Gabriele “Gabe” Grunewald is a middle distance world-champion level runner who has now battled cancer four times. At 31, she’s experienced the diagnosis everyone on planet earth fears again and again.
Amazingly, it hasn’t stopped her from running — literally — toward her professional athletic dreams. In the midst of chemotherapy and treatment. Grunewald relentlessly pursues he goals, racing in between treatments and planning her training schedule based on her medical needs.
While many people would give up, Grunewald sees that as the wrong answer. Her story is so inspiring that Brooks Running made a short film, “Brave Like Gabe,” about her ongoing struggle. She seems a “silver lining” in getting to run races she’s mapped out before chemo begins — and in finding the strength to race again after treatment is over.
It takes a special kind of person to find this kind of resilience within themselves. World class athletes like Grunewald perhaps have a notch of grit inside of them that others don’t have. Just as she reached for her everything to win races, Grunewald is reaching for that same capacity to overcome cancer.
Despite having to worry about fertility in the future, and ultimately losing her life, Grunewald keeps a positive perspective — and inspires her teammates every single day.
“My message is that it’s okay to struggle, it’s not okay to give up on yourself or your dreams,” said Grunewald.
To be resilient, graceful, humble, full of grit, tough as hell, and still stop to smell the roses, is to be brave like Gabe. Watch as world class athlete Gabe Grunewald shares how she went from the Olympic Trials to the operating table as she takes on cancer for the fourth time. For a list of special screenings throughout the U.S., click here: http://brks.co/bravegabescreenings.
Posted by Brooks Running on Monday, August 21, 2017