She’ll Run London As Her Last World Major—and It Will Be Her Final Marathon Ever – runnersworld.com

Renee Seman, 41, started running in 2008 with a couch-to-10K program as a way to get into shape before trying to have a baby. After growing up playing softball, she needed to find an activity that didn’t require a team or major commitment. But it wasn’t love at first lace-up.

“I fell off the wagon a lot. It took me a while to get into it—in the beginning, I hated it,” she tells Runner’s World. “But I just kept going, and saw some progress. All I had to do was throw on clothes and sneakers and head out the door.”

After the Long Island, New York, resident ran her first 10K in 2009, she was hooked.

“I liked the thrill of the race—it was a lot different than just going out for a run,” she said.

She welcomed her daughter into the family in June of 2013. It was while she was on maternity leave that she discovered a lump in her breast.

“I noticed the lump in my left breast one day in the shower when putting on shaving gel to shave my underarm,” she said. “I didn’t have any other symptoms, and was breastfeeding at the time so I wasn’t overly concerned. But I still made an appointment to immediately see my doctor.”

Her OB/GYN performed an exam on Seman, and immediately sent her for an ultrasound. The next step was a biopsy. Following that, she was diagnosed with ER positive/HER2 negative breast cancer in March of 2014.

“This is the most common subtype of breast cancer,” says Kevin Kalinsky, M.D, M.S., oncologist at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center. The majority of breast cancers are fed by estrogen—meaning ER positive—and are negative for HER2, a growth-promoting protein found on the outside of breast cells, which can mean a faster-spreading cancer, according to the American Cancer Society.

Dealing With the Diagnosis

Initially, doctors thought it was a stage 1 cancer, meaning that it was confined to the breast. If that were the case, surgery would be an option, though it would put her running on pause.

She was in the process of speaking with a breast surgeon to talk about surgery when he ordered a PET scan to make sure the cancer had not spread. The results showed suspicious areas in her bones, and a bone biopsy confirmed the presence of cancer there.

Doctors determined that her cancer was stage 4.

At the time of diagnosis, Seman had already signed up for the Brooklyn Half Marathon, which would be held just two months after her diagnosis. When her doctors discovered that her cancer was metastatic, or that it had already spread, running really became a form of therapy for her.

Courtesy of Renee Seman

“When we learned surgery was not an option for me, I had to deal with my diagnosis. And in dealing with it, I was not going to give up those races,” she said.

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Even though she was receiving hormone therapy to suppress the hormones that could cause her cancer to grow—meaning she was put into a medically-induced menopause—she was still feeling physically strong, and was able to run the Brooklyn Half Marathon.

“I wasn’t having cancer symptoms. I had no pain—it wasn’t negatively impacting my life,” Seman said.

Making a Running Bucket List

With the Brooklyn crossed off her list, she started to look toward 26.2—the New York City Marathon specifically.

“It was something I wished I could do,” she said. “I just thought, if this was ever something I want to do, I have to do it now. I signed up for it, and I was like ‘What did I just do?!’ I was freaking out.”

But she did it. At first, she was thinking it would be a one-and-done thing. She didn’t even know the Abbott World Marathon Majors existed at that point. But once she found out about the six races, she knew she wanted to do what she could to complete the ones on U.S. soil.

“Traveling internationally seemed like too much, but I saw Chicago was an option,” she said. “My family had never been to Chicago, so I just thought, ‘Why don’t we run that one?’”

She laced up, and completed Chicago in 2016. She was still undergoing different treatments for her cancer, which included hormone therapies, targeted therapies, and chemotherapies. But she still felt okay through it to keep running.

So naturally, Boston was up next. While she was training for it, she thought, why not bring the international ones into the mix, too. So she entered the lottery for Berlin.

“If I got the lottery, amazing, if I didn’t, it wasn’t going to be a big deal,” she said. “Right before Boston, I found out I got accepted into the lottery. Now, it’s on.”

Courtesy of Renee Seman

Running Through Treatments

Around that time, though, she started to feel the effects of her cancer and its treatments.

“Up until that point, physically the cancer wasn’t bothering me. But the treatments started to really take effect after Boston. My body was like, we need a break,” she said. “I had lost all my hair. I couldn’t train, I couldn’t run. Over time I just started getting really, really depressed.”

Her doctors were concerned, and realized that one of the factors feeding her depression was because she was no longer able to run.

So they helped her figure out how to factor running back into her life, doing things like scheduling treatments around her race schedule.

Based on her treatment schedule, she knew the days she wouldn’t be feeling well, and the ones when she would. She uses those good days to train.

“Once we were able to factor running back into my life, everything changed. Running for me is part of my treatment. It’s something I need,” she said.

Courtesy of Renee Seman

She hired a running coach to help her on those “good” days in preparation for the Berlin Marathon in September 2018 and the Tokyo Marathon in March 2019.

The purpose of a coach wasn’t to get a personal best—she just wanted to complete the races without injury.

And she did. Now, she’s preparing for the London Marathon on April 28, her last remaining race in the Abbott World Majors.

It will end up being her last marathon.

“The cancer has spread into both of my femurs, which becomes more dangerous (for marathon running). So, it will be my last marathon,” Seman said. “It won’t be the end of running, just the distance.”

Looking to the Future

For her final marathon, Seman is training to finish it safely—it’ll be her third marathon in six months—while giving it all that she can. She’s running three days a week to prep, along with her two days of yoga.

Seman couldn’t imagine going through the preparation, or her cancer diagnosis and treatments, without her family by her side throughout all of it.

“I totally get down. I recently ran a half marathon, and I finished with an ugly cry face of not wanting to do a race ever again,” she said. But her husband was there to lift her up—as he has been throughout the entire process, playing “Eye of the Tiger” throughout the house to pump her up for her runs.

“When I get down, he is right there to lift me up,” she said.

She considers her 5-year-old daughter one of her biggest cheerleaders, too.

“During my races she is so sweet, jumping up and down, and I always go over and give her a hug,” she said. “I want her to be a part of this journey, for her to see me strong.”

Courtesy of Renee Seman

While London may be the end of her marathon journey, it’s not the finale to her racing life: Seman already has plans for more events this summer, including a 27-mile overnight hike of Devils Pass in the Catskills, and an all-female, 12-person, 48-hour, 200-mile Ragnar team race in New Hampshire.

In fact, Seman plans to be a part of the running community for as long as she is able.

“Running gives me time and a place to reflect, and deal with my emotions,” she said. “Running makes me feel good—it makes me feel capable. It gives me an opportunity to challenge my body. When I get into moods when I question ‘Why is my body revolting against me?’ running makes me go ‘Oh well, I still have some control of my body.”