with the Great Lakes Adaptive Sports Association, a local organiza-
tion that provides servies to those with disabilities, and they told her
about V I/ B running with a guide. Maria says this about her initial
experience with running outside: “At first, it felt very difficult to just
be aware that I was running on the street, but Doug, my very first
running guide, helped me ease into it.”
Doug Dortch has guided for the past five years and has logged
thousands of guiding kilometres. “Every visual impairment and
individual is unique,” he says of his experience with 10 different
V I/ B running partners. He has guided runners from ages 18 – 60 over
distances ranging from 100m on the track to 42 .2k on the streets and
indoors. “ The elements, the open road, and the sense of freedom that
all tie into running outside,” Maria says of the revelation she felt on
her first run with Doug outdoors.
In 201 4 , Carolyn Moore, a 48-year-old accomplished marathoner
with a 3:30 PB and numerous successful Boston Marathon finishes, is
looking for a new challenge. Carolyn happens to meet up with Doug
and Maria at a track workout. Doug and Maria are sweating it out
on the track and they look like an effective pair of athletes. Carolyn
thinks it looks like fun, so she asks more about it. The next thing she
knows, she’s involved as a V I/ B guide. Carolyn begins running with
Maria a few times a week and soon they’re a team – setting goals and
crushing them – including Maria’s personal best and re-qualifying
time of 4:46:44 at the Boston Marathon in 2015 (the VI/B quali-
fying time for the Boston Marathon is five hours).
Transportation at races and planning out workouts can be compli-
cated. Most V I/ B runners are dependent on others for transportation
or use public transit, while at the same time, of course, having respon-
sibilities just like those of us with full vision. Doug points to the
challenge of being able to get the athlete to and from training runs
and races. Arranging a meet up before a race with a V I/ B runner
entails a lot more than just standing around waving your arm in
the air at a designated porta-potty line. Organizing rides in both
directions and finding transportation is not always easy. Carolyn
agrees. After the Boston Marathon, she and Maria spent over an hour
navigating Boston’s complicated public transit system with tens of
thousands of people swarming about in order to get back to Maria’s
billet location.
The start of a race presents another real challenge. In her very first
5 k with Maria, Carolyn got tongue-tied and forgot the all-important
verbal cues. A transition from pavement to limestone path, a slight
turn and an incline were all within the first kilometre. She and Maria
weathered through it, but it was dicey for a few moments. A sightedA Matter of Trust
The Guide-Blind
Runner Bond
WHAT IT’S LIKE TO GUIDE A VISUALLY IMPAIRED RUNNER,
AND WHAT IT’S LIKE FOR THAT RUNNER TO BE ABLE TO RUN ON THE ROADSBy Karen Principato“Speed bump in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.”
“Corner on the right in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.”
“Finish line in 5, 4, 3, 2, now!”
That’s what you’ll hear from your running guide if you’re a visually
impaired or blind (VI/B) runner during a road race. You’ll be teth-
ered together the morning and for all of the hundreds of kilometres
you’ve run together to get ready for it. And even though you may not
be able to see the finish line, the victory is just as sweet.
Maria de Guzman experienced just that in the 2015 Boston
Marathon. The 3 4 year old is totally blind. She lost her sight at the
age of two due to retinoblastoma, a rare childhood illness that affects
the retina. In college, Maria started treadmill running off and on, but
never did get out onto the road. In March 2013, as a mom of two ener-
getic young boys, Maria decided she wanted to try road running. Not
one to wait around for things to happen for her, Maria got in touch
44 Canadian Running November & December 2016, Volume 9, Issue 7