• Home
  • About Us
    • Our Story
    • Our Staff
    • My Running Story
    • Testimonials
    • Careers
  • What We Treat
    • Running Injuries
    • Sciatica, Back, & Neck Pain
    • Chronic Pain
    • Shoulder/Elbow Pain
    • Hip/Knee Pain
    • Ankle/Foot Pain
    • Balance/Vestibular
  • Specialities
    • Traditional Manual Therapy
    • Non-Traditional Manual Therapy
    • Running Services
    • Correct Toes
    • Kinesio Taping
    • OOV Services
  • Resources
    • Blog
    • Free Guides
    • Presentations
    • Videos
    • Running Portal
  • Patient Info
    • Forms
    • FAQs
    • For Your Doctor
  • Contact Us
  • Reviews
    • Read Reviews
    • Rate Us!
  • COVID-19

The Manual Touch Physical Therapy

Whole Body Approach

Reclaim movement, function and life
For information, call: 847-541-7600
or email: info@themanualtouch.com
  • The Manual Touch Linkedin
  • The Manual Touch YouTube
  • The Manual Touch Instagram
  • The Manual Touch Facebook

Shut Up and Dance

January 5, 2016 By Denise Schwartz 2 Comments

denise_marathon_finish_crop

Well it’s that time of year again — to review what’s happened in the past year and set goals and resolutions for the new-year. This past year I finally met one of my longtime goals; I completed a marathon in Milwaukee, WI. As I’ve found with other big life events, this marathon came with the sensory memory of a song, “Shut Up and Dance”.

It took 5 years of running and 5 half marathons before the thought of completing my first marathon began to percolate. By 2013, I was mentally ready for the marathon, but alas, it wasn’t meant to be as injury derailed my plan. After working hard the next 2 years, to get stronger and a more efficient running form, 2015 would be the year of my marathon.

I started the racing year off last February by leaving the dark, cold, winter of Chicago to race under the bright, sunny skies of 70 degrees at the Gasparilla half marathon in Tampa, FL, where my daughter goes to school and a fabulous medal in the shape of a large pirate head, great Columbian food, and my daughter, my mother, and my mother in law waiting for me at the finish line.

In the beginning of May, I ran the Capital City half marathon in Columbus, Ohio, with my friend Sheryl pacing me to a PR (personal record) of 2 hours and 21 min. The joy of PR’ing was unfortunately marred with mild heel pain/plantar fasciitis.

I took the next 3 weeks off from training and then hired Coach Jamie Dodge of Runners Connect to get me safely to the Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon on October 4. For the next 6 weeks Coach Jamie’s plan guided me through challenging cross training workouts which included elliptical, swimming, aquajogging, and biking until I was ready to begin a run/walk program in early July. In addition, I persevered through personal setbacks as well, including my husband losing his job, preparing my son to go off to college leaving my husband and I empty nesters, and developing a non-life threatening allergic condition requiring multiple medications (I haven’t taken medications for the past 15 years).

The morning of the Milwaukee marathon began in the dark at 5:30 am. We caught a shuttle bus in downtown Milwaukee that took us 26+ miles north to Grafton high school where we got to hang out inside until 5 min before the start time of 7:30 am. At 7:30 am, my friend Sheryl and her 2 daughters, along with 3500 other people and I began the marathon in perfect race conditions of overcast skies and 52 degrees, which remained constant throughout the race. I adopted an 11 minute run (approximately 1 mile) to a 3 minute walk pace and looked forward to meeting my family at mile 14 and my close friends at mile 19 who all came to cheer me on.

Since this was a small race we had limited entertainment, except at mile 8 where a college band played, “Shut up and Dance”, a song that I intended to download prior to the race but had forgotten. The song made me smile and dance a little as I realized I’m finally running a marathon and would complete it.

momanddrew_crop

The highlight of my race was when my son, Drew, jumped in and ran with me at mile 14, mile 17, and miles 21-25.5 running at my pace, much slower than his usual 6 min pace.   He showed up with his smiling face, abundant joy, music “Shut up and Dance” blaring from his phone, salted watermelon and lots of encouragement to keep me going as I completed the race in 5 hours 24 minutes.

Now when people ask me, “how did it go”, I say, “IT WAS SO MUCH FUN”. The whole experience of running with thousands of other people with the same goal of finishing a marathon, being encouraged along the way by spectators and other runners, encouraging other runners to keep persevering and then upon finishing, sharing our experiences while recouping with food and drink, brings people together in a shared sense of commitment, a feeling that even if only momentarily as I reveled in my own accomplishment, the world was an OK place.

