Less than two years after one of his legs was amputated, Dave Mackey lined up for a 100-mile trail run. (OnlyAGameNPR)
On Aug. 16, 2014, Dave Mackey lined up for the final event of the Leadman challenge.
One of Mackey's friends happened to be running nearby. He heard Mackey's screams and, within about a minute, was there to help. He managed to lever the rock off, but what that revealed was disturbing. Mackey needed a cane to walk. He was in chronic pain. A return to ultras appeared impossible. Unless he chose to amputate."When I finally decided that, it was actually somewhat of a sigh of relief," Mackey says."It was a feeling of weight lifted off my shoulders. Because I knew the infection would be gone. I knew all those problems and surgeries and indefinite outcomes would be basically gone with one surgery.
And if it seems a bit crazy that Mackey would focus on completing such a huge feat over relentless mountain terrain on one leg — even before he’d learned how to take a single step — Mackey wasn’t the only one who thought it was possible. Mackey's friend Bob Africa visited the hospital the day after the surgery and gave Mackey the belt buckle he’d earned at the 2014 Leadman, when he and Mackey had finished first and second.
Next in the series, Leadman athletes have a choice to complete either a 50-mile mountain bike race on Saturday, or a 50-mile trail run on Sunday. Mackey did the bike race. But then...
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