Boston Marathon bombing survivors learn to run with new limbs

Heather Abbott is running again.

The 38-year-old woman from Newport, Rhode Island, lost part of her leg in the Boston Marathon bombing almost six months ago. She was cheering on runners near the finish line when two bombs went off, killing three people and injuring more than 200 others.

Now, after four operations and months of intensive physical therapy, she's learning to run with her new hook-shaped blade prosthetic.

"I haven't really run since before April 15 and it's something I wanted to get back to," she said.

"I'm trying to do all the things I used to do," she told the Associated Press.

San Diego-based nonprofit Challenged Athletes Foundation held a special running clinic on Sunday for Abbot and 40 other amputees at Harvard University.

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"We'll have people out here who lost their leg maybe 10 years ago and really haven't been active and we're going to get them up and running within 20 minutes," said Roy Perkins, director of marketing and programs for the foundation.

Adjusting to the new running legs, however, isn't easy.

"It takes a long time to get used to this, to getting through the chafing and the blisters," Perkins added. "You can't just slap on a leg. It takes a lot of confidence."

"It feels pretty good — different, like there's more spring in my step," Abbott, who compared the new prosthetic and the one she uses daily to the difference between driving a Corvette and a Volkswagen, told the Boston Globe. "It feels better the more I do it."

Abbott took a break about halfway through the clinic to check for blisters, a common ailment for new prosthetics-wearers. She had none.

"It's a little bit of pressure because people keep asking me if I'm going to run marathons, which I wouldn't have done with two legs, so I'm going to run around the block and see how I do with that," she told NBC Bay Area.

Celeste Corcoran, another runner who lost her legs in Boston, hopes to one day compete in a 5K run with her new blades.

"I've always wanted to be a runner but I used to get shin splints," she said. "I don't have shins anymore, so I'm hoping,"

Abbott now has four prosthetics: one for running, a waterproof one for swimming, one that allows her to wear high heels, and an everyday leg.

"I'm definitely a little sore," Abbott said at the end of the two-hour clinic. "But this is just the beginning."

Joan Benoit Samuelson, two-time winner of the Boston Marathon, was on hand to support the new runners.

"She certainly has a killer attitude," she said of Abbott. "She was at the Marathon supporting our sport, and I’ll support her in any way I can."