In a Single Bound: Losing My Leg, Finding Myself, and Training for Life

by Sarah Reinertsen

Overview

Sarah Reinertsen was born with a congenital birth defect. At the age of seven, her leg was amputated. At the age of thirteen, she broke the 100-meter world record for female above-the-knee amputees. At the age of thirty, she became the first female leg amputee to complete the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii. A year later, in CBS's reality television show The Amazing Race 10, she scaled the Great Wall of China. This book tells her story.

Touching, funny, and honest, In a Single Bound is about a feisty little girl from Long Island who became one of the world's most famous disabled sports figures. But it is also a gripping memoir of inner strength-about a one-legged child trying to fit in with her two-legged friends and a woman who dared to fear less and live more.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780762756421
Publisher:	Globe Pequot Press
Publication date:	09/01/2009
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

SARAH REINERTSEN, a Long Island native, earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Communication from George Washington University in 1997, and her Masters in Journalism from U.S.C. in 2000. In 2001, Sarah worked at NBC as an on-air correspondent in New York City. Over the last eight years, Sarah has competed in triathlons throughout the country, completed the Ironman World Triathlon Championships in Hawaii, and given motivational speeches throughout the world. Sarah lives in California. She maintains a blog at http://iamironsarah.spaces.live.com, and you can visit Sarah at http://www.AlwaysTri.net.

Table of Contents

Introduction VII

Chapter 1 Part Girl, Part Machine 1

Chapter 2 Becoming a Champion 37

Chapter 3 Even the Best Runners Can't Run Away 68

Chapter 4 Jump at the Chance 100

Chapter 5 Always Tri 124

Chapter 6 I'mua 148

Chapter 7 My Amazing Race 170

Chapter 8 Unfinished Business 191

Epilogue 215

Sarah Reinertsen's Racing Career 223

Acknowledgments 227

About the Authors 232

Recipe

Touching, funny, and honest, In a Single Bound is the story of how a feisty little girl from Long Island became one of the world’s most famous disabled sports figures. A world-class athlete and a celebrated television personality, Sarah Reinertsen not only takes us to the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii, she also provides a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at her season on CBS’s The Amazing Race 10, where millions watched her climb up the Great Wall of China, scale the cliffs of Vietnam, and ride horses in the hinterlands of Mongolia.

But In a Single Bound is about more than sports and television. A gripping memoir of inner strength, it is about a one-legged child trying to fit in with her two-legged friends. It’s about a girl dealing with an abusive father—the same father who introduced her to another female amputee at a race when she was eleven, which then opened up a whole new world for Sarah. It’s about an adolescent girl learning to deal with the media as she became a rising star—a girl mustering the inner strength to go stag to her senior prom, and dealing with body image issues that would turn a typical Gossip Girl into a blubbering mess. It’s about Sarah’s hard-fought, inspiring quest to become an Ironman. In a Single Bound is about a woman who dared to fear less and live more.

Editorial Reviews

The impressive story of a woman who will eventually be duly recognized as a pioneer in disabled athletics. Reinertsen, whom readers may recognize from her 2006 appearance on The Amazing Race, was born with proximal femoral focal deficiency in her left leg-"a shortened leg bone that'll never grow." At age seven, she had part of it amputated so she could use a prosthetic that provided greater mobility. The author-assisted by veteran ghostwriter Goldsher (co-author: Dancing to the Music in My Head: Memoirs of the People's Idol, 2009, etc.)-credits much of her success to the insistence of her parents, both from Norwegian immigrant families, on treating her like a normal kid. Throughout, her mother is depicted as an endless source of support. Although her father's abuse and extramarital affair kept the family in therapy for nearly a decade, he provided a modicum of assistance by seeking out Reinertsen's eventual role model, amputee marathoner Paddy Rossbach, at a race near their home in Long Island. Twelve-year-old Reinertsen marveled at Rossbach's grace and speed, and saw that a "normal," fulfilled life was possible for amputees. The author similarly inspires readers with her story, if one can consider her extraordinary experiences normal: world records for above-knee amputee women in the 100- and 200-meter races, the 1992 Paralympics in Barcelona, multiple academic degrees, the Ironman in Hawaii (she was the first woman to complete it on an artificial leg), interviewing Olympic stars in one of several TV-production gigs and climbing the Great Wall of China on a hit reality show. Though the compelling content occasionally descends into the cliched prose of many commercial inspirationalmemoirs-with lazy adjectives like "insane amped-ness" and "moving/amazing/incredible"-Reinertsen's vulnerability and ebullience have a way of sneaking through in passages about intimacy with her first boyfriend (when should she take the leg off?) and how her emotional Ironman triumph helped heal her family. A must-read for disabled readers seeking inspiration for their dreams, and will hold the interest-and crush the excuses-of those training for marathons and triathlons.

Kirkus Reviews

The impressive story of a woman who will eventually be duly recognized as a pioneer in disabled athletics.“Reinertsen, whom readers may recognize from her 2006 appearance on The Amazing Race, was born with proximal femoral focal deficiency in her left leg – ‘a shortened leg bone that’ll never grow.’ At age seven, she had part of it amputated so she could use a prosthetic that provided greater mobility. The author – assisted by veteran ghostwriter Goldsher (co-author: Dancing to the Music in My Head: Memoirs of the People’s Idol, 2009, etc) – credits much of her success to the insistence of her parents, both from Norwegian immigrant families, on treating her like a normal kid. Throughout, her mother is depicted as an endless source of support. Although her father’s abuse and extramarital affair kept the family in therapy for nearly a decade, he provided a modicum of assistance by seeking out Reinertsen’s eventual role model, amputee marathoner Paddy Rossbach, at a race near their home in Long Island. Twelve-year-old Reinertsen marveled at Rossbach’s grace and speed, and saw that a “normal,” fulfilled life was possible for amputees. The author similarly inspires readers with her story, if one can consider her extraordinary experiences normal: world records for above-knee amputee women in the 100- and 200- meter races, the 1992 Paralympics in Barcelona, multiple academic degrees, the Ironman in Hawaii (she was the first woman to complete it on an artificial leg), interviewing Olympic stars in one of several TV-production gigs, and climbing the Great Wall of China on a hit reality show. Though the compelling content occasionally descends into the clichéd prose of many commercial inspirations memoirs – with lazy adjectives like “insane amped-ness” and moving/amazing/incredible” – Reinertsen’s vulnerability and ebullience have a way of sneaking through in passages about intimacy with her first boyfriend (when should she take the leg off?) and how her emotional Ironman triumph helped heal her family.“A must-read for disabled readers seeking inspiration for their dreams, and will hold the interest – and crush the excuses – of those training for marathons and triathlons.” – Kirkus Reviews, August 1, 2009

From the Publisher