Every Finish Line is a Starting Line

How wonderful to have so much to celebrate about the Boston Marathon 2014. Articles abound celebrating the race for so many reasons. Meb was the first American to win Boston since 1983. An unprecedented 99% of the runners who toed the line at Hopkinton crossed the finish line. There was a record number of women who ran the 2014 Boston Marathon. Jessica Kensky who lost a leg at last year's tragedy, won the Women's Handcycle Division and finished the Boston Marathon side by side with her husband Patrick Downes who had also lost a leg in the bombings. Here is an excerpt from the BAA's thank you:

The race may be over, but the memories of what we all experienced over this past year will rest in our hearts forever. From the entire family at the Boston Athletic Association, we want to thank every individual and organization who stepped forward to help us navigate this year’s 26.2 mile journey across eight of our most spectacular cities and towns.

My heart is full of wonderful memories of events leading up to the Marathon. Being #supportcrew for long runs was a joy even in the frigid, icy, snowy temperatures. We met so many wonderful people along the way. I was blessed to be part of packet stuffing day. The L Street Running Club pre marathon meeting was filled with tears, cheers and inspiration. The City came alive with the events of Marathon Weekend. I watched the BAA 5K, the Tribute Run and went to the Expo. On Sunday, I met Jeff Bauman, Carlos Arredondo and was part of a tribute at Fenway Park.

Once everyone's nerves and fears settled, we were able to relax and enjoy the Boston Marathon as it was meant to be enjoyed. Tom took this video as the entourage for the men's leader made its way down Beacon Street just prior to mile 23:



"I knew Meb was gonna win. I told him so," said a runner passing by who saw Tom holding up the sign that said "MEB WON!" to inspire the runners just before mile 23 last Monday. We thought, "Oh sure you did." After this runner completed his Marathon he found us on Beacon Street. He had his medal and showed us his bib that was signed by Meb. He told us he saw Meb at the Expo. Meb told him that he was not the fittest he'd ever been but he was the healthiest. Meb said his wife told him that's just the way she likes it to be. This runner told Meb that he was gonna win and had him sign his bib. On Tom's train ride home from work on Tuesday, he spotted someone wearing an orange jacket and medal. They talked about the marathon and Tom mentioned that he was so overcome with joy that Meb won, he wanted to share it with the runners to inspire them on their run and made the sign. It sure worked as I share in my blog from last week. And this marathoner on the train told Tom that he remembered seeing that sign.

On Tuesday, Tom and I went to a post marathon celebration with "The Feeney Sisters" who ran Boston for Spaulding Rehab Hospital. We had a fabulous time at Doyle's



They were volunteers at last year's marathon and their father was a patient at Spaulding after he fell while visiting his daughters in Boston. They posted on Facebook that they were having a fund raiser in March. When I saw that they were not near their fund raising goal and read their story, I told Tom that we had to go. I was so happy we did. It was one of the best fund raisers we had been to:



They told me that after Spaulding told them about my journey to inspire runners on the Race for Rehab team, that my story inspired them during their training runs through this grueling New England winter. At the post marathon party, Julie showed me her forearm. She told me that she wrote my name, along with a few other names, to inspire her Boston Marathon run. She said that she was hot, tired and nauseous but she knew that she had to make it to the finish line. I was humbled and in awe of how my story had inspired them.

Tom, Ruth Anne and I were blessed to spend the day with Elizabeth Comeau's mom waiting for Elizabeth to come down Beacon Street sporting her red #miles4smiles singlet:



Tom spotted her and screamed out her name. She turned around and came over to where we were standing. "I was afraid I was gonna miss you guys," she said. We shared a group hug, gave her some water and sent her on her way to the finish. Elizabeth had been at the finish line last year covering the Marathon for the Globe. She chronicled this past year in her blog . We shared the emotional build up to Marathon Monday at a fund raiser in March, and via chats on Facebook. We fist pumped and celebrated when we got the text that she crossed the finish line and we saw her post on Facebook:



As the BAA said, the memories of what we experienced during this past year will forever remain in our hearts. We were blessed to create many new memories of the Boston Marathon 2014. These new memories are a healing balm for all that went before since April 15, 2013. We crossed the finish line of a year of healing and putting our lives and our city back together. Today we cross a new starting line.

The People Who Are Boston Stronger

{This past week has been a whirlwind of activity and emotions. I have been blessed to meet people who are the embodiment of Boston Stronger. My blog today and over the next several days features several of the people who have graced my life during this past week since the anniversary of 4/15/13.}

I first met Tom Licciardello when I was an inspirational speaker at the Merrimack Valley Striders Club after running the Boston Marathon 2009. I met Ric Beaudoin, a member of the Striders and L Street at the Hyannis Half in 2009. He heard my story and said I had to speak at his Club. To quote Jerry Maguire, Tom Licciardello "had me at hello." His smile and warmth embraced me. Our paths would cross around the running circuit as I would cheer on my Tom at different races. When I stopped running, and my Tom limited his races, I lost contact with my runner friends. After the events of 4/15/13 and my own return to the roads, I quickly reconnected with Tom and my friends in the Striders. I decided it was time to run a race I had heard about but never run on Thanksgiving Day. We hugged at the Feaster Five Expo as though no time had passed since the last time we saw each other. It was an emotional reunion in the wake of Marathon Monday.

I have never seen anyone with so much energy in my life. As we were moving through marathon training season and preparing for the 118th Boston Marathon, I saw a post about packet stuffing. I had heard about packet stuffing from members of my club L Street and the Striders. Tom told me he would love to have me on his team of volunteers and gave me the link to apply. I was thrilled when I got my assignment. Here is Tom at the beginning of our shift:



He had already completed 3 four hour shifts with one more to go after our shift.

