"If you want to achieve your goals, help others achieve their goals."
~ Zig Ziglar
This past April, on the Friday night before the Boston marathon, I ran into my dear friend, Joyce Cron, at a dinner for Team With A Vision. I was guiding for Jared Broughton and Joyce, who is visually impaired, was running with a different guide but we had run Boston together back in 2016 and 2017 and we have remained close friends over the years. She told me that she was planning to run the NYC marathon in November with Team Achilles and asked I would consider guiding her again.
Boston 2016
I didn't have to think twice. I'd always wanted to do NY and I was eager to partner up with Joyce again so I answered with a resounding, HELL YES! We made plans to get in touch after the summer and wished each other well for Boston. She killed it, by the way by, running a blazing 4:09 and placing first in her division for Para athletes. Fast forward to October. Joyce reached out to give me an update on her training. She had run Berlin in September and it did not go well. The heat really impacted her and she ended up having to do a fair amount of walk/jogging to get to the finish line. When she got back home she took some much needed rest but then when she started to ramp back up for New York she noticed that she was having trouble with her recovery. She could get her miles in but then she was completely exhausted for the rest of the day. For obvious reasons, she was worried. Things just didn't feel right. So she made a plan. She would stop running and see if her body could bounce back. If that worked, she'd go forward and line up in NY and if not, she'd have to reassess. As of the week before the race, she was finally feeling like herself again so we were now officially on. Which brings us to last Saturday. I drove down to NYC in the morning and met up with Joyce in the lobby of our hotel around 11:00am. She looked distressed. In a nutshell, she explained that she was feeling off again, that she had no appetite, that she had very low energy and that she was having dizzy spells. This was not good. But, as any marathoner will tell you, they will wait until the very last minute to pull the plug because they've done the work and, dammit, they want to race. Or, at least, this was the case for Joyce. And I understood. We decided to go to the expo together and grab our numbers and then to have her rest for the remainder of the day. We'd check back in later in the evening and make a decision.
Joyce's guide dog, Sherbet
While I have attended several expos, this was my first time navigating one with both a visually impaired athlete and a guide dog. I have to say, Sherbet was amazing. The scene, as you can imagine, was nuts. People were everywhere - asking questions, taking photos, looking for family, running around with their kids. Very few were paying attention to the three of us. Sherbet was calm, cool and collected. So, thanks to her, we made it through successfully without any issues. Bravo, Sherbet! Joyce and her husband, Dan, decided to find the information booth and ask them what the process was for deferring until 2026 if that's what she decided to do. I left them to it and walked around and checked things out on my own.
Obviously I had to find my name on the wall. I also took a little stroll around the floor to find some free goodies and there were plenty of them. I picked up some Dove skincare products, some gel samples that I'd never heard of, a yogurt smoothie, basically anything that looked remotely appealing. The expo is always super chaotic but it's worth the stress when you leave with a bag of treats.
Joyce and I met down in the lobby again around 7:00pm. She had finally come to the conclusion that it wasn't worth pushing herself given how she felt and that she would officially defer so she would have an automatic entry in 2026. It was such a hard decision for her. But we both knew it was the right one. She didn't feel strong enough and because of this she wasn't even remotely excited to race. This wasn't the experience she wanted. And it simply wasn't worth the risk just to get a medal. While she was sad, I could also tell that she was relieved. She'd been so stressed all day about making a decision and you could almost see the weight lifted in her demeanor. We said goodnight and I made my way back up to my room to ponder my next steps.
