Sarah Reinertsen’s Unfinished Business

There is a kind of sports story I find hard to put down: someone falls short in public, goes back to work and returns with another attempt in mind. In a Single Bound is Sarah Reinertsen’s account of what that looked like in her life.

Finding a Way Into Sport

Reinertsen was born with a condition affecting the development of one leg. It was amputated when she was seven. Learning to walk with a prosthesis was one challenge. Seeing an athlete with an amputation run helped her imagine what she might do after that. Track events led to longer distances and eventually to triathlon.

Returning to Kona

Her first attempt at the Ironman World Championship in Kona, in 2004, ended before the finish. The following year she returned. USA Triathlon records her 2005 finish at 15:05:12, the first woman with an above-knee amputation to complete that championship.

I liked her description of the next attempt as unfinished business. The words only tell you she intended to return. The book tells you how much training and planning had to follow before she could get back to the starting line.

And Then the Soccer Coach Came

The Korean title refers to an encounter near the end of the book. Reinertsen remembers a coach who had kept her off the field when she was a child. Years later, after Kona, he appeared at a signing and left his contact details. The book had made me wonder why the Korean title mentioned soccer at all. By then I understood why the moment could matter to her.

I finished the book thinking about the distance between deciding to do a thing and learning how to do it. Reinertsen gives both parts their due. She also writes about being able to picture a place for yourself after seeing someone else take theirs.

Women in Triathlon · USA Triathlon