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Running Issues: Brave Like Gabe And Abby

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DyeStat.com   Sep 21st 2021, 7:41pm
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In The Midst Of Loss, The Running Community Finds Hope

By Elizabeth Carey for DyeStat

It’s been a tough year and a half. In the U.S. a grim approaching total of 700,000 lives have been lost to COVID-19 and more than 42 million have contracted the illness. And that’s on top of life’s inevitable, yet shocking, losses. 

The running community has suffered in its own way, with its own losses. Somehow, it also triumphs. 

One of running’s tremendous recent losses was that of Abigail “Abby” Anderson, a 29-year-old pediatric nurse, artist and sister of Gabriele “Gabe” Grunewald, the pro track athlete who founded the Brave Like Gabe Foundation and died of adenoid cystic carcinoma in 2019.

Anderson was struck by a truck in August and died at Regions Hospital in Minneapolis, as reported by the Star Tribune. She’d been walking to a soccer game where her boyfriend was coaching when the vehicle swerved. The Ramsey County Sheriff office confirmed that an investigation is ongoing.

The tragic collision occurred near the 1-kilometer mark of the Roy Griak Invitational cross country course —where Anderson raced as a University of Minnesota cross country and track athlete. She, alongside her sister, also ran at Perham High School. 

This Thursday is her birthday. It would’ve been her 30th. 

 

It is an astonishing quantity of grief for one family to bear, as well as the running community. 

Anderson was instrumental in the Brave Like Gabe Foundation, especially in planning the fourth annual Brave Like Gabe 5k. She even designed the shirts. 

The Sept. 26 event raises funds for rare cancer research. The event will be conducted both virtually and in St. Paul, Minn., with safety protocols. The in-person event features a kid’s fun run, officially named Abby’s Run in honor of Anderson. Kids who participate will receive a sticker featuring Anderson’s art. 

This Friday, collegiate and high school teams will race Griak’s grassy loops through Les Bolstad Golf Course

Sarah Hopkins, University of Minnesota women’s and men’s cross country head coach, said they’ll hold a moment of silence for Anderson at the start of the college races. The team will also be volunteering at the Brave Like Gabe 5k. Hopkins said alumni are currently planning a memorial engraved stone at the site of the accident. 

Running and racing bring us together. They offer opportunities for personal growth, strengthening community, celebrating lives, and honoring the footsteps that preceded ours. They’re also opportunities to witness grief. 

Grief compounds. Or does it come in waves? The most certain fact about grief is that it’s been described by infinite analogies. But perhaps it also still defies definition, timelines, and any clear path. 

Grief comes when it must, not when it is convenient or we are ready. It hit Grunewald’s best friend and elite trail runner Ladia Albertson-Junkans during a recent race, her first since Anderson, with whom she was also close, died. In an Instagram post, she wrote:

“I felt a bit caught off guard by all the thoughts, memories, feelings swirling thru me out there—at one point saying to myself: “this isn’t what I want to be thinking about during a race!” And then reminding myself that yes yes I do cuz this is grief and I want to run with it not from it. ‘Let it come, let it go, let it flow.’ (And take an extra moment to enjoy the view & feel the earth beneath your feet cuz you are *here* 🤗🙏🏼)”

Grunewald inspired people to be brave in the face of struggles, while advocating for better rare cancer treatments. She did this in races, runs, through the foundation, and beyond. So, too, did Anderson. 

In 2019, Anderson told Women’s Running that running was both a reminder of Gabe and a method of healing.

“In my grief and not really knowing what to do with all these emotions and frustrations, going out for a run and having that control and release has been a huge part of the healing process. I’m just trying to take a cue from Gabe and find a positive thing I can do when I don’t really have control over the situation around me.” 

Register for the Brave Like Gabe 5k here: https://runsignup.com/Race/MN/SaintPaul/2021BraveLikeGabe5k

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Elizabeth Carey (https://elizabethwcarey.com/) is a writer and running coach based in Seattle, Washington. Her first book, GIRLS RUNNING, co-authored with Melody Fairchild, is available at your local bookstore and here: https://shop.aer.io/GirlsRunning/p/Girls_Running_All_You_Need_to_Strive_Thrive_and_Run_Your_Best/9781948007184-9934



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