Coming Back, Racing Forward

Coming back from catastrophic injury isn’t easy for any runner – but imagine being a multiple world champion, and arguably the world’s most famous trail runner? Amelia Boone had amassed four obstacle racing world championship titles and over 50 podiums in five years, and had just set her sights on ultrarunning. But then she faced down her toughest opponent... her own body! What she learned along the way is a lesson for all of us.

- Marissa Stephenson

I. Tough Break

I was in a weird space. From 2011 to 2016, I was the dominant force in obstacle racing: a four-time world champion, seemingly unbeatable. That sounds conceited – but I was winning, and a lot [see footnote A]. In my entire career I’d never missed a podium, and the focus was always What’s the next race that I can win? To an outsider, it must have looked like everything was perfectly in place; but internally, I was struggling. I was eager to branch out from obstacle racing, and hungry to find a new challenge.

I found it in ultra running. In my second ultra, the 2016 Sean O’Brien 100K in Malibu, California, I secured a golden ticket to run Western States – the Holy Grail of ultra marathons [B]. I was riding the high. Then the floor dropped out.

I didn’t grow up a runner, and I hadn’t really ever tracked mileage. I didn’t know how to go about structuring training, so I looked at what other ultra runners were doing, and thought, That should work for me. I didn’t think I was running that much – frankly, I just didn’t understand the concept that you may need ‘rest’ every once in a while. I thought rest days were for weenies.

On a long run in April 2016, as I hit some sharp descents, searing pains suddenly started radiating up my quad. I thought my leg was going to snap in half. I hobbled in, and prayed it was muscular. When I got out of bed the next morning, my leg buckled under me, sending me crashing to the floor.

I’d run so much, so hard, I’d fractured my femur.