Inspirational runner Amy Dodson is on the cover of the July 2011 issue of Runner’s World magazine. The July issue features four different covers, each honoring a different cancer survivor, that not only survived but is thriving as an endurance athlete.
Amy lost her left leg to cancer at 19-years old. Two years later she lost her left lung to lung cancer. However, that was not the end but just the beginning of how her story would unfold.
From the Runner’s World Editor:
Amy Dodson, 48, lost her left leg below the knee to sarcoma when she was just 19. Two years later, her cancerous left lung was removed. I’ve never met Amy, but I have run with her. We both were among the 75 marathoners in Grand Rapids, Michigan, to run with Dean Karnazes as part of his 50-50-50 quest in 2006. I had met amputee athletes before, but this was the first time I’d gotten outrun by someone with a carbon-fiber leg. And I loved it.
Amy has run Boston twice (she was the first female leg amputee to run that race) and has a marathon PR of 3:35. She’s a four-time national half-marathon champion, with a PR of 1:51:04. She’s also done more than 30 triathlons, including two Ironmans, and is a two-time USA Paratriathlon champion and a two-time ITU World Paratriathlon champ.
As you read this, she’s preparing for her first Western States 100, one of the toughest races on Earth. “One of the great ironies of my life is that because of my childhood cancer, I couldn’t run with two legs,” she says. “But freed from the pain, with one leg and one lung, I can run forever. Cancer may have ravaged my body, but running saved my soul.”
Run It Fast contributor Dallas Smith, author of multiple running books, is a very close friend of Amy. He dedicated his first book, Falling Forward, to Amy.
Dallas had the following to say about Amy’s strength, “Amy went through white-hot fire and come out the other side tempered like steel. If you watch her compete you learn the potential of the human spirit. She continues to be a wonderful friend.”
Congrats to Amy on all of her amazing accomplishments and for making the cover of Runner’s World. She is an inspiration of what the body can do when the mind takes control over it.
