When Scott Spitz was faced with a cancer diagnosis, he coped by focusing on one of his strongest passions: his ability to run. In a HuffPost Live exclusive, the Runner's World Cover contest winner joined HuffPost Live host Caroline Modarressy-Tehrani to discuss how his dedication to training has helped keep his spirits high through his tough battle.
"Running was a part of my life leading into my cancer diagnosis, and so a huge part of it was to retain my life after diagnosis, after surgery, going through chemotherapy," said Spitz. "It's just a part of our every day as runners, and so I didn't want to leave that behind -- that's something I look forward to every single day."
Spitz also believes that maintaining his strength and endurance through running have real health benefits.
"I do sort of bank on the idea that it may be helping maybe hold off cancer for me," he said. "My cancer didn't grow after the surgery for the past year and a half -- we don't know why, cancer is a very complicated disease obviously, but you know it's something I want to keep in mind and hold onto every day that I can continue my life through this... For me, the most important thing was the psychological and emotional component of getting back to running as soon as I could."
To hear more about how running has helped Spitz through his battle with cancer, watch the full HuffPost Live clip in the video above.