The End of a Race, but not the End of a Journey

This year, in my early 40s, with the joints of a soccer player whose vocabulary didn’t include the word “rest,” I set my sights on a world record for fastest blindfolded half marathon by a female — without a tether.

Why? Because I knew it would be hard. So hard that it inspired a movie called “Blind Momentum.” So hard that I went into training knowing I could fail.

As race day at the Kiawah Island Half Marathon approached, however, I felt confident that with my longtime guide, Andrew Swistak , I could become a world record holder by beating the 1:55:00 beginning standard. We had our verbal communication and special vocabulary down to a science. I was hitting my goal pace in solo intervals. Avoiding injury. Firing on all cylinders.

But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t scared when the moment arrived. I’d used the word “anxious” in a short speech the previous night, but I was closer to terrified when Andrew and I stepped up to the starting line. Keep Reading