When exactly does soreness go away? That’s something we all tell ourselves when we start getting back into working out. Before every run, I spend a good 10 minutes stretching with more stretching after my run. Always, always do stretching exercises, your body will thank you later. After doing two full runs where I haven’t stopped or slowed down my pace, my legs aren’t exactly feeling awesome. At one point walking down the stairs I thought it might just be better to lay down and let my body slump down the steps. Seriously.
I’m happy to report that this run includes no tripping or unwarranted shielding of my face/body with my arms to protect me from imaginary obstacles projecting onto my path. Also, I think the crossing guard lady near the school on my route is starting to look forward to me, she must not get a lot of people who say a nice “Good Morning.” as they run past her.
Today, around mile 1.5 I felt like I was kicking some serious butt. My breathing was stable, my heart felt like it wasn’t pumping harder than usual and my legs were holding up fine. So, on a straight stretch before my big hill climb at the end of the run. I increased my pace and nearly stepped into a pothole that would have been not cool.
Sometimes I forget that I’m going blind, I don’t know if others with Usher Syndrome feel the same way, but it happens to me. I spent some 27 years of my life not knowing that I had Usher Syndrome. The slowly losing my night vision, bumping into things, not being able to see something right in front of me. I attributed to getting older and that I was clumsy. I can’t change the fact that when I see stairs, I try to run up them, it’s something I’ve done my whole life. I’m still having a hard time not bulldozing myself around the house, I run into my wife and my kids. I know I need to slow down and have more awareness of my surroundings, but it isn’t exactly easy when you’ve gone your whole life with an opposite mentality. I still don’t have a blind cane or a guide dog, I don’t know if it’s some stupid pride thing or like I’m forfeiting another part of who I was. I have many, many Usher Syndrome friends that are using canes, guide dogs or interpreters. I admire them in so many ways, yet, I can’t bring myself to taking that next step for whatever reason. Though I feel like at this point I want to have more independence and not have to rely on someone helping me navigate around public places. Giving up driving was hard enough, giving up being able to do something by myself was even harder. I don’t want to always have to rely on others for everything, perhaps it’s time to make some big changes on that front.
Why running though if I’m going Deaf/Blind?
Today my run was 2.2 Miles in 24:18 making it 11:28 per mile.
Deaf/Blind and Running 