[Sportsandrec] Road racing

[Lori M. Miller]

Keep on guiding and I hope you have enjoyable experiences. I was not a 
runner until a friend of mine introduced me to Triathlon through a camp that 
she organized for blind women and their guides. We discussed the challenges 
of finding and recruiting guides, etc, and how this certainly can be a 
stumbling block. In several sports I'm aware of situations where a blind 
athlete has been fit and ready to go, but either a guide has not been found 
or perhaps injury to the guide has kept the blind athlete from competing. 
I've found NETWORKING to be a great solution.

I can go out and jog independently with my cane, but this is not my 
preferred method for training for a race.  True some blind runners and 
guides can just team up and go, but I've found that like with most sports 
that require team effort best results are achieved by practicing together. 
I'll compare it to working with readers. Just because someone can read does 
not mean they are a good reader for a blind person, or even for one 
particular blind person. Just because two people can run, does not mean they 
are going to be a good team together necessarily. Style, personality, 
habits, what have you, a guideruner and blindperson may not gel, but yet 
that guide might be a good match for another blind runner. The more people 
we have out and about, the better.



Thanks,
Lori

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Lucia Alzaga" <lucialzag at yahoo.com>
To: <sportsandrec at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Saturday, April 18, 2009 2:50 PM
Subject: [Sportsandrec] Road racing



Hi
I hope I can my reasoning across... If you have seen other posts of mine I 
am trying to help more people to get into running so they can enjoy the 
benefits of fitness. I got together with a blind man who's a coordinator of 
DRES at my school and he said that it's wonderful that friends of my running 
club and I are willing to be guides here in this area. He told me that many 
people tend to be sendentary because they don't have anyone to run with or 
they think it is not for them. I don't want to force anyone to do what they 
don't want to do. But he and I agreed that maybe people could feel more 
encouraged to go out if they see other people like them running in taking 
part in races.
So my idea of creating a special category for this marathon, which promises 
to become really important, is to encourage to bring the best visually 
impaired runners so they can become an example for the people in area. If we 
have many people in a race that has been embraced by the entire community, 
then more people in the state of Illinois will participate. And hopefully 
one day, we won't need special categories or anything.
I can relate to what many people feel. This is like affirmative action. Do 
we need it? Well, many people feel that they don't want special treatment 
because of their ethnic background. I am hesitant of affirmative action 
myself. I'm hispanic, born in another country. I'm sure you have noticed my 
grammar mistakes. And I hate it when they treat me differently or they are 
amazed at simple things I do just because they are surprised I can do it. Or 
I would feel very bad if they told me I got something because I am hispanic, 
not for the real worth. But many people think that it is necessary now, but 
they hope that one day it is not necessary anymore. So that was my point... 
to make the race interesting for people from all over the country, to show 
them how beautiful and beneficial running is. And I hope that one day we 
don't need any special category.
Best,
Lucía




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