Sexual assault survivor completes NYC Marathon in crutches
Running a marathon is hard enough. Doing so in crutches is herculean.
But that’s what Hannah Gavios did on Sunday, finishing the course in 11 hours as part of Team Reeve to raise money for spinal cord injury research.
Two years ago, Gavios fractured her spine after she fell off a cliff in Thailand. She was running away from a local who was attacking her when she fell more than 150 feet and broke her back.
Gavios, a Queens native, told the NY Post that she was participating in the race because, “I’m going to be a functioning human – I don’t want to feel like I’m left behind.”
Two years ago, Hannah Gavios fell 150 feet off a cliff while trying to escape an assault.
On Sunday, she completed the NYC Marathon 🙏 pic.twitter.com/opURmHK4pg
— ESPN (@espn) November 5, 2018
She wasn’t left behind, crossing the finish line to hundreds of people cheering for her.
“I didn’t expect this many people,” Gavios said. “It just shows my city has my back. My city is awesome, waiting for me here — I don’t know how long everyone waited for me — it just means so much to me that you guys stayed. Thank you.”
Training
Like other marathoners, Gavios began training gradually. And like them, she faced hurdles and plateaus in her training. In an interview with Bustle, Gavios said that she looked to other disabled athletes, like a skateboarder born without legs, whenever she needed inspiration.
“Just seeing how different people work with their challenges shows me how much I have to work with as well and how I could use that to my fullest potential,” Gavios said.
“It’s a lot of mental power and I have to constantly challenge myself,” she said. “I try to maximize it as much as possible. I’ll tell myself, let me just do 10 more blocks and then when I get to that point, then I’ll decide I want to do 10 more, and then 10 more. A lot of it is doing little steps at a time rather than thinking big picture.”
Future goals
As impressive as her feat was, Gavios isn’t done. This year, the goal was to raise awareness for spinal cord injuries.
She has a longterm goal in mind.
“When I show myself I can crutch 18 miles,” Gavios says, “that gives me a boost of confidence to know that I have something to be proud of. My goal is to ultimately run again.”
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