When Adam Popp explains what it’s wish to run as an above-the-knee amputee, he factors out, “I don’t have an anatomical knee, so going uphill I’m doing twice the work with one leg after which going downhill attempting to brake or decelerate it’s like I’m doing it with one leg as properly.” The Western States 100 has about 18,000 ft of elevation achieve and 23,00 ft of elevation loss, and Popp, who’s lining up for the upcoming 2025 occasion, says he’s most intimidated by the sheer pounding that his one full leg will take, particularly on the downhills.
However Popp, who misplaced his proper leg whereas working in explosive ordnance disposal in Afghanistan in 2007, is doing every little thing he can to toe the road as ready as attainable, together with working carefully with fellow amputee and ultrarunning legend Dave Mackey, who may even be a part of his crew and pacer. It’s an audacious purpose, but when there’s one through-line to Popp’s life, it’d simply be that he faces uncomfortable conditions head-on and comes out the opposite facet a stronger individual.
Adam Popp, operating with a blade. All photographs courtesy of Adam Popp, except in any other case famous.
Shedding his means to run wasn’t excessive on Popp’s listing of considerations when his leg was amputated. He by no means had a childhood love for operating — it was a obligatory evil for taking part in soccer in highschool. When his pal satisfied him to join high-school monitor, it was solely beneath the promise that they’d solely compete within the excessive leap and lengthy leap, not any of the particular operating occasions. After highschool, operating within the army wasn’t significantly better, but it surely was required for being in prime bodily health for the job. Then, in 2007, a bomb exploded beneath Popp whereas he and his crew have been clearing an space of explosives. In a cut up second, he misplaced his leg, army profession, and sense of self. For a few years, Popp struggled.
Now, 18 years later, he’s completed 5 100-mile races, gained the 2024 Boston Marathon’s Para Elite division (T61/63), and has accomplished a full Ironman triathlon in 11:03:06. However Western States is a wholly completely different beast, with its mixture of warmth, elevation, and rocky path. All of that stated, Popp has by no means shied away from the unknown, and Western States is not any exception.
[Editor’s Note: This article depicts a violent injury. Reader discretion is advised.]
An Early Dislike for Working
Popp grew up within the small city of Lanesville, Indiana, inhabitants 500. Like many youngsters within the space, he performed all of the ball sports activities: baseball, soccer, and even a little bit of soccer. In highschool, he centered on soccer, a running-heavy sport. However operating was one thing that needed to be executed, not essentially loved, and in his phrases, “I hated it.” In his later years of highschool, a pal satisfied him that they need to be a part of the monitor crew collectively, arguing that they may simply do the lengthy leap and excessive leap to reduce the precise operating they’d need to do. It appeared like a good suggestion to Popp, and he says he was fairly first rate on the two occasions.
Popp graduated from highschool in 1997 and, realizing that he didn’t significantly get pleasure from college, determined to affix the army after speaking to a number of relations who’d additionally served within the armed forces. It was pre-September 11 terrorist assaults, the U.S. wasn’t actively concerned in any main conflicts, and folks he’d talked to about army service had pointed him towards the Air Power. When his recruiter gave him three choices for fields to enter, he selected explosive ordnance disposal. It got here with a signing bonus.
He says, “I had no concept about Improvised Explosive Units. Once they stated terrorist weapons, like, what did that even imply? I took the paper house to my mother, and he or she’s studying it, and it says, ‘You’ll work with weapons of mass destruction and terrorists and chemical weapons.’” Like all mother would, she questioned the knowledge of the selection, however Popp thought it sounded higher than any of the opposite choices. One should remember that earlier than September of 2001, most Individuals weren’t intimately acquainted with the thought of terrorists.
Adam Popp throughout his time in army service.
After ending boot camp and coaching in 1998, Popp’s first task was Misawa, Japan. He was a child from a city of 500 now out on this planet, somewhat bit homesick, somewhat bit scared. He embraced the scenario and says, “We actually pushed ourselves laborious in coaching, that means not solely bodily preparation but in addition doing the job and being ready for when one thing does occur.” He goes on to say, “We have been operating three to 4 instances per week. And once more, I hated operating, but it surely was compelled upon us.”
Navy Service and Main Damage
Popp developed deep bonds along with his crew and was stationed in Turkey when 9/11 occurred in 2001. Whereas he had the choice to go away the army shortly after, however he re-enlisted and was deployed to Baghdad, Iraq, in 2004. Of the time, he says, “I used to be 25 years previous, main a crew, and chargeable for youthful youngsters in the midst of Baghdad disarming bombs.” Whereas a troublesome scenario, he calls it “an unimaginable studying and rising expertise.”
Popp clearing roadside bombs.
