Leading the blind and sucking wind

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 and only blind person to run the 3,000+ mile journey across America in a mere 59 days. You can read more about his accomplishments on his website: http://www.relentlessromero.com/

After the Goodwill luncheon, I connected with Jason on-line and asked if he would be willing to meet for coffee. I realized I had run with Jason at Leadville a few times and I wanted to hear more about his journey. Through our conversations, we realized that we both share a love for ultrarunning and faith in Christ. His journey, like so many in the world is genuinely inspiring.

Jason asked if I would be willing to guide for him at the Cheyenne Mountain 50K, and I jumped at the chance to help. He told me that we would go out “have fun at a conversational easy pace” and just enjoy the course. I had never guided for him, but I thought about it like the role of being a pacer in a long race. Make sure he is moving, on-trail and having fun.

Jason handed me a florescent yellow “Guide” bib to wear and he snapped on his “Blind” bib. He wanted to line up right in front of the starting race corral.

“Are you sure you don’t want to start a little further back?” I asked, somewhat fearful we would be getting ran over out of the gate.

“Screw that! He said. Toe the line and let all these people pass us if they need to.”

“Right on.” I replied, liking his competitive attitude.

The race started at a blazing pace. Jason was hitting the gas in front of me and I was struggling to hang on. “Conversational pace my ass,” I thought. 

We hit the first uphill and he was hopping over rocks and feeling the trail out with his trekking poles. I was in the red and hoping that things would mellow out a bit as the day went on. It would suck to have to drop early because my athlete was too fast for me to even keep up!

After about a mile, Jason asked me to go in front of him. He started to coach me a bit as to what he needed.

Jason Rocking one of the few flat sections of the course

“Call out rocks, branches and roots. I can see your shoes, so I will follow them. Let me know where the bends in the trail are, when to be light on my feet and where the hazards are.”

And off we went. Crushing a 10-11 min/mile pace we made forward progress. “Stay right, root, rock, light feet, stay left, right bend, roller coaster bump!” I called out every trail rock, hazard and bend.

I’ve never been so keyed into a trail in my entire life. Those little rocks I take for granted or don’t think about became huge boulders waiting to crush us. The little roots pushing through the dirt became large octopus tentacles ready to reach out and grab us every step.

We made relentless progress or as Jason would say "Onward!". We played cat and mouse with several runners around us, but we were not getting passed that often. We settled in about mid-pack and found our new pace which was manageable. It probably helped that I was leading and could set the pace! Clocking off around an 11-min mile we were still moving swiftly.

Hitting the first big downhill, the trail opened a bit. The big rock hazards were a little less prominent, so we cruised a bit.

That’s where Jason had his first big crash.

Tripping on a small rock he fell over onto his knuckles and rolled to his left side.

I’m not totally sure what I felt at this point. I wanted to make sure he was okay as the blood dripped from his knee and fists. I also realized at this point that I needed to make sure I paid attention and called out even the insignificant looking hazards in the trail. I wondered if my mind had checked out for a minute causing the fall. Nevertheless, Jason got up and we continued.

'Put it behind us and keep moving,' I thought to myself.

We fell into a rhythm the rest of the first loop that made the hours click off like mere minutes. Several other people there knew Jason, and he would occasionally stop and hug them and offer words of encouragement. His attitude and resolve were admirable in the field.

View from the Course

Despite relatively consistent training, I found myself sucking wind and somewhat tapped on the uphills. While Jason was able to run most of them I was wondering if I'd be able to keep the pace that Jason wanted to keep. My stomach was going south and I pushed through the pain. 

Fortunately, the pain subsided and I was able to get back to work. “Rock, stay left, stairs” mixed with a few short stories between breaths. 

Jason holding a wicked pace on the uphill

By mile 24 I was feeling great! We were running all the uphills and making good progress.We seemed to be in sync despite a couple more falls and the pain that always comes towards the end of a race.

Crossing the finish line together, Jason and I hugged, and I thanked him for such a memorable experience. It was one of my favorite race memories. The joy that came in helping Jason keep competing at the sport he loves so much was reward enough. Crossing the finish line at another 50K was just the icing on the cake. 

At the finish

I am blessed to know so many inspirational people and athletes. The ‘why’ in what drives me has a lot to do with the stories of people like Jason. Keep moving forward, don’t play the victim, reach out for help in humility, get back up when you fall and finish strong.

ONWARD!