Louise Samora remembers the day in September, 1980,  when she was physically attacked at the Colorado State Home and Training School in Pueblo.  But her recollection of the exact events are understandably a little foggy.

She was helping one of the residents – a mentally ill patient – during breakfast when he unexpectedly slammed her head into a wall.

“He beat me to a pulp, until I became unconscious,” she said.

Samora spent two weeks in a coma. Since then she has lived with seizures of various degrees. Some are mild petit mal seizures, short periods when she drifts off. Others are more dangerous grand mal seizures.

“I had a seizure so bad on Nov. 24th that they thought I was having a heart attack,” she said.

Her life has been a roller coaster ride that would emotionally crush most people. She has contracted and beaten ovarian cancer. She cares daily for two sisters who are debilitated. Samora, 58, has accepted life on life’s terms.

“I get up every day and put my shoes on and do what I want to do,” she said. “If you see me you wouldn’t know anything is wrong with me.”

One thing has remained consistent for her in the past decade … running.

“I started running in 2002 because I needed to lose weight,” she said. “Now it’s my time for me, my quiet time.”

For her determination to continue running, Samora has been chosen as the Runners Roost Runner of the Month for December. She wins a new pair of Mizuno shoes, plus bragging rights. The Runner of the Month program is the combined effort of Runners Roost, Mizuno and PikesPeakSports.us.

This year, she has a goal to run in the American Discovery Trail Marathon in September. She currently runs about 30 miles a week, but hopes to increase that to 40 by February. She has no big expectations for the ADT Martahon, but she does have a finishing time in mind.

“I’d like to go under 4 hours and 30 minutes or faster, but just finishing will be good enough,” she said.

Samora has seven marathon finishes to her credit, but the one she’ll always remember is the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon in San Diego. She hit the finish line and was greeted with news of a new family member.

“We crossed the line and my brother said let’s get in the car,” she said. “My niece had just given birth to a baby girl and  they named her after me,  Elena Alexandria Louise.”

Samora lives in Pueblo and often runs at Pueblo Reservoir – she has completed long runs of 40 miles from her home to the North Marina and back. She trained for an ultra run last year – building to 100 miles over three days – before seizures forced her to slow down. But she also loves to run in Colorado Springs and drives here once a month to run with a friend on the Pikes Peak Greenway Trail.

“I really enjoy it,” she said. “Just to be with somebody, you just know you can run and enjoy each other’s company. You don’t even have to talk. Colorado Springs is a wonderful place to run.”