The Running Community Shares Its Fondest Memories of Gabe Grunewald – runnersworld.com

On late Sunday night, June 9, Justin Grunewald, husband to Gabriele “Gabe” Grunewald, shared a devastating letter to his wife on Instagram, explaining what she meant to him in heartbreaking detail. Over the weekend, Gabe, who battled adenoid cystic carcinoma, a rare cancer, had moved to comfort care after her health took a turn for the worse. In his post, Justin invited friends, family, and fans to share their memories of Gabe during her final days.

In the wake of her death on June 11, tributes continued to pour in from all over the globe. Running groups in cities across the country gathered for tribute runs, Emma Coburn raced with the “Brave Like Gabe” written on her bib at a Diamond League race in Oslo, Norway, and races are even being renamed in her honor. And throughout the week, her friends shared their memories of Gabe, whose contagious energy and bravery touched lives both on the track and off.

This week, Runner’s World reached out to people who coached, ran with, and cheered on Gabe over the years. Here, they share their memories, and how she made a difference in their lives and the lives of those around her.

[Learn more about Gabriele Grunewald and the Brave Like Gabe foundation.]

Gary Wilson (Coach of Gabe at the University of Minnesota):

“Gabe had a mind of her own—in a good way—and was not going to let anyone tell her not to do something. I was actually just talking to [current Minnesota women’s cross-country coach] Sarah Hopkins, who was teammates with Gabe, and she said she had to keep us from killing each other. There were times when I’d chew her out after she did stupid things in a race, and then she’d rebound and run her best race ever the next day. She could handle tough news where others would ball up and cry in the corner.

“When she found out she had cancer, she was a senior, and we had a meet that weekend. She was bummed about the news, but everyone else on the team was more bummed and worried than she was. She never asked, ‘I’ve got this thing, what do I do now?’ It never crossed her mind that she shouldn’t race the next day, despite the cancer—which is the mindset she continued to have all these years later.

“My proudest moment watching Gabe race was at the 2010 NCAA meet, when Gabe [who was completing her 6th year of eligibility] finished 2nd in the 1500. The summer before, she had undergone surgery and cancer treatment, and had only started training again in the spring. She went into the race saying, ‘I’m going to be the last to kick,’ and that’s what she did. It was incredible to watch.

“People sometimes ask me, ‘How did you train her so well while she was dealing with cancer?’ I didn’t do anything—I was just driving the damn bus. Every race she entered, she told me, ‘I beat cancer. I can run this race.’ Her legacy of toughness will outlast generations.”

Note: Wilson and his wife raised around a third of a million dollars to build a new locker room and offices for the Minnesota cross-country team and staff in honor of Gabriele Grunewald. The “Brave Like Gabe” facilities were opened to the student athletes this past May.

Sarah Hopkins (Teammate at Minnesota):

When Sarah Hopkins, a 2006 graduate from the University of Minnesota and current women’s cross-country coach for the Gophers, first met Gabe, she was hosting her on a recruiting trip. “I could tell from that first night that she was fiery and feisty, and that she’d make a good addition to the team,” Hopkins told Runner’s World.

Later that year, in fall 2005, Gabe entered as a walk-on freshman on the cross-country team when Hopkins was a senior team captain. “Like most runners, freshman year cross country was really tough, especially because she was more of a track runner. She was really happy to make the travel team once that season. That was the only season I beat her,” Hopkins said. The next spring, Hopkins watched as Gabe ran a massive personal best of 2:09 in the 800.

“It took her a little bit to figure out how good she could be,” Hopkins said. “Then she left us all in the dust.”

Throughout the rest of Gabe’s college career, Hopkins helped as an assistant coach for the team, so she had a front-row seat to the rising middle distance star’s running progress. At one particular meet, Hopkins remembers standing at the 2K mark in the 6K race and watching with shock as Gabe came into view, almost 100 yards in front of the field. “I told her as she passed by, ‘You’re here, so you have to commit and keep the pedal down,’” she said. Around the 4K mark, Gabe started to fade and was swallowed by the lead pack, which included future pro Amy Hastings (now Amy Cragg). Then with less than 800 meters left, she rallied and kicked, ultimately placing 4th in the race.

