Around mile 10 of the Edmonton Marathon in August, Collin Jarvis was faced with a choice. One of the runners in the top pack pulled ahead at a pace that would lead to a sub-2:30 finish. Jarvis knew that he could either continue at a conservative effort with the group or risk hitting the dreaded wall while following the leader to a potential breakthrough.

Just as he had done many times before in his life, Jarvis took the risk: He hung on to finish the race third overall, in a massive personal best of 2:27:30.

Shaving 22 minutes off a marathon PR is impressive for any runner, but the sub-2:30 performance was even more special for Jarvis, who has competed with an ostomy since 2015.

Jarvis’s run was likely one of the fastest marathons ever run by someone with an ostomy, a surgically created opening (stoma) in the abdomen that allows waste or urine to leave the body. In Jarvis’s case, the operation was necessary due to complications from ulcerative colitis, an inflammatory bowel disorder.

It also marked a personal victory for Jarvis who battled his way back from a challenging 2:49:51 marathon debut in Boston two years ago.

“It was the ultimate redemption,” Jarvis, 28, told Runner’s World.

The Edmonton Marathon was also a reminder that the dedication to tackle 26.2—despite the challenges that come with an ostomy—was all worth the effort.

“If you dedicate yourself to something, continually work through failure, stay patient, take calculated risks, and trust in the process, you can transcend your self-imposed limitations,” Jarvis wrote on Instagram afterwards.

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A Surprise Diagnosis for the College Track Star

Jarvis’s first three years on UC Berkeley’s track team were smooth sailing, and the 2012 junior season in particular marked a breakthrough year for him: He ran personal bests in every event from the 1500 meters to the 5K and won the Pac-12 steeplechase title.

Then he started suffering from some alarming symptoms, including abdominal pain, fatigue, digestive problems, and weight loss, which went on for over a year. In the fall of 2013, he was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, an inflammatory bowel disorder that can cause life-threatening complications.

Jarvis couldn’t sleep through the night without pain—let alone run. In March of 2014, he was forced to request a medical leave of absence from school in order to undergo a series of emergency surgeries to have his colon removed and implement an ostomy. Following the first surgery, Jarvis experienced complications from an infection, and was in and out of the hospital for six months.

In the fall of 2014, he was cleared to begin running again at a very slow pace. Doctors told him that he would probably never compete at the same level he once thrived in, but “stubbornness” led Jarvis to choose a different course.

“If I can go out and run, then I can train, and if I can train, then I can race,” Jarvis thought at the time. In February of 2015, he returned to the track for the first time in two years and completed his final season as an NCAA student-athlete.

Tiana Fulton

Navigating Life Without a Colon

Instead of using the bathroom normally, Jarvis’s body produces waste that empties into an ileostomy bag, which can present unique challenges in everyday life as well as intense activity. In training with an ostomy, which requires a belt to support the weight of the medical appliances that are attached to the stoma, Jarvis discovered that sweat can cause the ostomy belt to shift and irritate the skin should a leak occur in the bag—which has to be replaced every three to five days.

In the first few months of navigating this new bodily function, Jarvis discovered Stealth Belt , a medical device company that specializes in creating support belts for ostomy patients.

“People for the rest of their lives are dealing with that and it can be really frustrating. It makes it harder to focus on everyday life,” Jarvis said. “For me, Stealth Belt addressed all of those problems, which is why I’m so passionate about it now and why I made such a big push to be involved.” (In fact, Jarvis is now the vice president of the company, a position he started in August 2016.)

Another challenge that Jarvis and other ostomy patients are faced with is managing hydration. As a marathoner, hydration is key, but as a runner without a colon, proper hydration is vital to survive. While the amount of water each person needs depends on their overall health and activity level, the interruption of the colon or large intestine–where water is mostly absorbed–makes absorption more difficult. In order to combat this disparity, individuals with ostomies must sip water regularly, incorporate electrolytes, and eat foods that have high water content as well as foods that can assist in absorption.

Jarvis likes to think of his body’s hydration as a battery that needs to maintain a charge.

“When you’re looking at performance, if you’re trying to run a marathon, you really need to have your battery, your hydration, fully charged,” Jarvis said. “For someone who has an ostomy, who is already at a 30 percent deficit compared to a normal person with a large intestine, that is a much harder gap to bridge, and the best way of doing it is to take a longterm approach.”

Over the years, Jarvis has developed his own routine that he follows diligently. He drinks about four and a half liters of water combined with a mix of electrolytes and supplements that fuel him for two workouts every day.

Another, more unexpected challenge for Jarvis was learning how to overcome the mental barriers of running with an ostomy. Instead of using his ostomy as an excuse on bad days, Jarvis has to remind himself that many ostomy patients face tougher circumstances than he did. He couldn’t let the ostomy be an excuse not to live life to the fullest.

Following the quote: “Only challenge produces the opportunity for greatness,” a sentiment from his favorite professor at UC Berkeley, Jarvis has adopted a new mantra as an advocate for ostomy patients.

“I needed this as a challenge to be really great. My definition of great before was maybe being an Olympian, but now my definition is how many lives can you improve? How much better of a place can you make the world?” he said. “The people I look up to the most are the ones that do that the best, and this is my attempt at doing something similar.”

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Running Takes On a New Meaning

When running was taken away from him for a period of time, Jarvis was faced with the unimaginable prospect of never competing again. And that setback shifted his perspective dramatically.

“I make the effort to run somewhere beautiful because I appreciate that my body is able to go and do that, and I recognize now that that’s not a given. It’s not a guarantee,” he said. “For so long in my career, it was a guarantee, and now having it taken away and getting it back, the reasons I love it are more profound.”

Years ago, if Jarvis didn’t win a race or hit a specific time goal, he would get angry and be unable to find any satisfaction in the performance. While he’s accepted the fact that he may never run faster than he once did on the track, he has found an exciting opportunity in the marathon.

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With no expectations or prior experience to compare, the 26.2 distance has helped him appreciate the process and the lessons learned from taking the risk of chasing his running goals. It has also helped reframe his mindset, which for him involves the willingness “to put myself out there again and again and always trying to find a positive in the failure or some way to learn from it.”

For example, Jarvis considers his first 26.2 attempt at the 2017 Boston Marathon a failure, but one that served him well throughout his preparation for Edmonton. In Boston, he suffered from injuries during the build-up, went out too quickly in the early miles of the race, didn’t hydrate properly, and underestimated the toll the distance took on his body.

This time around, he mastered his hydration routine, put together an uninterrupted training block, and set manageable goals along the way, which led to one of his proudest performances to date, a personal best over 26.2.

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Today, Jarvis is no longer running for himself. He’s running to show ostomy patients all over the world that they too can bravely take the risk, move forward with their life and embrace the passion that drives them.

“A big part of why I’m continuing to run competitively now is so that I can be a conduit for inspiration amongst other people that have ostomies,” Jarvis said. “I get a lot more of a sense of satisfaction when someone posts on my Instagram, someone I’ve never met and says they’ve followed my story and been inspired to do more in their own ostomy journey. To me, that means way more than running a specific time or qualifying for the Olympic Trials or anything like that. That’s what I want.”

Taylor Dutch Taylor Dutch is a sports and fitness writer living in Chicago; a former NCAA track athlete, Taylor specializes in health, wellness, and endurance sports coverage.

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