Start Line Stories: 10 Years After Stomach Removal Surgery, Oregonian Lauren Elfvin Starts Running Again
This week’s Start Line Story stays close to home, with Lauren Elfvin who grew up in Eugene and now calls Portland home. Lauren’s running story started in her early twenties back in 2009, when a friend convinced her to sign up for the Eugene half marathon. The friend ended up bailing, but Lauren went on to train and to run it all on her own.
Running quickly became a part of Lauren’s young life, until 2013, when everything changed for her and her family with the sudden death of her 23-year-old cousin due to a rare stomach cancer. Over the next tumultuous year, Lauren and many of her family members tested positive for the genetic mutation that was to blame for her cousin’s death. She and five others had to have their stomachs removed and two additional family members went through cancer treatment and double mastectomies.
Lauren recovered from the surgery, but daily life looked a lot different post-op and, for a long time, running became impossible.
Last fall, Lauren and her husband – who had just turned 40 – started thinking about running again and about focusing on fitness and showing their two sons that they could accomplish hard things. So Lauren did what started it all 15 years ago – she signed up for the Eugene half marathon – and she started running.
Read Lauren’s full Start Line Story below:
Name: Lauren Elfvin
Where are you from and where is home now?
I was raised in the wonderful city of Eugene! Home is Portland now, with my own family. I ran track as a youth and I have worked at Nike and adidas, so I have lots of memories at Hayward Field.
How many marathons and/or half marathons have you completed and what was your first road race?
My first race was the Eugene half marathon back in 2009. I signed up on my own and it was one of the biggest things I had ever committed to and followed through with — all on my own. I was so proud of that race, but I missed my goal by the tiniest amount and I did it again a year or two later. This year will be my third race overall and my third time doing the Eugene half marathon. It’s going to be so special to be back in Eugene and to finish in the new stadium.
What inspired you to sign up for the 2024 Eugene Marathon?: My world has completely changed since I last participated in a race, much less ran at all. In 2013, my 23-year old cousin was diagnosed with a rare stomach cancer, caused by a genetic mutation called CDH1. He passed only three months later. Within that year, our extended family began testing for the mutation. If present, it causes an extremely high risk of terminal stomach cancer and breast cancer. Currently, due to a lack of proper surveillance for these types of cancer, the treatment is a prophylactic gastrectomy and/or mastectomy. After a number of us tested positive for the mutation, five family members had their stomachs removed, including me in 2014. Two more are battling breast cancer and ultimately had to have double mastectomies.
Since the surgery, I have struggled with all kinds of daily obstacles from hypoglycemia, severe dehydration and vitamin deficiencies, to severe exhaustion and digestive issues. One of the first things to change for me post-op, was my ability to work out and maintain weight; exercise has always been my outlet, a way to relieve stress, and a source of joy, so that was really difficult. I now have two young boys, and I want them to see that Mom can be strong, commit to something and finish it, even if it is hard along the way. I also want to show all of the wonderful people who share this terrible mutation that you can live a full life and do things that spark joy. I also want to bring a mutual love for health and fitness back into my relationship with my husband (who just turned 40!) so we can bring running and fitness into the next chapter of our lives together. And, ultimately, I want to prove to myself that I can do it.
Going through all this changed everything about my outlook on life. When you’re scared about whether you are going to make it out of surgery and what your life is going to look like after surgery – you start living life to the fullest and not waiting to do things until later, because you don’t know what later will look like. Running and fitness in general was really important to me growing up and getting back into running these last couple months has been incredible. Over the last few weeks on my runs, I’ll hit a place where I feel like I can’t make it any farther, but then I do, and every week I’m able to go a little bit farther than the previous week… But it’s also a challenge; because I don’t have a stomach, I have to time running perfectly with my meals so that I don’t get sick.
Do you have a coach or are you following a specific training plan?: I found an online 12-week training plan that I’ve been following.
Do you have a goal or goals for Eugene 2024?: I started from ground zero in December. I couldn’t even run a mile without stopping. A few weeks into training, I got up to a 5K and each week I’m able to go farther and faster and yesterday I ran my first sub-9-minute mile. It’s been 10 years since I ran that fast! When I first signed up (in October), my goal was to finish the race and see my boys cheering me on at the finish line. Now I’m hopeful that I can run the whole thing and not have to stop and walk. Trying to properly fuel to get through that duration of time is going to be a big challenge. And time-wise, I don’t have a specific goal, but I’m starting to think about 2:15.
Why run? And why do marathons and/or half marathons?: I am not a runner, I never have been. But running is about the challenge for me. And it’s about experiencing that runner’s high again – I forgot what that felt like! When you’re running and especially when you’re running alone, the amount of self-motivation it takes is very empowering. Every day that I get out there and run, I get to prove to myself that I can do something that I thought I couldn’t do.
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Find Lauren on Instagram at @lawignall and give her a big high-five at the start line in April!