“She was ready to do gutsy, and sometimes stupid, things,” Hopkins said, “The limits most people had were not the limits Gabe had.”

One of Hopkins favorite memories, she said, was at the 2010 NCAA outdoor track meet, where Gabe finished runner-up in the 1500 meters almost exactly a year after she was diagnosed with cancer. Going into that spring season, she set three goals for herself: Become a Big Ten Champion, set the school record for the 1500 meters, and win All-American honors. With the first two goals accomplished, Gabe found herself in the first NCAA final of her career.

While the race that unfolded would be a career highlight for the athlete, it was the moments before the gun sounded that really stuck with Hopkins.

“She was standing on the starting line in Hayward Field for the first time in her life, and everyone around her was so fidgety and not relaxed. Just scared, as runners are,” Hopkins said. “But Gabe was standing stone-still, with a huge smile on her face, just taking it all in. She knew that in the end, it didn’t matter that much. Running tested her and challenged her, and in that way it was really important, but she was running for something bigger than herself. She did it because she loved it and she was able to do it.”

Amanda Eccelston (Pro Middle Distance Competitor):

Eccelston first met Grunewald at the 2015 Liberty Mile in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. At the time, Eccelston, who graduated with a public health degree from the University of Michigan in 2013, was 25 and just getting her feet wet in pro running.

“I still didn’t really know what I was doing as a professional runner,” she told Runner’s World. “But I remember Gabe being so friendly and inviting. She was one of those people who made you feel so welcomed in the running community, which really made an impact on me.”

Over the past four years, Eccelston, who is sponsored by Brooks, competed alongside Grunewald in dozens of races, including Grunewald’s final national race, the 1500 meters at the 2017 U.S. Championships in Sacramento.

“After that race, Stephanie Brown gathered us all together at the finish line to pray for Gabe. It was one of those moments that you realize that even though we’re here for titles and a place on the World team, this is bigger than all of us,” she said. “I’ve never dealt with anything like what Gabe had to overcome—she puts all of my injuries and setbacks into perspective. Watching her coming back from cancer treatment and continuing racing got me to the starting line, because it made me appreciate how lucky I am to be on the starting line in the first place.”

Kara Goucher (Pro Runner):

“I don’t remember how I first started communicating with Gabe. In 2013 we comforted each other with messages after we both missed the World Champs team to Moscow. She supported me when I came forward against my former team, and it meant so much to me.

“But much more important than my relationship with her was her relationship with the running community. She and Justin were willing to share their lives with us; they really let us in, in such an intimate way. When most people would have understandably closed off, they kept sharing. She has shown us how to face adversity head on and how to find joy in the small moments. She may no longer be on earth, but her impact on the running community could not be stronger.”

Lauren Paquette (Former College Competitor):

Lauren Paquette competed against Grunewald in college as a distance runner at Baylor University. The two would often face-off on the anchor leg at Drake Relays, and Grunewald always stood out as one of the fiercest competitors Paquette had to face.

After they both graduated, Paquette and Grunewald met again as professional distance runners on the circuit. Even when Grunewald was in-between treatments, she still competed on several occasions and was quick to lift others up in the process. She even reminded Paquette moments before the 1500 meters at the 2017 Music City Distance Festival in Nashville that she [Paquette] would run well. “She said, ‘You excited? You’re about to run fast today!” Paquette recalled.

“I don’t even remember what [Grunewald] ran in that race, but I know it probably wasn’t anywhere close to her PR, just from being so sick. But she was just smiling the entire time,” Paquette said (Grunewald finished in 4:28 while Paquette finished in a season’s best of 4:16 that day).

