Melissa Hering

I am a mother of two, a wife for more than 13 years, and I am a Spartan! For the past 6 years, the Spartan race has become a part of my everyday life. I wake up at 5:00 AM every day to get to the gym and bank my miles and weight training so I can be home before my kids wake up.

But my Spartan story doesn’t start there. My Spartan story started in 2004 long before I had ever heard of the Spartan race or even owned a pair of running shoes.

One day in October 2004, I was lying in a hospital bed waiting for what would become a life-altering surgery. Just a few days before, I was a healthy 20-year-old newlywed with dreams of the life my husband and I would have.

Within a week’s time, I had ruptured my L5/S1 disk. There I was, drugged up and clueless as to what back surgery was going to do to me. Something went wrong in the surgery, and the surgeon had to remove 75% of my disk, leaving the left side of my spine to be bone-grinding bone.

I was in bed for 3 months, and my husband went from groom to caregiver. It was awful and humiliating—not how I wanted to start my marriage.

The pain was like nothing I had ever felt before. I lost all feeling down my left leg and the left side of my foot. I saw doctor after doctor, but there was nothing anyone could do but prescribe medication to help me manage the pain.

My life went from that of a carefree young woman to a life run by pain management. I could no longer walk up and down the stairs without pain and holding onto a handrail, I could not ride a bike, or go for a walk. I could not even sit on the floor to play with my dogs.

Over time, I was able to push past the pain and return to a limited life; my new normal was handicap, broken, and living life on the sideline. 8 years went by and being handicap became part of who I was.

I endured two very risky pregnancies, but I was not able to be the mother my kids deserve. I was not able to chase them in the park or teach them to ride a bike.

When my oldest was 2, I tried to rack her a small pile of leaves to jump in when my back went out. I collapsed on the floor, and for several hours I laid on the ground in my backyard until a neighbor heard me yelling for help. My 2-year-old had to fend for herself for hours until help came.

My baby girl had to spend her early childhood taking care of me. She would help me on and off the couch, holding my hand while I cried in pain. There were no camping trips, no family bike rides—even a beach trip was painful. It was an awful feeling to be the reason your kids’ childhood is cut short.

On New Year’s Eve in 2012, my doctor called and said that they found a mass on my thyroid and that I need to see a specialist to see if it was cancer. I hung up the phone and prayed. I told God I trusted Him to see me through.

After the holidays, I went for testing and learned that it was not cancer but that my thyroid was dying, and I was about to gain a lot of weight, which would affect my back and cause me to have even more pain and limitations.

Shortly after this visit, an acquaintance told me about this thing called Spartan. It sounded like hell on earth. No part of it sounded like fun, and I thought this woman was crazy. I went home and showed my husband a YouTube video of a Spartan race, and we made jokes about how stupid it was.

That Sunday at church, God spoke to me. I knew it had to be God because it was such an outrageous thing to ask, and it could have only come from the God who dreamed up our world. “Run Spartan and I will heal you.”

I told God that was stupid and wondered if He had seen the same video I had seen. But again God persisted. Not one to argue with the King of the world, I submitted and told God I would do it knowing full well that it was going to kill me, and my healing would be found in heaven.

After all, I can’t even walk around the park with my kids, and now you want me to run through mud? Are you kidding me?

With my husband’s blessing, I went that Monday and joined my local YMCA. I even hired a trainer. I told her my plan and all of my health issues along with a long list of things I could not do. She agreed to train me because she said if she did not, she was scared I was going to hurt myself trying this on my own.

I started out going 3 days a week for about 30 minutes. Then I would go home and cry and curl up with a heating pad and pain pills. But I kept at it each day remembering that God said “run Spartan,” so He had to help, and so I called out each day for His help.

After a few months, I was able to walk faster, and I hurt just a little less. In time my walk became a jog, and by summer I was running with very little pain. I still had a limited range of motion and had no idea how I was going to be able to pull off a burbee.

But I kept at it. Day after day, week after week, I got up prayed for help and trained. By April, the mass on my thyroid had disappeared and levels were perfect! That was such a big motivator to keep training; I could see how God was using exercise to heal my body.

Late that summer, I came home from the gym, and for the first time, I was not in pain. In early fall, after a run, I got a cramp in my left leg that brought me tears not because it hurt, but because I could feel it! The feeling in my left leg and foot had returned after 8 years.

In October 2013, I ran the Mississippi Spartan Sprint. It was more than just a race to the finish line; for me, crossing that finish line was crossing over from having a handicap to becoming a Spartan! I am now 100% pain-free, I have full feeling in my left leg and foot, and I also have full range of motion.

I have gone on to run three more Spartan races, and when I cross the finish line in Alabama, I will have earned my trifecta.

I run the Spartan race because it changed my life. I run Spartan because I am running proof that God still heals, and I run Spartan to encourage others never to give up and keep pushing for the impossible.

Now I teach a kids’ running club where I get to share my newly found passion for running and the Spartan race with the next generation. The best part of that is I get to run with my kids who are both training for the Spartan kids race!

The other day while out for a 6-mile run, I asked God why he healed me. Out of all the people out there who are hurt, why me? And why Spartan? I believe this is why. I believe I am healed so I can share my story and give hope to those who may have lost it.

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Melissa Hering

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