The cover of Runner’s World
Sarah Reinertsen: is the first amputee to grace the cover of Runner’s World!
Runner’s World calls her “The Inspiration”. This is something I’ve known since 1999 (check it out.) During the 14th running of the L.A. Marathon it was all, nay, everything, I could do to catch her in the last few blocks of the race, and she was obviously not having a very good morning. She wasn’t famous. I didn’t know her name, everyone that far back in the pack is pretty anonymous. Just “crazy old barefoot guy”, “Elvis impersonator guy”, “Blonde amputee”, and me. In casual nameless situations that’s often enough “Big Fella”, or “Hoss”.
I didn’t know her name until today, but the cover picture is taken from behind Sarah’s right shoulder, and I’ve spent some time chasing that shoulder.
When Runner’s World calls her an inspiration, they’re so very right. They mean that she has endured pain and possibly humiliation to succeed. They mean that we can look to her example for a model of our own human potential. She’s a hero to anyone who casts eyes down at his running shoes and mutters ‘I just wasn’t born for this.’
But they don’t know the inspiration that comes from seeing her pony tail bobbing along a half a block ahead. The inspiration comes from digging deep because you just have to finish in front of that one-legged girl.