Completing and training for a marathon takes commitment, discipline, patience, perseverance, sacrifice, dedication and lots of preparation, both mental and physical. It takes support and understanding from family and friends. It takes a community of runners and coaching from experts. I realized that by applying these principles to completing my marathon goal, the journey towards the marathon and the marathon itself became pleasurable and manageable despite the numerous obstacles I had to overcome. These principles can be used to meet any goal I choose to meet in the future. I know not everyone can or wants to run a marathon, but with commitment to these principles you too can achieve your goals with ease and joy.

In this coming year of 2016, my wish for you:

  • to find the commitment and dedication you need to have a healthy year!
  • to have the patience and perseverance to get through the journey to a long awaited goal!
  • to have the love and support of your family, friends and community!
  • to find the right teachers, coaches, mentors to guide you through the coming year!
  • to, “Shut Up and Dance” in order to make your dreams and goals a reality!

My goal this year is to provide physical therapy to as many patients as I can, provide physical therapy education to the community, and in April run the Illinois half marathon in Champaign, IL.  As for the marathon, I’m not sure if I will run one this fall but definitely have a future ultimate marathon goal, The Big Sur Marathon which runs on Pacific Coast Hwy in beautiful Big Sur.

 

For your inspiration:

 

Filed Under: Running Tagged With: exercise, Fitness, foot pain, Health, hip pain, knee pain, Low back pain, manual therapy, Marathons, physical therapy, plantar fascitis, running, running analysis, running clinic, running injuries, The Manual touch pt, Training, triathlon

Comments

  1. Des Plaines Guy says

    July 28, 2016 at 4:27 pm

    Congratulations on your first marathon run. Here’s to many more!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Get Health Tips

Subscribe to our mailing list

* indicates required
I'm also interested in receiving:

Search Other Blogs

Recent Blog Posts

  • Staying Mobile as You Age: Spring Into Wellness
  • Alleviate Neck Pain | Your First Aid Kit
  • Hypermobility, hEDS, and EDS: Understanding Joint Flexibility and Pain Management

Blog Post Topics

Testimonials

I saw Denise at The Manual Touch recently for sciatic pain, that only the day before I saw Denise kept me from walking; I could only hobble for short distances before I would sit down and collapse. After some tissue work and gentle exercise with Denise, she put Kinesiotape around the affected area. I immediately noticed stability and pain improvement and could walk so much better that I was able to complete shopping trips to 4 stores I had been planning but did not think I could do. To me, the t… Read more
Read More
I was in Florida for vacation and developed an upper respiratory infection. I had annoying coughing and congestion in my chest. This went on for several days, and it was not getting better. It felt like I had a mucous plug stuck in my chest that would not break up. One night I remembered the self-treatment that Denise taught me at The Manual Touch where I had received PT, putting one hand over the afflicted area, and one hand near my abdomen where mucous could drain out. After about 5-10 minutes… Read more
Read More
The best physical therapist I’ve ever experienced is Denise Schwartz in Wheeling at the Manual Touch. I have seen Denise twice for over 6 months to treat 2 bouts of frozen shoulder that occurred 8 years apart. In addition to my shoulder, she has also helped with my back, exercise regimen, and overall health. She is a holistic practitioner expert in PT techniques and knows how to teach her clients how to fit her techniques easily into their lives. She relates with her clients about as well as any… Read more
Read More
As a young elite athlete I was involved in numerous accidents resulting in scar tissue causing loss of flexibility and restrictions as an adult. After each treatment I feel so much less restriction and experience greater range of motion.
Read More
Last winter our daughter Maddie had had several eye and ear infections, and all required topical and oral antibiotics.  These were instigated by a plugged tear duct.  A pediatric ophthalmologist said there was little chance the duct would open up on its own since she was well over a year old, and there was no harm in waiting a little longer before SURGERY. My husband and I did not want our little girl’s eye probed, and we definitely did not want her to have a general anesthetic, so we bro… Read more
Read More
The physical therapy I received at The Manual Touch PT helped reduce my sciatica pain to a manageable level in just a few sessions.  The exercises I was given strengthened and trained my muscles to prevent further back problems allowing me to return to playing basketball.
Read More
Just a note to thank you for the time you spent with me Saturday in evaluating my running technique and body alignment.  Your suggestions are already making sense and having an early impact.  After our meeting, I went out for a 5K run and found your suggestions “to shorten my stride” and “being conscious of not overlapping my steps” to be helpful. Thanks Denise  
Read More
I have been receiving PT therapy for pain and autoimmune disorders for over 18 months at The Manual Touch.  This also affects my kidneys and my lungs and other organs as I swell with fluid that my lymph system doesn’t seem to handle well.  I depend on the regular IMT tissue therapy I receive from Denise to help me function as normally as possible.  This therapy seems to work synergistically with the acupuncture and medication I also receive.  There are no cures for these disorders and as n… Read more
Read More
Excellent, professional assessment and treatment for an older woman who’s had lots of failed therapy. Kind and compassionate and caring! Thanks.
Read More
I can honestly say that Denise was the first physical therapist to listen to my story.   She has demonstrated more patience and compassion than any other therapist that I’ve ever met. For the past 8 years, I have been symptomatic with Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (EDS), a rare genetic condition which affects the connective tissue throughout my body. As a result of this disorder I deal with ongoing severe acute and chronic pain and a variety of other rare overlapping conditions such as thoracic outl… Read more
Read More

