WARM UP SPECIAL TRIBUTEBROOKSRUNNING14 WOMEN’S RUNNING SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019
A Life Lived Bravely
To a woman and athlete who made such an indelible impact on her sport, her peers, and us—we
pay tribute to the beautiful life and legacy of Gabriele Grunewald. BY ERIN STROUTG
abriele Grunewald once
thought her purpose was
to run fast, make podiums,
and go to the Olympics. And
while her legacy will include her extraor-
dinary talent on the track, it’s likely that
her advocacy, grace, and perseverance
are what will endure.
Grunewald, who was a national cham-
pion in the indoor 3,000 meters and a
top middle-distance track star, died on
June 11, 2019, at age 32, at the home in
Minneapolis she shared with her hus-
band, Justin Grunewald. She had been
diagnosed 10 years earlier with a rare
cancer called adenoid cystic carcinoma
(ACC)—it has no cure.
As a college athlete at the University
of Minnesota and in the early days of her
professional running career, Grunewaldhesitated to make her experience with
cancer the focus on her platform and
message. She got the first diagnosis on
a phone call from her doctor while away
at a track meet in Arizona. She met that
news by clocking a personal best in the
1,500 meters the next day.
After graduation, she was offered a con-
tract with Brooks and a spot on Team USA
Minnesota. She lived with the knowledge
that ACC usually reappears at some point,
in another part of the body, typically the
lungs or liver. In 2010, cancer returned
in an unrelated and treatable form, in
her thyroid, and after it was cured she
spent six years training and competingmostly uninterrupted—she was fourth in
the 2012 Olympic Trials, was 2013 indoor
national 3,000-meter champion, and
set a lifetime best of 4:01.48 in the 1,
meters the same year.
Grunewald entered the 2016 Olympic
Trials focused on the 5,000 meters, but
when she failed to advance to the finals,
she entered the 1500 meters an hour
later, in a last effort to make the team.
She advanced through the rounds but
ultimately left without qualifying for the
Rio Games. She decided, however, that
her running career wasn’t over.
“Truthfully, I’m not sure what the next
few years of my career will look like, but IGabe found a way to
move forward and
extend her hope and
gifts to others.
To make a donation to the Brave Like Gabe Foundation or find out
more about its mission, visit bravelikegabe.org.