ARLINGTON, Va. — Editor's note: The above video was published in 2016.
Veteran Melissa Stockwell is competing for the second time in the Army 10-miler in Washington, D.C. on Sunday. This time, using her legs.
Stockwell is the first woman to lose a leg in active combat. Officials say the first time she competed in the Army 10-miler in D.C., the mother of two had been recently injured and used a handcycle.
After being deployed to Iraq in 2004, Stockwell became the first female American soldier to lose a limb in active combat when her vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb.
She was honored with the purple heart and bronze star and made a promise not to let losing a leg slow her down.
Four years later, she became the first Iraq War veteran to qualify for the Paralympic Games, competing in swimming at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics where she was selected to be the flag bearer for Team USA. She then turned to the sport of triathlon and went on to compete in the 2016 Paralympic Games where she became a bronze medalist and again in Tokyo 2021.
Since then, she has made it her goal to run the race again, but on her legs.
With the support of Semper Fi & America’s Fund, a nonprofit organization supporting combat-wounded veterans and their families, Stockwell was provided funding for high-level training equipment and travel/race entrance fees all over the world.
Stockwell is a business owner with her husband, co-founder of Dare2tri Paratriathlon club as well as a mom to her kids Dallas and Millie.
RELATED:
The 38th annual Army Ten-Miler race is coming to Arlington, Virginia on Oct. 9. The race route will lead to several road closures in the area Sunday morning.
The race begins at 7:50 a.m. on Route 110, crosses the Key Bridge into the District of Columbia, returns to Virginia via the 14th Street Bridge in the northbound I-395 HOV, and ends in the Pentagon reservation.
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