“And that can’t be fun for somebody who is so good, you know, to finish in that position, but that didn’t really matter. It was more about showing up and just doing it and being on the start line and racing because that is what she loved to do.”

On the same day that Paquette spoke with Runner’s World, she was asked to give a tribute to her friend before the mile at the Adrian Martinez Classic on June 13. Terrified of speaking in front of a crowd, especially under tragic circumstances, Paquette initially said she was unable to do it. But in remembering Grunewald, she realized that the brave thing to do would be to speak about her friend who lived bravely every single day.

“I think the point is living your life and doing things that make you feel alive even though they are scary, and this is just something that I can definitely do right now, so I’m doing it,” Paquette said. “She would want people to do what makes them feel alive and do what brings them happiness.”

Danny Mackey (Coach of Gabe with Brooks Beasts in 2016):

Brooks Beasts head coach Danny Mackey coached Grunewald in 2016 when she was training to make the Rio Olympic team. When Grunewald asked Mackey to coach her for the Olympic build-up, he felt honored to be considered by an athlete that he thought so highly of.

“I knew that regardless of the race, she was going to compete really well. I knew she was really talented and she cuts through the sh– right away, and I just love that,” Mackey said. “With Gabe, I just always knew where I stood.”

While they didn’t always agree on everything—Grunewald wanted to run the 5K and Mackey wanted her to run the 1500 meters at the 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials, for example—Mackey always respected Grunewald’s honesty, at times bluntness, and tenacity when it came down to chasing a goal.

In the 5K semifinal at the Trials, Grunewald finished seventh and didn’t qualify for the final, but about 45 minutes later, she returned to the track and competed in the first round of the 1500. She qualified for the semifinal and eventually the final in the event. Later that summer, doctors discovered a four-pound tumor growing in her liver, which she had been competing with throughout the season.

“She was smart, resilient. She was a hardass, never tapping out,” Mackey said. “I want to be around people like that.”

While Mackey and Grunewald parted ways after the 2016 season, the experience of coaching Grunewald inspired him greatly.

“I really did learn a lot. I feel like God was showing me ‘this is how you need to be as a coach, and I’m trying to teach you this, and this is the example. You need to be more like her,’” Mackey said.

Garrett Heath (Brooks Beasts Teammate and Friend):

Heath, a veteran member of the Brooks Beasts, has known Grunewald since the runners competed at the high school level in Minnesota. Both Brooks athletes as professionals, Heath always looked forward to watching Grunewald compete on the track.

“She was the badass of the running world. You expect her to win. You expect her to overcome anything, both in what she has gone through with cancer and on the track,” Heath said. “I never had to race Gabe, but you didn’t want Gabe in your race because you knew if Gabe was in there, she was going to make it hard as sh–, and she was going to push.

“It didn’t matter what obstacles she had to overcome to get to that start line, she was always a factor. Her grittiness and toughness on the track… yeah, she threw some elbows in her time. I’ve seen her battle out on the track, but that’s racing. She was a fighter in all of the best sorts of ways.”

In addition to her competitiveness on the track, Heath said that their off-the-track memories will stick with him forever.

“You take those moments for granted at the time, but I’ll cherish those the most,” Heath said.

Grabbing a beer to celebrate a great race, singing karaoke, or going out dancing after meets around the world, those seemingly small moments showed Grunewald’s passion for living life to the fullest.

“I think of her face and the big smile that she always had on,” Heath said. “She was full of energy despite being someone who has been battling through this for as long as you can remember. She never showed anything but smiles and perseverance. I think that’s why everyone always expected her to come out on the other side and beat this.”

Sara Vaughn (Pro Middle Distance Competitor and Friend):

“I knew who she was before I met her. The first time I met her in person was at the meet that USATF hosts at Occidental College in 2011. We all call it Oxy. We both raced the 1500, I think. We cooled down together. I asked if she wanted cool down and she was like, ‘Of course!’

