Marseilles and her friend and running partner, Molly Karl. Photograph courtesy of Össur.
On October 11, Jami Marseilles became the first bilateral amputee woman in the world to complete a full marathon. Marseilles ran the 26.2-mile Bank of America Chicago Marathon with a time of 6 hours, 27 minutes. Her average pace time was 14:47 minutes per mile.
“Setting this goal was intense, mentally and physically, but finishing the marathon wasn’t a choice, it was a necessity,” Marseilles said. “I appreciate everyone who cheered me on, from close and afar, and am grateful for all of the support I’ve received from Össur and the Challenged Athletes Foundation throughout my journey as an athlete. The race was everything I imagined and more.”
Marseilles, 46, became an amputee in 1988 due to gangrene, which was the result of severe frostbite she suffered after she and a friend were trapped in a car in a snowbank for 11 days. While she says she wasn’t very physically active in her younger years, she embraced physical fitness following her amputation, setting records first as a sprinter and now as a distance runner with her latest accomplishment.
“This journey of life is short and before you blink, it goes,” she says. “My philosophy is: just because you’ve lost a limb doesn’t mean your life is over. There’s a whole lot of living that we get to experience and staying physically healthy will support my mobility to live my life to the fullest.”
For more information, visit http://iamjami.com.