Celebrities, governors, heroes and survivors were selected by the Salt Lake City 2002 Olympic Committee to run in the 13,500-mile Olympics Torch Run.

One of those survivors got her running start at Iowa State.

Elizabeth Ortner, 1995 graduate in fine arts and interior design, would escape for a run after long hours in a design studio.

“In college I would go for a run and clear my head. It was a release for me,” she said. “I would go out and do design thinking in my head as I ran.”

In 1993 Ortner and her roommate Robyn Means, 1994 graduate in business administration and marketing and member of Alpha Zee Delta, ran together in the ISU Homecoming Torch-A-Thon from Stillwater, Okla., to Ames.

Recently the two ran together at the Olympic Torch Run in Chicago.

“Ever since I was a little girl I dreamed of being in the Olympics, so it is sort of a dream come true,” Ortner said.

But the running that came before the torch run has been uphill, especially after Ortner was diagnosed with cervical cancer in 1998.

When Ortner was ill, the cancer did not stop her desire to run. Her illness gave her motivation to join Team in Training, which runs for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

“I was feeling bad about myself and needed a pickup,” Ortner said. “I got a pamphlet in the mail about raising money for leukemia by running a marathon. So I decided this was a way I could help others by helping myself at the same time.”

Throughout Ortner’s two-year battle with cancer, she remained close friends with Means. So when Means heard about applications for Olympic Torch Bearers in the Chicago area, she knew a perfect candidate for the role.

“I immediately thought of Elizabeth,” she said.

Means put pen to paper to write an essay describing Ortner’s survival of cervical cancer. She faced the challenge of conveying Ortner’s fight for life in 100 words or less.

“I knew that if I wrote the essay the appropriate way Elizabeth would be selected,” Means said.

Means wrote: “Three and a half years ago, my best friend Liz and I made a New Year’s Resolution to run a marathon. In March of the same year Liz was diagnosed with cancer. After recovering from the cancer, she continued training and completed our first marathon. The following spring she had a relapse, which again she has recovered from and has motivated her to conquer her fear of the water and learn how to swim. She has now finished nine marathons and several triathlons. Her dedication and commitment certainly embodies the Olympic spirit.”

A few months later, Means and Ortner were selected as part of the “inspirational pairs” program for the torch run. Those selected for this program are people who help each other to the extent that individuality is surpassed by togetherness. This was the first time in Olympic history that pairs were selected.

The day of their run came on Friday, Jan. 4. All of the runners invited to partake in the torch run met at Chicago’s Navy Pier for a chance to meet one another. Ortner and Means met extraordinary people, including a pair that made them feel unworthy of the honor given to her. The couple ran marathons together, the man pushing his wife in a wheelchair after an accident she was in.

The two women only ran two-tenths of a mile, but having the chance to be a part of the run was a thrill for both.

“Everyone was cheering `USA, USA.’ It was phenomenal,” Means said. “I definitely feel more attached to these Olympics because of my experience.”

Both women felt honored to wear an official uniform given to them by the Olympic Committee as well as run with the torch.

Runners had to buy their torch for $350 if they wanted to keep it, and Ortner opted not to buy hers. Means’ co-workers at an architecture firm had an office pool to buy the torch she ran with.

“I now have something I can pass on to my children and grandchildren,” Means said.

Carrying the torch is not the only accomplishment Ortner reached in January. She also celebrated her two-year anniversary in remission the same month.

Both women were proud and honored to have been part of the 2002 Olympics.

“After Sept. 11, we knew it was going to be a real special moment,” Means said. “Not just for us, but for everybody.”