On a mission

Through my journey of seeking more guiding opportunities I was given the name of Richard Hunter.  I could dedicate an entire blog post to him but not this one.  Richard organizes runners and guides for the National Championship Marathon and Marathon Relay held at the California International Marathon in partnership with the USABA (United States Association of Blind Athletes).  In early November Richard called me out on a Facebook post I made that said I guided "anywhere, anytime at any pace".

Richard paired me up with Rachel Weeks, an athlete with Usher Syndrome.  I won't try and tell Rachel's story better than in some of her own words, so I encourage you to click her name and read her story of strength and drive.  As an athlete with Usher Syndrome Rachel suffers from both vision and hearing loss.  At first meeting Rachel I wouldn't have thought she suffered from any impairment at all if I wasn't previously told.  Her sister Becca had traveled from South Carolina with her to guide Rachel the second half of the race.  Rachel and Becca have teamed up for for many of Rachel's races ranging from her first sprint triathlon and a recent half marathon.  Becca has never competed in a race of her own but has so far chosen to guide her sister instead.

Going in to the weekend I had the opportunity to exchange some emails with Rachel to discuss race pace, recent injuries and her getting over an illness.  I also knew that I'd have the opportunity to meet many of the people whom I've corresponded with electronically through various online visually impaired/blind groups and was excited for that.  Saturday night prior to race morning there was a dinner held for all those that helped make the National Championship possible.  Sponsors, organizers, athletes and guides from all over the world.  In all there were 31 athletes and 37 guides participating in the marathon or as a member of a marathon relay team.  Being considered part of a group that included: multi-world record holders, sub-3 hour marathoners, multi-Ironman finishers as well as the first blind athlete to complete an Ironman was an honor.  Amazing enough from an athletic stand point, let alone the fact that this group completed all these races with little or no sight.  A fantastic humbling night.

I'd been checking the weather for Sacramento daily as soon as I booked my flight.  The forecast never changed much the entire time. . . rain!  When I landed in Sacramento it was sprinkling and windy.  Saturday was a great day by Wisconsin standards but a little cool by Sacramento standards.  We had the chance to go for a tune up run Saturday afternoon.  It was my first opportunity to run with Rachel as well as run using a waist tether.  The waist tether allows Rachel to use the vision she has while giving her the confidence and comfort in knowing that someone is there to help if needed.  Our warm up run was a sidewalk run in downtown Sacramento.  Pretty much the worst conditions for guiding.  To add to the fun, most of the rain from Friday and Saturday had gotten trapped near the curbs do to the abundance of leaves that had fallen and jammed up the sewer drains.  If Rachel and I were doing a tough mudder we were prepared with the number of "long steps!" or "jump" or "let's just run around this big ass puddle."  Had we known exactly how the conditions were going to be the next morning we probably would have just ran through the puddles. . .  A couple mile run and me never passing up the opportunity to discuss, I mean share my thoughts on Rachel's running form and we were ready for the race.

The best thing about doing a race in California is that 4 am really wasn't that bad of a wake up time.  I was able to fall right asleep after the dinner and not feel like I had to work to get out of bed.  I drove and picked up a fellow guide at his hotel in order to make our bus at 5.  The USABA went out of their way to put together a great transportation system for the VI athletes and guides.  On the bus I had the opportunity to talk more with some of the athletes I hadn't had the chance to meet the night before.  Another VI athlete, another multi-Ironman finisher.  Rachel was listening to music as I chatted away.  We knew the rain was coming and not too long in to the bus ride the skies opened up and started to dump.  When we arrived at the start area we got to wait in the pacer tent to stay out of the rain.  It was also nice to have access to our own porta-potties, all race-day luxuries I've never had.

For anyone that's been to a race with a chance of rain, the accessory of choice is a garbage bag.  Great for keeping in some heat and offer protection from the rain but bad when tore off, tossed to the wind and left for someone to slip on.  Unfortunately one bag got the better of one of the VI athletes ending her race before it had a chance to start.  Rachel and I nestled in with the crowd and found our groove.  There were pouring rains and 30-40 mph gusts of wind.  Luckily for Rachel, I was at her left, the same side the wind was coming from.  For the most part the rain came down sideways.  We managed our way in the larger crowd just fine.  From a guiding perspective I find this to be the hardest time simply because of the number of people in one spot.  I'm trying to plan the next move as far ahead as possible to make it feel less abrupt for Rachel.  To me running is about feel and being smooth and I try to allow the person I'm guiding to keep that feel as long as possible without interruption. 

The miles were moving by just fine as we settled in to a comfortable pace.  We had the pleasure of crossing a four lane city street under 6 inches of water.  That lead us to sharing some Forrest Gump quotes about rain coming from above, from the left, the right and even from underneath.  We were drenched waiting for the race to start so crossing a creek really had little affect on our spirit, it actually had us laughing.  After the race ended I read that for the first time in the marathon's history, they gave runners the opportunity to take the bus back to the finish line.  30% of the runners registered for the race either no-showed or took the bus back to the starting line.  100% of the VI runners and guides were there, ready and running.

Other than the weather, the first half of the race really went off as smoothly as I could have hoped.  There was one mud puddle Rachel ran in that turned out to be a mini pothole, but other then that the guiding and running was progressing nicely.  At about mile 12 we started to hear music.  It seemed too close to be the half way point, but sure enough, the music got closer and closer, these goofy point to point races and their endless straight-aways. . . the rain was lightening up and the winds had died down.  Now we just had to find Becca mixed in with the relay runners and get her clipped up and running.