April 14, 2008
Training Sessions teach sighted runners how to run blindfolded
The Vision 5K announced its 2008 schedule of training sessions for participants in the CEO Challenge and Blindfold Challenge, in which sighted runners and walkers take on the race without the benefit of their sight.
There are two different sessions: Session 1 goes over the basics of running blindfolded and communicating with the sighted guide. Session 2 covers the special circumstances of running in a crowded race. Both sessions will be offered multiple times during April and May leading up to the June race.
The sessions are required for participants--but help them learn to run safely and well.
"Most people are nervous before they try it for the first time," says Joe Quintanilla, Director of Development at the Carroll Center for the Blind, one of the race's organizing charities. "But after just a one training session, they are finding a rhythm with their guide and finding out that it's not as scary as they feared it would be."