Tom wrote a powerful and poignant article before Marathon Monday, Boston Marathon Buildup Intensifies as Race Draw Nears.

Tom was responsible for bag check at the BAA 5K on Saturday morning and had to arrive at 3:30am on Marathon Monday to be ready to receive the bags from over 30,000 runners on race day on the Boston Common. As he anticipated his role on race day, he did so with humor and grace. He has this way of making everything seem seamless and effortless.

We received an email from the director of volunteers at the BAA saying that they needed 50 volunteers to represent the BAA volunteers for a pre game ceremony at Fenway on Sunday 4/20. If interested, email Tom and the first 50 to respond would be selected. I just happened to see the email 3 minutes after it arrived and responded. Tom sent out the congratulatory email saying we made the cut.

April 20th is Tom's birthday. On 4/20/13, he took the field at Fenway representing the BAA volunteers in a somber tribute 5 days after the bombing. What an honor to experience this year's tribute which also signaled a moving forward with Tom on his birthday.

I wrote this poem for him:
Dear Tom,
A tough mudder, a husband, a wonderful friend
if anyone is in need on you they depend.
Packet stuffing no chore you fill the day with fun
I’m so blessed to know you – in my book you’re number one.
You embrace me as a Strider, you touch my heart more than you’ll know
thank you for your friendship to this world your smile brings a glow.
On this your very special day, we share the turf at Fenway Park
honoring what we’ve been through – your light snuffs out the dark.
You run the marathon of life with honesty, humor and grace
integrity and love and joy, you’ve easily won this race.
We’ve shared many special moments in Falmouth, Andover and more
may the year that unfolds ahead have so many blessings for you in store.
And when this day is over, wishes made and sun is set
here’s hoping that the miles ahead are your most wonderful miles yet.

Happy Birthday Tom!

He told me that he cried when he read it and gave me the most heartfelt thank you for writing this in his honor. Tom lives life with a heart full of gratitude and love, with a smile on his face and passion and dedication to his family, his work in financial planning, the Striders which he founded and serving the community of runners.

With Tom leading the charge, we took the field at Fenway Park and moved from looking back and remembering 4/15/13 to moving forward to the 118th Boston Marathon.



Tom said that he looks forward to a time when the word bombing no longer accompanies the words Boston Marathon. That day has arrived and because of the journey we traveled this past year we are Boston Stronger. I am so blessed to have traveled a part of this journey with Tom Licciardello.

Boston Marathon Weekend

A rite of Spring no matter the weather - it's the weekend of the Boston Marathon! Four years ago there was such excitement in our lives. Saturday - Race Expo. Sunday - rest a lot - and pre race pasta dinner with our Race for Rehab teammates. I remember Ernst Van Dyk's speech to us, "A life doesn't end with a disability. It's just a new beginning."



Here he is after winning the 113th Boston Marathon in 2009:



I was incredibly blessed to attend a luncheon yesterday and hear Ernst speak at the Institute for Human Centered Design. I had the opportunity to reconnect with a couple of my Spaulding friends and shared my story with different people who attended the luncheon. It was magic!



I thought the finish line of the Boston Marathon was the end of my healing journey. It was only another beginning.

How many miles I traveled from the office of Dr. Darren Rosenberg at the Spaulding Rehab Hospital Outpatient Clinic in Framingham's Post Polio Clinic in October of 2006, to declaring with my personal trainer in February of 2008 that I was going to run the Boston Marathon and raise money for Spaulding. I felt it to the depths of my soul. Bear in mind please that I had never run in my life. I was still in my black polio shoes that could support my short leg brace.



But I knew - somehow I just knew this was right for me. I had written the poem "Running the Race" in February of 2007. As Carl Jung says, "the unconscious prepares the way for the future."

Sometimes no words are needed -- We were blessed to have a Boston University COM doctoral student, Johannes Hirn chronicle our last training run (seen in the first photo at Marathon Sports Brookline) and capture us during the final miles of our run.



We'll be heading out to the Race Expo later today. Sunday evening I will practice yoga and meditation. Monday morning we head to the Mandarin Oriental Hotel to share the day with Spaulding Rehab cheering on the runners and having a spectacular view of Boylston Street. I remember my beautiful teammates and members of the Development Office telling me that they were banging on the window



cheering us onto the finish line 7 hours and 49 minutes after we began in Hopkinton.

It will be amazing to watch from the other side hoping that Ernst makes this his 10th Boston win and cheering on a former teammate of ours. We will be celebrating with other members of the '09 Race for Rehab team who will be in the suite at the Mandarin. It will be a wonderful reunion and a reminder to me of where my journey began and how Spaulding Rehab helped me to Find My Strength! Not only did I have a medal on my chest, but we raised $10,535 for Spaulding Rehab Hospital.

There is something really special for me this year about Boston Marathon Weekend. Perhaps it's because I am writing my memoir and taking a look back at this amazing journey. Perhaps it's because I feel so well, awake and alive that I can enjoy every moment. No matter the reason, I am blessed and grateful for every step of this amazing healing odyssey and delighted to have you along for the ride.


Running the Race - Feb, 2007 from Songs of Freedom:Poems From a Healing Odyssey Volume III:Celebration of Life to be released later this year. Volumes I and II are now available on Amazon.

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.

From my heart to yours
With total love and deepest gratitude,
Mary

MAY ALL BEINGS BE HAPPY AND FREE!