I was featured in Wingfoot Magazine, which is published by the Atlanta Track Club! Running the Peachtree Road Race with an Ankylosing Spondylitis diagnosis and multiple spinal fusions was an honor!!!

I was honored to be featured in Wingfoot, a magazine by the Atlanta Track Club. Running the Peachtree Road Race in 2024 after my Ankylosing Spondylitis diagnosis and multiple spinal fusions was more than just a race for me—it was the fulfillment of a dream I once thought I had lost. It took ten years to bring this dream to life, but I did it.

When I first learned of my diagnosis of Ankylosing Spondylitis and faced multiple spinal surgeries and fusions, my spinal surgeon told me I would never run again. In 2015, hearing those words devastated me. Recently, I stumbled upon a Facebook post I had written that year, reflecting on my initial journey with this disease.

A post I published to Facebook ten years ago after just learning that I had a spine-destroying autoimmune disease called Ankylosing Spondylitis.

Over the past decade, I’ve experienced the most profound highs and the darkest lows and everything in between. Yet, I wouldn’t trade those challenges for anything, because they have shaped me into the person I am today. Each hardship I overcame strengthened my resilience, and every loss I endured taught me to value every part of my beautiful life. I’ve learned to treasure uplifting others, creating meaningful memories, and living without regrets.

These ten years have taught me the vital importance of movement in my life. But above all, they’ve revealed that the greatest key to managing my disease and life itself is my mindset—the thoughts I allow to shape my world. When I first got sick, my thoughts were consumed by darkness, anxiety, and fear, and it’s no surprise that those were the things I noticed and attracted into my life. After nearly losing my life in 2023, I began each day by choosing gratitude—focusing on the blessings and good things that surrounded me, no matter how small they might be. This mindset shift has transformed my life, allowing me to see the good even in the hardest moments. With this positivity, I’ve attracted meaningful experiences, inspiring people, and a life I am proud of—a life that positively impacts others.

When I first fell deathly ill in 2023, I decided to make it a personal mission to fight this disease in every way I knew how —not just for myself but for those who would be diagnosed after me. I wanted to show them that this disease doesn’t have to define their lives, and it certainly doesn’t get to decide their limits. They hold that power.

Today, members of my medical team often call me a miracle. By all measurable standards, I should not be able to do what I’m capable of doing. But I don’t see myself as a miracle. I see myself as someone who was desperate to run and live life again—and who decided to make positivity and my brain my greatest ally instead of my worst enemy.

To read the amazing article that Wingfoot Magazine featured me in, please click this link:

https://wingfoot.atlantatrackclub.org/blog/running-through-recovery-ivy-asmus-bucket-list-journey-to-the-peachtree

I was pre-race at the largest 10K in the world, the Peachtree Road Race held in Atlanta, Georgia.

Crossing the finish line of the world's largest 10K, the Peachtree Road Race, held annually on July 4th in Atlanta, Georgia.