A runner for most of her life, Marla Runyan L’25 crossed yet another finish line when she walked the stage in May to accept her diploma from the Syracuse University College of Law. While this was quite an achievement, she is no stranger to hard work and success. Legally blind, Runyan has literally crossed hundreds of finish lines while competing in the Olympic and Paralympic Games in track and field. This month (July 2025), she will be inducted into the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) Hall of Fame alongside such other greats as tennis phenom Serena Williams, gymnast Gabby Douglas, skier Bode Miller and basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski.
At age 9, Runyan lost much of her vision to Stargardt’s disease, but this never stopped her from participating in athletics, eventually competing in track and field at San Diego State University, where she received her undergraduate degree in education of the deaf and a master’s degree in education of deaf/blind children. (She also earned a second master’s degree from the University of Northern Colorado in special education, vision impairment.) Runyan competed in the 1992 Barcelona and the 1996 Atlanta Paralympic Games, winning five gold medals and one silver. After setting world records in the T13 classification in every event from the 100-meters to the marathon, Runyan stepped away from para athletics and set her sights on making the U.S. Olympic Team.
“After 1996, for me it was the Olympics or nothing,” Runyan explains, noting that she did not require a guide runner when racing. “I needed to compete in an environment where the expectation was that I was just like anyone else, competing and training with the best athletes in the world.”
And she did just that. The only legally blind U.S. athlete to qualify and compete in both the Paralympic and Olympic Games, Runyan represented the U.S. in the 2000 Olympics in Sydney in the women’s 1,500 meters and in the 2004 Olympics in Athens in the women’s 5,000 meters.
“For much of my life, I felt I had to prove a point— that disability does not preclude excellence.” she explains. “Earning a spot on two U.S. Olympic teams was the realization of a lifelong dream, but it also gave me a platform to change perceptions and attitudes about what is possible.”
In addition to her Olympic success, Runyan also was the top American female finisher in the New York City (2002), Boston (2003) and Chicago (2004) marathons finishing fourth, fifth, and seventh in the professional women’s field for those events, respectively. She was also the National Champion at 5000-meters from 2001- 2003.
Photo: Victah@Photo Run
Runyan retired as a professional athlete in 2008, but her passion for equity and access carried through to her next chapter, which included working in digital accessibility at the Perkins School for the Blind in Boston; as a para athlete and accessibility manager for the Boston Athletic Association, where she created a new competitive division for para athletes in the Boston Marathon, as assistant director of digital accessibility at Syracuse University; and in her current role as accessibility policy and procurement strategist in the Executive Office of Technology Services and Security, for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Her impetus to go to law school stemmed from her advocacy work for individuals with disabilities and her passion for sport equity. “Despite what I have accomplished in my lifetime, as a woman and a woman with a disability, I have felt underestimated in the work force, and for me to get things done I knew I had to be over-accomplished just to have the same opportunities, so I decided a law degree would support me in that endeavor,” she explains.
While Runyan was accepted at another law school in the Boston area where she lives, it was a full-time residential program that would have forced her to give up her job and sacrifice time with family. Syracuse’s JDinteractive (JDi) program was a much better fit for her, as its year-round hybrid program allowed her to spread out the online coursework and balance her career and time with her daughter.
And while law school came with challenges, this Olympian made it work.
“When you are a person with a disability, you become a constant problem solver because no environment you’re operating in is designed for you,” she says. “You have to have strategies in how to negotiate and not only participate but excel in life. There’s a difference between showing up and being excellent in what you do. I had no plans to just show up!”
Tackling law school as someone with vision loss meant having a deeper understanding of the materials than her sighted classmates, who could quickly refer to their notes.
“I had to know facts and holdings backwards and forwards and not be dependent on visuals, and that’s a very tall order when you’ve got 15 case briefs to remember for each class,” Runyan explains, “but I created my own short hand, key words and prompts to spur memories of the case or the main takeaways. I thought of every case as a story, and I’ve applied what I’ve done throughout my life in terms of persevering and problem solving to make it through.”
Runyan especially enjoyed the JDi program’s residencies, where she was able to meet faculty and members of her cohort in person. When she attended the Foundation Skills residency on the Syracuse Law campus, she got to know Associate Dean for Academic Programs and Teaching Professor Shannon Gardner, whose “style of interaction was really respectful of all students,” Runyan says. “I felt she was a very important part of my law school experience and that she deeply cared for us and wanted us to do well.”
Runyan started using what she learned in law school in her own work right away, drafting policy and contract language to support digital access for users of assistive technology across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
While she’s not currently practicing law, she is “leaving the door wide open.”
“Don’t count me out,” says Runyan, who will be taking the Massachusetts Bar Exam next February. “The J.D. degree has opened up so many opportunities. Anything is possible.”