Close to what would have been the pure finish of his army profession in 2007, Popp discovered himself in Little Rock, Arkansas, with a deployment to Afghanistan to proceed to disarm bombs on the horizon. Popp nonetheless hated operating however knew he needed to be as bodily match as attainable for his deployment, so he signed up for the Little Rock Half Marathon. It was the farthest he’d ever run, and he did so with little or no coaching. Unsurprisingly, he damage for 3 days afterward and instructed himself, “This is the reason I hate operating.”
Popp deployed to Afghanistan shortly after and began his work of disarming bombs, lots of them on roadways, permitting army and locals to have protected routes to journey. On December 7, 2007, whereas clearing an space, Popp stepped on an explosive that they didn’t learn about. It detonated and despatched him flying. He says, “I used to be awake by means of the entire thing, and my Air Power explosive ordinance disposal teammate and the Military medics and safety crew that I used to be with have been simply scrambling to avoid wasting my life.”
They stabilized him the most effective they may, and a helicopter flew him to a close-by army base, which then transferred him to a hospital in Germany. When he awakened, he was lacking a leg along with having a damaged arm and hip, and ache in all places. He says there was “a variety of confusion and a variety of, What’s subsequent for me? I’m going from actually peak health, able-bodied, main a crew in Afghanistan, to counting on others to handle me and simply caught in a hospital mattress.”
After arriving on the Walter Reed Medical Middle in Maryland lower than per week later, Popp underwent surgical procedure each two to a few days for the next month to restore 11 fractures all through his physique and take care of his amputated leg. It took two months within the hospital earlier than he might even begin bodily and occupational remedy.
Adam Popp simply after the bomb explosion during which he misplaced his leg.
Rehabilitation
For the subsequent yr, Popp needed to relearn the best way to do every little thing as an amputee and are available to grips with the fact of his new life. He says there was “a variety of reflection, a variety of second-guessing your self, which is a really harmful place to be.”
As a part of his rehab program, Popp had the chance to take part in a number of leisure rehab alternatives, together with a ski journey to Vail, Colorado, whereas he was nonetheless in a wheelchair. He says of those journeys, “I discovered [these trips the] most useful since you’re going to the airport and also you’re leaving the confines of the hospital and the protection of the hospital and being put in uncomfortable however regular conditions that you just’re going to need to cope with ultimately. You’re coping with accommodations and lodge showers after which doing this actually cool occasion the place you’re snowboarding, or biking, or scuba diving.” The journeys left a long-lasting impression.
However whereas Popp was recovering bodily, he had emotional restoration to do as properly, and in some ways, that was much less simple. The army was his id, and whereas his teammates, with whom he’d had such shut bonds, continued their work, he was now on the surface. In an try and reclaim his previous life, Popp took a job as a civilian protection contractor, but it surely wasn’t the identical. He says, “I used to be simply form of working a job, and I wasn’t doing something bodily and simply lived in Washington D.C.”
Popp in entrance of the Washington Monument in Washington D.C.
For a number of years, Popp was consuming and partying, happening a path that he didn’t like, so on January 3, 2015, he left alcohol behind. 5 months later, in Might, he discovered himself operating the path run leg of the Bellingham Ski to Sea relay occasion on a crew of army veterans.
It was a serious life pivot.
Discovery of Working
Within the years prior, Popp had been working with a few non-profits and had put collectively groups for the Ski to Sea in 2013 and 2014 — an annual relay race that has snowboarding, operating, canoeing, and biking legs. In 2015, the crew wanted one other runner, and Popp reluctantly volunteered. He had six weeks to determine the best way to run with a prosthetic, beginning with a harness with the rope hooked up to the ceiling and operating round an indoor monitor on the hospital.
He says, “My cardio is crap, my steadiness, every little thing’s only a catastrophe.” He hadn’t run in seven years and says as soon as he was set out on his personal, “I simply ran three days per week in a really distant personal space so no one might see me fall and simply did that day in and day trip for six weeks.”
Popp completed third-to-last within the muddy three-mile path run and says, “I couldn’t care much less. I used to be like, ‘That is unimaginable.’” He goes on to say, “I left there and got here again and stated, ‘What’s subsequent?’”
Adam Popp on the 2017 Hat Run 50k.
He continued operating and rapidly transitioned into doing a triathlon later that summer time, an expertise he calls “form of a catastrophe.” He says that he “simply labored from this fully couch-potato sedentary way of life” to finishing his first half marathon that yr, which he ran sooner as an amputee than he had in his health take a look at run on the Little Rock Half Marathon earlier than deploying to Afghanistan eight years earlier. He additionally says it didn’t damage as a lot. The half marathon was a turning level for Popp, sending him on the trajectory of changing into an athlete.
In November that very same yr, he ran the Richmond Marathon and says, “There was simply this seven-month interval the place I used to be like, ‘What else have I been lacking out on for the previous seven years?”
