Kelly Bruno: 2024 Boston Marathon Professional Para-Athlete, A Return to Loving the Run

Women's Running Stories

Kelly Bruno has been an athlete since she was a child. Because of a birth defect on her right leg, she went through a below-the-knee amputation, and competes with a prosthetic. Competitive sports has played a fundamental role in her life and her development, and throughout, Bruno has been a role model in the para-athlete world, pushing the limits of what's possible. She's here to tell the story.

Throughout her long athletic career, Bruno has excelled in distances from 100 meters to 100 miles, and she competed for years in the sport of triathlon. In her teen years she set world records as a sprinter, has competed in world championships as a triathlete, including the Hawaii Ironman, and this year, she'll race as part of the professional para-athlete field at the Boston Marathon, after running a half-marathon PR of 1:31 in 2023.

Very importantly, that half-marathon PR and Bruno's excitement about running Boston have come after a needed hiatus from competitive sports. In the process of going through COVID as well as some major life changes and traumas, Bruno began to rethink her relationship to running over the last several years and stepped away from competition. She returned to structured training and racing last year, 2023, with a fresh, more balanced approach to where the sport fits into her life.

In this episode, Bruno tells the whole story. Of the her first memories of being an athlete and what that meant, through her sprinting and triathlon years; her move into ultra trail running and then stepping away from the sport, to now, as she looks forward to racing the Boston Marathon.

Keep Up with Kelly Bruno

Instagram: @kellybrunomd

Mentioned in This Episode

Ari Hendrix: Journey to the Olympic Trials Marathon, A Quest to Top The List: https://womensrunningstories.com/ari-hendrix-journey-to-the-olympic-marathon-trials-a-quest-to-top-the-list

Briana Boehmer: A Difficult Decision and the Power of Support: https://womensrunningstories.com/briana-boehmer-a-difficult-decision-and-the-power-of-support

Black Unicorn Marathoners: blackunicornmarathoners.org

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