Gabriele Grunewald doesn’t let cancer get the better of her, runs elite track event
She may be battling cancer right now but Gabriele Grunewald is sticking to her passion in a move which many are drawing inspiration from.
Gabriele Grunewald is an elite runner who many have reason to be inspired by.
The 30-year-old American from Minnesota has received news of the presence of cancer in her body four times, yet she still runs, trains and races to put out her best in elite races on the track. Her most recent performance happened just this past weekend.
Grunewald is a 1,500m runner. Originally from Minnesota, she ran in the NCAA when she attended the state’s university in the mid and late 2000s. From there, she raced as an elite runner in the 3,000m and 1,500m on the track. In 2014, Grunewald took the U.S. indoor championship in the 3,000m. Her PB in the 1,500m is 4:01.48.
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Through her success though, Grunewald has experienced some serious obstacles in her life. In 2009, she was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer in her salivary gland. As she wrote in Spikes magazine, summer of last year was a particularly difficult time for her. After noticing an unusual feel in her abdomen, she visited the ER only to find out that the cancer had returned– this time, in her liver. This came not long after not making it onto the U.S. team to run in Rio. According to the Spikes magazine post, Grunewald underwent surgery in late August.
By November though, Grunewald has started to make a recovery and got out running again– she managed a slow five mile run. By December, the runner worked her way up to eight miles and decided that elite running would be in her future yet again. Through her battle with cancer, she also noted that running has been a reliable sort of therapy.
As she continued to focus on her recovery, she managed to get her speed back. At that point, she started working towards a race: Payton Jordan Invitational.
Grunewald showed up to race the women’s 1,500m at Stanford in California on the weekend proving just how strong she can be (mentally and physically) as she deals with these health problems. She put in a solid effort to run 4:20.71.
She did this despite the fact that she received another bout of bad news this past March: there were traces cancer in her liver that had either returned or were missed in her surgery the first time around.
Now, Grunewald has confirmed that she’ll continue to race through May. Her elite career is up in the air as she continues to fight cancer.
Still, judging from her recent media interviews and posts on social media, she is keeping in high spirits and continuing to pursue her passion in sport.
That’s proven from her message in an Instagram post from three weeks ago: “I have cancer, cancer doesn’t have me. There’s a difference.”
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