Trails and Ultrarunning
Popp had glimpses into the path operating world, however had no intention of operating singletrack as an above-the-knee amputee, pondering that it sounded horrible. Then, whereas at an occasion for the Pat Tillman Basis in July of 2016, somebody he was working with talked about that she was racing the Leadville 100 Mile. Popp says, “This world didn’t exist to me,” however he was instantly intrigued. On his manner house, he says, “I used to be on the airport simply looking out coaching plans and races and what coaching for that regarded like. And by the point I acquired again to D.C., I ordered “Hal Koerner’s [Field] Information to Ultrarunning.”
The guide had a coaching plan that the Popp determined to comply with carefully, deciding that if he was capable of hit the prescribed miles for the primary a part of the plan, he’d race the Brazos Bend 100 Mile in December. Popp reached out to different amputee runners, together with Amy Palmiero-Winters, who completed the Western States 100 in 2010, and Chris Moon, who accomplished the Marathon des Sables in 1997 in addition to the Badwater Ultramarathon in Loss of life Valley, California, in 2012. Whereas each had completely different amputation ranges, they responded to Popp’s questions and gave him suggestions for getting by means of the 100 miles.
Over the course of 18 weeks of coaching, Popp ran the miles of the coaching plan and completed the race in 26:35:04. Whereas Popp says of his run, “It wasn’t nice, however I completed,” he was now an ultrarunner.
Popp a number of years on, operating the 2021 CCC.
An Eye Towards Western States 100
Popp has accomplished 5 100-mile races to this point, and he was the primary above-knee amputee to finish a 100-mile race in beneath 30 hours. He additionally holds 10 completely different Guinness World Data. His accomplishments span each operating and triathlon, however he readily admits that Western States, his huge purpose for 2025, doesn’t play to his strengths with technical path and a variety of elevation achieve and loss.
However Popp has a bonus on his facet: fellow amputee Dave Mackey — three-time top-10 finisher at Western States, the 2011 “UltraRunning Journal” Ultrarunner of the Yr, former quickest identified time-holder for the Grand Canyon Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim route, and the prior holder of numerous different ultra-distance course information. In 2015, whereas operating on Bear Peak exterior of his house in Boulder, Colorado, Mackey dislodged a large boulder that crushed his leg as he and it fell. A yr and a half after the accident, Mackey voluntarily had his leg amputated after a number of surgical procedures failed to revive his means to stroll usually, not to mention run, with out ache.
Mackey (proper) returned to operating not lengthy after his amputation, and was a supply of inspiration to Popp.
Popp and Mackey related over having the identical prosthetist and each dwelling on the Entrance Vary of Colorado. In reality, Popp gave Mackey a few of his previous prosthetics to make use of. The 2 turned buddies and began operating collectively often within the hills exterior of Boulder.
It was solely pure for Mackey to turn out to be a mentor when it got here to technique and race execution at Western States. Mackey says, “Even earlier than the lottery, I instructed him I’d love to assist, simply on condition that I’d been there a number of instances, or perhaps six instances.” Mackey goes on to say, “Amputees have all the identical challenges because the common two-legged runners do, and I knew that given my expertise there and having a leg lacking, I’d in all probability be capable of assist him with some subtleties of our challenges at Western States.”
Mackey had run Western States in 2019 as an amputee and needed to drop at mile 93. He says of the drop so near the end, “I made some poor selections earlier than then so far as what I used to be carrying on my good leg. My prosthetic was giving me issues. I had screw heads in my leg pushing in. It mainly wore me down.” Of all the problems common two-legged runners face over the 100 miles on the race course from Olympic Valley to Auburn, California, most don’t put screw heads pushing into their legs on their bingo card.”
Popp is comfortable to have Mackey and his expertise supporting him, saying, “Clearly, he’s acquired a ton of expertise, so we’ll run two hours collectively and have conversations about every little thing, however a variety of it revolves round Western States. After which we’ll come again to his home and simply have a espresso afterward, and we’ll pull out his laptop and he’ll simply stroll me by means of the course.” Mackey’s supplied recommendation on every little thing from vitamin to hydration to pacing.
Mackey isn’t anxious about Popp’s means to endure the ache inherently related to operating Western States. He says, “He’s robust as nails, and he’s skilled the ultras. He is aware of the best way to robust it out. He’s acquired the mindset, he can tolerate ache, he’s been by means of extra bodily and psychological challenges, simply given dropping his leg in Afghanistan.”
Popp coaching on trails.
However Mackey is reasonable that there are further issues that amputees need to cope with, together with pores and skin points. However he says that the warmth will in all probability be Popp’s largest problem — the identical factor that most individuals operating the race concern essentially the most. Mackey is fast to level out, “He’s going to have those self same trials as others.” In a race of 100 miles, as in life, nothing is assured, and the most effective anybody can do is present up ready.
No matter occurs on the 2025 Western States 100, Popp is wanting ahead to the expertise. “I believe essentially the most thrilling factor is simply to go on the market to only show to myself that every one the work over the previous 10 years has been price it.”
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Adam Popp’s grit and dedication will stand him in good stead as he takes on the 2025 Western States 100.
