City, Sports June 24, 2011

Homewood marathon mom makes cover of Runner’s World

Jennifer Lowery Andress, Runner's World

Jennifer Lowery Andress, on the cover of the July issue of Runner’s World

A Homewood runner has become a cover girl following a successful battle with breast cancer.

Jennifer Lowery Andress is among the eight cancer survivors to appear on one of eight different covers of Runner’s World magazine for a July special section, “Outrunning Cancer.” An avid runner for most of her life, she submitted her story when she saw a call for cancer survivors on the magazine’s Facebook page.

Andress was 35 and 6 months pregnant when diagnosed with breast cancer. She had a mastectomy and six lymph nodes removed; after her son, Will, was born, she underwent 5 weeks of radiation. Andress has been cancer free since 2005.

“I thought my story was kind of unique, since I was young and pregnant,” she says. “So I sent a few of my racing pictures … in February, before the Mercedes Marathon.”

The 42-year-old mom didn’t hear back until the end of March, when the magazine editors contacted her for more pictures. “I went to the Jemison Trail with my aunt and took more pictures. They wanted some with no hat or sunglasses.”

The editors asked her to come to New York for a photo shoot the following week. “Honestly, until they bought the plane ticket I thought it was a huge hoax,” she laughs. She shared her photo shoot with Brooklyn’s Angela Alleyne, who beat sarcoma, and “Survivor: Africa” winner Ethan Zohn, who overcame lymphoma.

As a child, Andress ran with her parents who were “part of the ’70s running boom.” She competed on her high school track and field team in Dallas. Later, she completed a few 10K races and a half-marathon during her 20s, but she says she lacked discipline.

Her 30s were devoted to having children and dealing with health issues. Her real return to running began after she beat cancer.

“When I turned 40, I knew I had the discipline, and the kids were a little older,” she says. She joined a local running group, the Gnomes, and completed two marathons in 2010, the Mercedes Marathon in 3 hours, 43 minutes, and the Boston Marathon in 3 hours, 46 minutes.

Andress isn’t sitting still. The athlete is preparing for a 14-mile run in Tupelo, Miss., and hopes to return to the Boston Marathon.

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