Sharing The Road with The Acb (American Council for The Blind)
by The joys of volunteering as a guide for visually impaired runners.
Sharing the Road with the ACB (American Council for the Blind)
Running is a gift. Growing up with a mother who has been a paraplegic since the age of fourteen, equating to the entirety of my twenty-eight years, I know this quite well. And as is the case with many runners, I try to give back in some way through running, usually by participating in a race/run who’s proceeds go to benefit someone less fortunate then myself. But the morning of this past fourth of July, the team at Orlando’s iconic running store, Track Shack, together with the ACB (American Council for the Blind) provided the few thousand participants of its Annual Watermelon 5K an opportunity to do something a little more, well, hands on.
When I first heard about the Watermelon 5K from my buddy Gary Dwyer, a guru of central Florida race knowledge that runs one almost every weekend and has for the past few decades, I was ready to sign up immediately. A 4th of July morning fun run through the beautiful streets of historic Winter Park, Florida that draws over three thousand participants, many dressed patriotically and/or toting American flags, and tons of ice cold watermelon at the end: who could ask for more? But this past year Track Shack outdid itself by teaming up with the ACB to allow the members of its annual conference, which was held in Orlando this year over Independence Day weekend, the chance to participate in the 5K.
When I went Track Shack’s website to sign up for the Watermelon 5K and saw the opportunity to be a volunteer guide for the blind and low-visioned members of the ACB that would be participating in the event, I was ecstatic. My wife Danielle and I had been looking for some venues where we could volunteer our time, but hadn’t really committed to anything at that apart from our monthly races. And even though we’re always trying to get a PR (personal record) in every race we do, we knew right away that this was something we wanted to do and signed up.
On race day we were paired with Judy and Jeff, who were just a hoot! We had an amazing time with them, the other ACB members, and guides we ended up walking most of the course with (although Judy and Danielle we gracious enough to allow Jeff and I to pull ahead at the end…) We laughed a lot and had really good conversation, by far the best race I’ve ever been in; and all without a PR! I wish I could say this was a selfless act, but I got so much out of it personally that it wouldn’t be true. Hats off to Emma Hughes and the Track Shack team for putting this together and a big thank you to the ACB for allowing us to be a part of this wonderful experience!
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