Our Mission


We believe all body systems and mental/emotional health are connected. We take a whole body approach to discover why patients are not healing and what were the initial causes of their current symptoms. 

Our mission is to use this whole body approach to help patients heal and overcome pain and limitations, resulting in improved quality of life. We also aim to promote wellness in our communities through ongoing education. 
Top 10 physical therapists in Wheeling

A winner of the
2015 Patients' Choice Awards
for
Wheeling Physical Therapist

Verified by Opencare.com

Paubox

Testimonials

I saw Denise at The Manual Touch recently for sciatic pain, that only the day before I saw Denise kept me from walking; I could only hobble for short distances before I would sit down and collapse. After some tissue work and gentle exercise with Deni… Read more
https://themanualtouch.com/wp/testimonial/m-d-evanston-il
I was in Florida for vacation and developed an upper respiratory infection. I had annoying coughing and congestion in my chest. This went on for several days, and it was not getting better. It felt like I had a mucous plug stuck in my chest that woul… Read more
https://themanualtouch.com/wp/testimonial/a-b-riverwoods
The best physical therapist I’ve ever experienced is Denise Schwartz in Wheeling at the Manual Touch. I have seen Denise twice for over 6 months to treat 2 bouts of frozen shoulder that occurred 8 years apart. In addition to my shoulder, she has also… Read more
https://themanualtouch.com/wp/testimonial/b-h-elmhurst-il
As a young elite athlete I was involved in numerous accidents resulting in scar tissue causing loss of flexibility and restrictions as an adult. After each treatment I feel so much less restriction and experience greater range of motion.
https://themanualtouch.com/wp/testimonial/s-northbrook-il
Last winter our daughter Maddie had had several eye and ear infections, and all required topical and oral antibiotics.  These were instigated by a plugged tear duct.  A pediatric ophthalmologist said there was little chance the duct would open up o… Read more
The physical therapy I received at The Manual Touch PT helped reduce my sciatica pain to a manageable level in just a few sessions.  The exercises I was given strengthened and trained my muscles to prevent further back problems allowing me to return… Read more
Just a note to thank you for the time you spent with me Saturday in evaluating my running technique and body alignment.  Your suggestions are already making sense and having an early impact.  After our meeting, I went out for a 5K run and found you… Read more
I have been receiving PT therapy for pain and autoimmune disorders for over 18 months at The Manual Touch.  This also affects my kidneys and my lungs and other organs as I swell with fluid that my lymph system doesn’t seem to handle well.  I depe… Read more
Excellent, professional assessment and treatment for an older woman who’s had lots of failed therapy. Kind and compassionate and caring! Thanks.
I can honestly say that Denise was the first physical therapist to listen to my story.   She has demonstrated more patience and compassion than any other therapist that I’ve ever met. For the past 8 years, I have been symptomatic with Ehlers Danlo… Read more
Read More

RETURN TO TOP OF PAGE

Copyright © 2025 The Manual Touch, LLC. · 325 n. milwaukee ave. · Ste D. · Wheeling, IL. 60090 · 847-541-7600

The information provided on The Manual Touch Physical Therapy website is for personal and noncommercial use only. The resources and content provided should be used for educational purposes only and not as a substitute for appropriate medical care. If you are experiencing pain or discomfort please seek medical attention.