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Growing up, Miriam is an average athlete who doesn't get much playing time. She never imagines becoming a runner. But a college breakup propels her to run to mend her broken heart. She begins running 5K races. These races morph into half-marathons and marathons. Years later, running helps her to cope with the workplace mistreatment she is enduring as an academic and the depression she suffers.
After watching Dean Karnazes and Pam Reed on 60 Minutes talk about ultrarunning, Miriam signs up for the JFK 50 ultra. With the love and support of her family, she runs an ultramarathon every year. A few years later, Miriam is unable to run normally until she is diagnosed with neurological B12 deficiency and gets her running legs back.
Three days after placing third female in a twenty-four-hour ultramarathon, Miriam's scheduled laparoscopic hysterectomy is only the beginning of her medical and surgical nightmare. When her husband Jon is diagnosed with stage four cancer, Miriam runs ultramarathons for his healing.
In Come What May, I Want to Run, the reader keeps pace with Miriam as she overcomes adversity, and her unrelenting faith, perseverance, resiliency, and running ultramarathons never waiver.
About the author
Miriam Diaz-Gilbert was born and raised in Connecticut. She is a graduate of Rutgers University and LaSalle University. She has taught ESL, first-year writing, and theology/religion studies. She has been running races since 1989 and ultramarathons since 2005. She is published in academic journals, Huffington Post, Ultrarunning Magazine, Women's Running Magazine, Chicken Soup for the Soul: Running for Good, and Cancer Today. Miriam and her husband Jon have two children and three grandchildren.
