Spokes

Hearing what sounded like a crashing tree I looked behind me to see him falling in what seemed like slow motion towards the ground. His trekking poles splayed out and he hit the ground, knuckles first, spraying fresh blood on the dirty trail. “Crap man! Are you okay? Do you want me to grab the first aid kit,” I yelled out in genuine concern mixed with a little bit of shock. “Ha! First aid? Shut up man and just keep running. I don’t need babied,” he hollered back with a joking tone. We were only 8 miles in to a 50K run when he went down behind me. This was my first time guiding for Jason Romero, a legally blind and accomplished ultrarunner who I met a little over a year ago. In 2017, I heard Jason give a keynote address at a regional Goodwill luncheon and fundraiser. He spoke about his degenerative eye disease diagnosis in his teens which eventually left him legally blind. Now in his 40’s, Jason has accomplished a host of ultrarunning feats including being the first an