counted a total of 7 after we had finished our run.

When we got to the Route 9 Reservoir (and Tom lovingly asked me if I had any problem running that Reservoir. I told him none whatsoever. That's mine) there was a strong headwind. I laughed about hills and headwinds; on our way home to finish the run, there was a hill and a headwind.

Yet I felt such happiness on this training run. My time was 1:42 which was better than our run on 7/19 by two minutes. Tom said today's course was tougher than the course two weeks ago. Tufts is pretty much a flat course so I'm confident that with training on hills and pushing myself to build strength and cardiovascular endurance that I will PR on race day. Monday will be a 5K and I'll be working on speed on a flat course.

This is so much fun.

Who knew that all I needed was a change in course to find happiness even in the midst of hills and headwinds. Do you need to change course to find the happiness and Truth that's been there all along?




"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.