Another Tourette tale

The day before the race in Charlotte, her father, Mike, an Air Force pilot, picked her up as if she were a little girl and carried her up 17 flights of stairs because she was too terrified to get inside the elevator at their hotel. All closed spaces paralyze her with anxiety and fear: her face goes flush, her heart races, her whole body becomes hot. The first time she encountered the hotel elevator, she took the stairs and wore herself out. The second time, her father wouldn’t let her exhaust herself before the race. As he climbed, he held her close while she cracked jokes and tried to get her heart to slow down.

A couple months later, Amaris’ mother, Kristen, explained how someone so unnaturally talented could also be so fragile. Kristen is perceptive and protective of her children, and she’s had plenty of reason to think about the struggle between Amaris’ body and brain. “When she runs,” Kristen says, “I think she’s running from disorder.”

When Amaris was three years old, her parents would sometimes find her lying on the floor, face up and stiff, the muscles in her body clenched all at once. Her eyes would be wide open and focused to one side; her face would be red from holding her breath. Then, after a few minutes, she’d get up and continue playing as if nothing had happened.

See:  http://highline.huffingtonpost.com/articles/en/amaris-tyynismaa-runner/