NDN Half Marathon: Paralysis won't stop Edie Perkins from racing

Edie Perkins never doubted that she would race again.

Even when lying in a hospital bed after receiving the most devastating news of her life – that she’d likely never walk again – it didn’t take long for Perkins’ thought to turn to competition.

It was June when surgeons told the 47-year-old Los Angeles resident that they couldn’t fix her spine, crushed six weeks earlier when a car hit Perkins on her bike. Within a week Perkins, a serious runner and cyclist, was making plans in her head to get into adaptive sports.

Not long after being released from the hospital in August, four months after the wreck, Perkins had a time, date and place circled on her calendar – 7 a.m. Sunday, Jan. 14, Naples, Florida.

Perkins has competed in the Naples Daily News Half Marathon about 10 times. She’s one of the hundreds of running enthusiasts drawn to Naples each January (out of nearly 2,000 race participants) for its inviting temperatures, flat course and scenic views. Howevever, this year’s race marks a new chapter in her racing career.

Paralyzed from the chest down, Perkins will complete all 13.1 miles of the half marathon using her hands. She’ll be racing through downtown Naples on a handcycle, a three-wheel bike pedaled with arms instead of legs.

“Edie genuinely thrives on adversity,” said Kim Martineau, a former running teammate of Perkins who also will run in Naples on Sunday. “The longer the race, the steeper the hill, the windier the conditions – she relishes the challenge. She goes for the biggest goal possible and accomplishes it.”

‘I remember knowing it was bad’

On the morning of April 20, Perkins woke early to go for a ride. She was out the door and on her bike at 7 a.m.

As Perkins cycled down the Los Angeles streets, the sun was peaking over the trees. At an intersection, a driver heading into the sun couldn’t see the stoplight. She barreled through the red light and smashed into Perkins as she crossed the street.

“I remember seeing right before she hit me that it was going to happen and knowing there was nothing I could do,” Perkins said. “I felt this incredible calm. I don’t remember anything until the EMTs showed up, but I remember knowing it was bad.”

Perkins had seven broken vertebrae in her neck and spine. She broke 11 of her 12 ribs. She spent four months in the hospital and rehabilitation facility before going home Aug. 25.

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For the six weeks before doctors determined Perkins had a complete spinal cord injury, she had hope of getting sensation back in her legs at some point. When she found out that was highly unlikely, Perkins’ competitiveness and determination took over.

“I pretty quickly envisioned participating in marathons,” she said. “So many marathons I’d run in had race wheelchairs or handcycles. I just kind of pictured, ‘OK, I’ll do that.’ I started focusing on what I could do (to race).”

Perkins hasn’t always considered herself a runner. She played field hockey and lacrosse in high school in Massachusetts. She played recreational sports like racquetball at Antioch College in Ohio. It was in college when Perkins first started recreational jogging, which she kept up in her 20s.

It wasn’t until she was 31 years old in June 2002 that Perkins ran her first race – a marathon in Alaska.

“I loved it,” Perkins said. “As soon as I finished I wanted to do it again.”

She returned to New York City, where she was living, and joined Team In Training, a nonprofit that trains runners so they can compete in distance races while also raising money for charity. Perkins finished third place in her second marathon, in Bermuda, and even took home a little prize money.

“At that point I was totally psyched,” Perkins said. “I just got more and more serious about running really quickly.”

Perkins joined the Greater New York Racing Team. She also started competing in Naples, where her parents own a home.

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On Thanksgiving in 2003, Perkins ran in her first 5-kilometer race, the Gobble Gobble 4-Miler in Naples. She won it. Perkins also started running in the Naples Half Marathon around that time. She won the women’s 40-44 age group in 2012 and was third in the women’s masters (over 40) in 2015.

Always looking for a challenge, Perkins took up cycling about 10 years ago. For her honeymoon in 2010, she and her then-husband biked from Portland, Oregon, to New York. The 4,600-mile journey took 58 days.

Martineau and her husband Ethan Rouen met Perkins on a running team in New York City. They have come to Naples a handful of times to run the half marathon with their friend, including in 2016 when the race was canceled by a powerful storm the morning of the event.

“I’m a little terrified, to tell you the truth,” Rouen said of this year’s race. “Before the accident, Edie was impossible to keep up with. Now that she has wheels, it’s going to be even more impossible. As much as she excelled at running, she’s going to excel just as much in whatever sport she decides to take on now.”

An opportunity – in athletics and in life

Perkins might be the first person to complete the Naples Daily News Half Marathon on a handcycle in the race’s 29 years. The event does not have an adaptive or wheelchair division.

But when Perkins received an email this fall about signing up for the 2018 race, she thought it was the perfect target to begin the next step in her competitive career.

“We all knew Edie would find some way to challenge herself athletically after the accident,” Martineau said.

Perkins admits she fibbed a little to get into this year’s half marathon. When race officials told her there is no division for handcycles, Perkins said she had done races like this before. Officials welcomed her into the event, which Perkins is grateful for.

As she starts down a new road athletically, Perkins wants to use her disability as professional motivation as well.

She spent 15 years in the educational publishing business in New York City, doing software development and marketing for such publishers. In early 2016, Perkins moved to Los Angeles for a job but was laid off after a year. Since then she’s been a freelance marketing consultant.

Perkins is exploring ways to combine her background in marketing and her passion for sports to help connect paraplegics to adaptive sports.

“As awful as all this was, there are a few things for which I feel lucky,” Perkins said. “One of them is the chance to pause and think about life going forward so it feels as meaningful as possible. … I’d love to feel like I’m giving back in some way.”

After getting so much love and support the past eight months, Perkins is especially inspired to give back. A GoFundMe account raised $220,695 from 1,189 donors, which Perkins used to make her home wheelchair accessible and pay for medical supplies.

“Most people would look at being paralyzed as a tragedy,” said Rouen, who will run in Sunday’s half marathon. “Edie looks at this as an opportunity. Not only in her athletic endeavors, but in life as well.”

To keep her handcycle away from the throngs of runners at the starting line, Perkins will start the half marathon at 6:35 a.m. Her goal is to finish in around 1 hour and 20 minutes.

Last year’s race winner finished in 1 hour, 6 minutes and 2.68 seconds. With a 25-minute head start, if she finishes around her goal of 80 minutes, Perkins will be the first of nearly 2,000 people to cross the finish line of the 29th Naples Daily News Half Marathon.

Those how know Perkins best say that would be appropriate.

“In the time I’ve spent with her, I’ve never seen her complain or feel sorry for herself,” Martineau said. “This is just one more challenge to come her way, and she’s attacked it with remarkable grace and humility. She’s so grateful for any support given to her. She’s just somebody you want to help and see succeed.”

Naples Daily News Half Marathon

When: 7 a.m. Sunday

Where: Starting line on Fifth Avenue South; finish line near Eighth Street South and Sixth Avenue South

Cost: $100 through Saturday; $125 on race day

Packet pickup: At Naples On The Run, 2116 Tamiami Trail N., (239) 434-9786, on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., or Sunday at 5:45 a.m.

More details: napleshalfmarathon.net