Summer Willis is on the ground, crawling the track at Austin High School. Since 4:50 a.m on Saturday, February 15, the mom of two has inched her way through the marathon distance on her hands and knees.
In the afternoon sun, you can see the scrapes on her knee pads and holes in her shoes, already worn down from dragging across the track for almost 10 hours. Her shirt, which says, “There is strength in crawling. There is hope in standing tall. There will be change,” is drenched in sweat. Even though her knees are throbbing and her hands are bleeding, Willis is still smiling while making steady progress.
On the track and beyond, it’s been a grueling process to get here for Willis. During her sophomore year at the University of Texas, Willis was drugged and raped at a fraternity party by someone she considered a friend, she told Runner’s World in November. Though the Houston-based runner has returned to Austin in the 10 years since (she ran the city’s marathon last year), being here is understandably painful. But this time, Willis has come with a greater purpose—to reclaim her story.
Last fall, Willis decided to crawl 26.2 as a way to symbolize the painful process of recovery for survivors of sexual assault while also pushing for new legislation aimed to support them.
“19-year-old Summer after the rape believed that I was worthless, weak, and stupid, and that it was my fault,” Willis, 30, said. “Coming back to Austin and being able to inspire people like me, who have been crawling for a long time, and share the worst thing that ever happened to me in order to amplify the voices of survivors, it means so much.”
A long road to healing
After the sexual assault, Willis went into a deep depression and later suffered in an abusive relationship while trying to hide the trauma for several years. Eventually, she got into teaching, which is how she met her husband, Andrew Willis. They have two boys, who are now 2 and 4.
Inspired by the 2023 Runner’s World article about Julie Weiss, a marathoner who raised $1 million for pancreatic cancer research, Willis started running as a way to heal. In one year, she ran 29 marathons to raise awareness for survivors of sexual assault, ending her campaign at the 2024 Chicago Marathon. She also started the nonprofit Summer Willis completed the feat to raise awareness for survivors of sexual assault, this was not easy. This was really hard, and I’m going to do something about it.
The idea to crawl 26.2 came to Willis after she completed the 29 marathons last fall. She started looking at legislation in Texas and realized she could do more to help people in her home state. For Willis, the crawl symbolizes the slow, agonizing process of recovery and receiving support for survivors. “This [crawl] is an opportunity to be angry and vulnerable and to say, this was not easy. This was really hard, and I’m going to do something about it,” Willis said.
This spring, Willis will testify for bills aimed to change the laws around sexual assault and consent in the state of Texas. In partnership with Texas state representatives and congressmen, they hope to “clarify the definition of consent with respect to sexual violence,” make it so that “sexual assault is without consent if the actor knows or reasonably should know that the other person is intoxicated or impaired by any substance and cannot give consent” (current Texas law states the actor must intentionally impair the other person by administering a substance), and clarify that “consent can be withdrawn once an act has been initiated,” among other protections for victims.
Shoes & Gear fundraise for the SAFE Alliance, a domestic abuse treatment center in Austin.
Gaining strength and resilience
To prepare for the feat, Willis hired a strength training coach and focused on long stints of exercise to train herself physically and mentally. When she started the buildup in October, Willis could only do five push-ups at a time. Now, she can do 100. She also did ultra-distance training sessions, like eight-hour runs and crawls and six-hour swims in the pool.
Initially, Willis planned to crawl the entire Austin Marathon course, but safety concerns—avoiding traffic on city streets in the dark—initiated a change in plans. Instead, she started the challenge on the Austin High School track, where she and Andrew set up a fuel station and took short nap breaks in an Airstream trailer.
At 2 a.m. on Sunday, February 16, Willis finished the first 13.1 miles (52 laps) on the track, wearing down six pairs of knee pads in the process. She completed the half marathon in 13 hours and 30 minutes. If the effort is ratified by Guinness World Records, she could become the record-holder for the fastest half marathon crawling. But the experience was excruciating. “Cuts, bruises, and what feels like stress fractures made continuing impossible,” she said.
A few hours later, Willis was dropped off at the 13.1 mark on the Austin Marathon course, which happened to be located across the street from the building where her sexual assault took place. Instead of crawling the remaining miles, she ran with the rest of the field—determined to finish the challenge while “standing tall” in the place where she once felt broken.
Willis said she approached the change as a failure at first, but that feeling shifted when she acknowledged the progress she’s made in the 10 years since. “I get to run and have a smile on my face with these amazing women at the finish line,” she thought.
Finding courage to demand better
Around 1 p.m., Willis was joined by state representatives Donna Howard, Ann Johnson, and Vikki Goodwin for the final 0.3 miles of the race. Together, they ran arm-in-arm into the finish line on Congress Avenue. Thirty minutes later, Congressman Lloyd Doggett joined them outside the gates of the Texas state capitol for a press conference to share their plans for policy changes and appreciation for Willis’s advocacy.
“She’s doing it for every other victim who hasn’t had the courage to speak up, and I know that they’re going to see this,” Johnson told the crowd. “They are going to know everything about you, and they’re going to see themselves in you and the fact that you would stand here in front of this capitol and demand from every elected official in this state that we can do better and we must do better.”
After the crowd left, Willis took a seat on the steps of the capitol gate, her knees covered in bandages after swelling to twice their normal size. While race organizers dismantled the barriers directing runners to the finish line, she reflected on the struggles she experienced in the last 35 hours. The bruises. The blood. The self-doubt. And the tears.
But none of it stopped her from finding a way to complete 26.2 for those who’ve suffered for far too long. Though the crawl didn’t end in the way she envisioned, Willis said it was better. She found joy, running for a purpose with leaders who are working to create change with her.
“I felt like nobody,” Willis said. “And they showed up and they’re fighting for people like me, and that just means the world.”
Taylor Dutch is a writer and editor living in Austin, Texas, and a former NCAA track athlete who specializes in fitness, wellness, and endurance sports coverage. Her work has appeared in Runner’s World, SELF, Bicycling, Outside, and Podium Runner.
