Running ‘blind’

I am a runner who has MS for quite a few years more than I care to remember. Due to my illness I lost my field of vision for a while. For somebody who is quite independent to have to rely on other people is pretty scary, so when I see people out running with a visual impairment or another disability, I take my hat off to them.

One day on the parkrun discussion group on Facebook, somebody mentioned it was World Sight Day on 10 October and they were encouraging people to help raise awareness. I had an idea that our jogscotland group could do a visually impaired (VI) run at Aberdeen Beach parkrun – we would pair up and one person would run blindfolded and the other person would act as the guide.

So, I went back to my jogscotland group and suggested it, and lots of them volunteered to take part. I contacted Granite City Guided Runners, a group of VI runners and their guides, and they gave us advice on what we should be doing with tethers, high vis and so on (tethers are small straps – the VI runner holds one end and the guide holds the other). I got some old climbing rope, researched tethers online and made some myself, and some signs to go on people’s backs to tell other runners behind us that they were VI runner and guide .

Ten of us took part. We arrived at parkrun a bit early on the day and Ben and Leona from Granite City Guide Running gave us a demonstration of what we should be doing and how to make it as realistic as possible. One of our jog leaders Callum Smith was the Race Director and he explained to all the parkrunners what we were doing and why.

The people who were taking the role of VI runners wore buffs or sleeping masks as blindfolds and the guides wore hi vis, with signs on their backs, and the pairs swapped over halfway so that everybody would get to experience it.

It was a great and somewhat a bizarre experience to run in a crowd of people but not be able to see them, but still sense that they are around you. At one point I was informed by my guide that there was some sand on the pathway and I automatically lifted my feet higher. You do rely 100% on your guide that they won’t let you bump into something or someone – there is a lot of trust between the two of you, it was well worth doing and I would do it again.

A lot of people, including Granite City guys, were grateful that we brought some awareness to the club and to the experience of VI runners.

I would like to thank Shallene, Chery, Jeanette, Ian, Danny, Fiona, Amy, Craig, Christine for volunteering and Ben & Leona from Granite City Guide Runners for helping us keep it realistic.