What excellent timing.

Over the past week, two very inspiring stories have made their way to me. The first is about Sami Stoner, an Ohio cross-country runner who almost didn’t get to race. The second details the training regimen of Simon Wheatcroft, who’s preparing for his first ultra marathon.

Though these athletes, and their struggles, are unique, they’ve had to overcome the same handicap. Sami Stoner and Simon Wheatcroft are both blind.

To discover their stories now seems felicitous because tomorrow holds the Philadelphia chapter of Visionwalk. I’ll be walking with my own wife, a marathoner and year-round runner. Like Sami, she suffers from Stargardt’s, a juvenile form of macular degeneration.

Having watched Mrs. Turtlerunner adapt to her deteriorating vision, I felt personally affected by these stories; Simon and Sami, like my wife, refuse to let their handicap keep them from the sport they love. But the hope they’ve inspired isn’t just for those affected by vision disorders, or runners, or even athletes. When they run, they demonstrate an ability inherent in all of us.

They deny limitation.

(If you would like to help fight vision disorders, please consider donating to The Foundation Fighting Blindness)

Runner’s World recently posted some Dean Karnazes quotes, in a playful homage to Sh*t My Dad Says (which is an excellent addition to any toiletside library, by the way). These quotes come out of RUN! 26.2 Stories of Blisters and Bliss, Dean’s most recent book. Going by the excerpts, this books lacks a bit of the profundity of Ultramarathon Man. A few quotes, however, stood out to me.

“We runners don’t need a lot. It is not what we have but what we enjoy that constitutes our abundance.”

This is absolutely beautiful. Running won’t make you rich, and it probably won’t make you famous. Luckily, we don’t run for those. We run for satisfaction (that is, those who aren’t running to stay skinny).

“Never, under any circumstances, argue with a woman. She is always right.”

Amen.

“Returning from my daily run the other morning, I came upon my neighbor, out in his slippers collecting the morning paper. He looked at me in my running gear and asked, ‘Doesn’t running hurt?’ I thought about his question. ‘It does if you’re doing it right,’ I said.”

I mentioned before the runners who run to stay skinny. There’s nothing wrong with that, nor with the fair weather joggers. I respect anyone who makes sacrifices for their health. But jogging in the sun doesn’t HURT. It doesn’t bring the kind of pain that comes with racing or ultramarathon distances. And I think that it’s this pain, this deprivation, that leads to real growth. And that is how you know you’re doing it right.