“We started chatting, and I sought her out because I knew who she was, and I just wanted to tell her how impressed I was with her story, being diagnosed and coming back in college. I’ll never forget: She changed the subject. She really didn’t want to talk about her disease, she wanted to talk about other normal stuff and get to know me as a person. Not that she always avoided talking about her disease, but she always felt slightly uncomfortable with how impressed people were with her.

“She and I were pretty fast friends after once or twice meeting. I considered her a friend. She was easy to get to know. It was easy to be friends with her once a race was over. Even before. We would warm up a lot together. Track and field is odd that way. Some of your best friends are some of your fiercest competitors.

In 2016 at the Trials, she ran the 5K and didn’t make the final. She ended up jumping in the 1500 as well. She made the final. I wasn’t really planning on making the final. I was just coming back from my third baby. I ended up making the final and getting seventh and having this great day. Gabe had this very sub-par day. Honestly, in our head-to-head record, I don’t remember ever beating her all that often. She was always one of those people that if she was in the race I was like, okay, it’s going to be really tough. She’s always super hard to beat. She was always a great competitor. I respected her a lot.

“That was probably a little bit of an alarm bell, she was back in the field. We cooled down together that day after the final, and Justin and my husband and she and I went to the beer garden that was there and hung out. And she and Justin were trying to go through the options of what needed to change because she felt like she wasn’t having a good year. It was a few weeks later that she texted me and told me about her liver tumor.

“I was always really careful with our conversations, because she never really got upset or showed weakness or cried or got down. She was very intentional about focusing on the positive things. When she would text me some bad news or I would ask how a scan would go, she would say, ‘Well, it wasn’t great.’ I would then ask, ‘Okay, what’s the protocol, what are we doing next? What does the treatment look like?’ She liked talking about that part of it, because it would get her excited and hopeful, and that’s what she wanted to focus on. Even though sometimes we’d hang up and I’d be devastated.

“It wasn’t really clear to me until a few weeks ago how [her health had deteriorated]. That’s the thing about Gabe, she never let on how bad things were because she never focused on that, she always had hope she could overcome, because she did. She couldn’t let herself be like, ‘this is the end’ and stop making plans for the future, because she had beaten it three times.

“Maybe she knew more than she let on how sick she was, but I think that’s why in a way it’s so shocking and hard because up until the end, that was her attitude. “Now we’re going to try this new treatment and try to keep training.’”

Hannah Fields (Brooks Beast Teammate):

Hannah Fields was introduced to Grunewald in her first year as a professional competing for the Brooks Beasts. Both athletes went with the team to altitude training camp in Albuquerque, New Mexico, after the 2016 USATF Indoor Championships.

At the time, Fields was new to the group and a bit reserved. When it came down to establishing sleeping arrangements, the house they rented didn’t have enough rooms to accommodate every athlete, so Fields volunteered to sleep on a mattress in the living room. Grunewald wouldn’t accept that.

“Gabe was so mad about it,” Fields said with a laugh. “She was like, ‘No! You are not going to be sleeping on a mattress on the floor in the living room! You’re going to stay in my room!’”

Fields remembered Grunewald promptly moving the mattress upstairs and inviting Fields into her space. At the time, Fields didn’t know Grunewald well, but she appreciated the immediate acceptance from a runner she looked up to.

“I was drawn to her willingness to stand up,” Fields said. “I tend to be a people pleaser and can tend to bend, and I think she saw that and stepped in and wanted to let me know that it’s okay to have a room.”

The two runners were both returning from injuries at that point and spent a lot of time cross-training together in the pool. They became fast friends, and Fields was able to to ask many questions about Grunewald’s journey. She was inspired by Gabe’s passion for living each day to the fullest.

“When you have a limited time on earth, you can either choose to shut down or go after it without any pretense, and that’s exactly what she did,” Fields said.