It’s quiet.
While I’m out there I decide to try something different. I close my eyes to see just how far I can run and be comfortable about it.
I figured it should be pretty easy to go 20-30 yards at least, and I should be able to gauge if I’ve wandered left or right on the trail. Why, you ask? We had just watched CBS’s Sunday Morning, featuring a story on Simon Wheatcroft, a blind runner. I can only go 10 yards or so before I have to check myself.
He started running on a soccer field, from end to end, between goal posts. After mastering this, he got bored and decided to go navigate his local trail loop. Not long after, he saw it fit to go play in traffic so to speak. He is able to detect the lane stripe under his foot. He is also able to give directions around his neighborhood from the passenger seat, to the point where he can tell you if you’ve missed a turn.
Crazy, right? Wait, he’s run three marathons and he has become a “test pilot” for all kinds of guidance systems that will help blind people regain their mobility. What an inspiration.
Seeking further challenges, he decides to go the Namibian Desert to run a 155-mile ultra-marathon. And he will do it unassisted.
Well, almost. At the halfway point, he has to stop for assistance, because he runs into a flagpole. ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?!?! A FLAGPOLE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DESERT?!?! As if there was any doubt, that does it. The Gods must be crazy.
