Why We Run: “Born to Fly”

What is special about running? Why not just walk, cycle, swim, do some elliptical or maybe the “Gazelle”, or just squat repeated times through the day?

My cousin Meaghan Cusack explained it all when she spoke to a group of physicians at a recent Healthy Running conference in Chicago. Meaghan is a self-addicted 5K runner judging from her own admission. She describes her early youth as not being athletic or “sporty”.

“As a kid, I hated running,” she says. “I remember the dreaded day in gym where we would file outside and line up for the mile run.  It was only four laps around the school, but it felt as though we were running a marathon.”

But then at age 10 she began experiencing something alarming. “I had hurt my ankle in gymnastics a few weeks earlier, and I had been limping for weeks. My ankle was x-rayed over and over again, and nothing seemed to be wrong. It was a few months later when we noticed a lump near my knee and I was diagnosed with Osteosarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer in my right tibia. I underwent a year of chemotherapy and several major surgeries which attempted to salvage my leg, before I relapsed. The cancer had spread to my lungs and I had another year of another year of chemotherapy in front of me.

“The second year of chemo was the last straw for the leg which already had been trying to heal in the midst of the harsh chemotherapy. My father was in tears when my doctor pulled out the final x-ray of my lower leg. My bone was nearly gone and would never heal. My only choice was amputation. Two days later my hospital room was filled with nearly twenty close family members and friends praying over me before I went in for the surgery.”

Meaghan coped with the above-the-knee amputation in many wonderful and wise ways. She remained an inspiration to her family and relatives, and she never used the disability to limit her goals. She completed multiple cycling events with her bicycle-enthusiast family in Denver. She and I completed the 160-mile Courage Classic bike ride on a tandem (see photo). Meaghan graduated college and she set off to graduate school at the University of Chicago to pursue an advanced degree in psychology.

As these years went by, Meaghan learned to walk on various prosthesis, but never “run”. After her move to Chicago she met a prosthetist, who in Meaghan’s own words “almost immediately started asking me if I would ever want to try running. I was hesitant at first, but I took a running foot home to try. I started in the hallway of my building, cautiously placing one foot in front of the other first, and gradually lengthening my strides and increasing speed. And now I’m completely addicted to running.”

So what was it that Meaghan experienced that she had not in over 11 years and which makes her and others want to continue running day after day. Meaghan put it simply. ”I was flying”. The feeling of both feet in the air is special at many levels, whether in long slow efforts or short high-intensity efforts because I believe we are “Born to Fly”. I heard something similar from a recent hospital patient and former gymnast rehabbing from almost a year in bed. She described the same feeling of exercising and jumping in the water (she cannot jump on solid ground yet). She said “I’m not sure what it is but the feeling of freedom is indescribable”.

Meaghan had made the inevitable new runner mistakes because the feeling of flying is so fun. “The first thing the trainer told me, was to slow down. I realized a major reason why I get burned out and have to walk it out so much, is because I need to slow down my pace a little. It’s hard being new at this, because I want to fly. But, I was running a lot longer and had better form when I slowed it down a little.”

Amputee runners do get hurt too, but like all of us, Meaghan is learning the lessons. She wrote this two years ago on her blog: “Injuries forced me to stay inside quite a bit, which is exhausting for me. I look out my window at the beautiful weather and wish I was running the sidewalk. I feel like I had been going 100 miles per hour and come to a screeching stop. However, after much thought and processing (still a future psychologist after all) I have realized that I’m still a young, fit, 23-year old who has a lot of years to run my little heart out. That is, if I listen to my body when I’m hurt, and take care of myself until I have healed.”

So what helped Meghan through injury? Volunteering. “I decided to volunteer for the Terrapin, so I can be a part of it, and meet the “Scheck and Siress” amputee running group without stressing my knee out too much.”

Meaghan has since completed dozens of 5Ks and even some obstacle races and mud runs. Running with an above-the-knee amputation requires about three times the energy of running with an able body. So there you have it in the words of an intrepid young lady. Learn and love to fly, gain wisdom from your errors, and when down give back by volunteering. Meghan graduates this year and will have a future to share her experience and wisdom with those in need of help.