Obviously, I had signed up for NYC with the intent to guide Joyce. Now, here I was with a bib and no one to guide. I also had no intention of racing this marathon on my own. My options were to either bail all together and go home or to see if I could find someone else who needed my assistance on race day. Before going to bed I confirmed with Achilles that I could still use my number and decided it was worth trying to find another athlete who might need help. I got up on Sunday around 4:00am and hopped on the bus with the team. My plan was to find Karen, the woman in charge of our group, and to ask if she knew of anyone else who might need a hand. And then fate connected me to Cindy Kuhn. Cindy was chatting with her guide, Lindy (I know, you can’t make that up) in the seats behind me on the bus and we eventually all struck up a conversation. A few minutes after getting off the bus, we reconnected in the AWD tent. I explained my situation to them - that I had been planning to guide for Joyce and that she unfortunately wasn't feeling well enough to race so I was now looking to see if I could help someone else. Both Cindy and Lindy agreed that I should join them along with their second guide, Michael, as they could use the extra hands and would be happy to have me along in case something went wrong. I was thrilled. And more than ready to step up.
THE RACE
Miles 1-6 (9:50, 7:56, 8:22, 8:18, 8:10, 8:08)
Prior to leaving the tent, Cindy had said she'd like to run around 3:45-4:00, but really was just going by feel. It sounded good to me. We started on the lower section of the Verrazano bridge. Thankfully, we did not get peed on by those above us, though many had said this might be an issue. Is that really true?? We were packed up in our corral like sardines so getting going was pretty slow for us. Our first mile we were walk/jogging and just trying to keep people from getting in Cindy's way. It's also uphill. So, for both of those reasons, this mile was our slowest. But after that, we were locked in; rolling right around 8:15 give or take a few seconds. The morning had started off cool but when we got into the sun we could feel the heat rising so fluids became a priority. Each time we came up to a water station whoever was closest would grab cups of water and Gatorade and pass them over to Cindy first and then around to the rest of our crew if people needed them.
Miles 7-13 (8:04, 8:17, 8:15, 8:01, 8:14, 8:17, 8:11)
We all got into a really good rhythm by the third mile. One of us would be on either side of Cindy and then one of us behind her. This way we could all check in with her regularly and make sure she had what she needed but also gave us some insurance in case someone needed to break off for a second and come back. At one point Lyndi said she felt like we were the secret service agents and we were guarding Cindy like she was the president. That is exactly how it felt. The crowds in NY are nuts. I have run Boston many times. NY is next level. Aside from when we were on the bridges, the volume was at a ten the entire time. We also saw some wild getups like the Statue of Liberty in full dress complete with skirt, crown and torch, a blow-up chicken with a sign that said she was just trying to cross the road, a shark costume, several bananas. We even ran behind Frida Kahlo for a while. Clearly I was focused on Cindy but when things were calm for us I was having a blast soaking up the scene. We also made sure to let Cindy know when the cameras were around and to take full advantage of every photo opportunity presented to us.
Miles 14-20 (8:11, 8:23, 8:39, 8:07, 8:08, 8:16, 8:22)
Cindy was in total control. Her pace was steady. She was able to communicate easily. It felt like we were on cruise control. As we got further along the course the fluid stations started to get crazy. Because of the heat, people needed more water and electrolytes than planned and the ground was like an ocean of cups every other mile. The volunteers couldn't pour it or sweep them out fast enough. Michael lives in NYC so he knew every nook and cranny and was able to tell us when things like hills and turns were coming up. That was a nice little bonus.
All business up the hill
Miles 21-26 (8:08, 8:05, 8:06, 8:17, 8:09, 8:07)
Right around mile 20, Michael looked at us and said, I'm not gonna lie, this is a nasty hill and it's gonna suck. And he wasn't lying. It was a very long hill. But, Cindy and I both agreed that it wasn't as bad as Heartbreak Hill on the Boston course. Some may beg to differ with us on that. Regardless, we got up and over without any issues and after this we knew we had it in the bag. Cindy was flying now and I could tell she felt good. We were totally crushing it, picking up the pace a bit with confidence. As we got closer to the park I started raising my hands up to the crowd to get them to cheer for us while also pointing at Cindy to emphasize what an absolute badass she was.
Running a marathon is hard. Running a marathon as a visually impaired athlete is notably harder. It was clear from the minute I met Cindy that she did not let anything get in her way of what she wanted to achieve. She had battled cancer and had multiple surgeries. She lost vision and hearing when her tumors were removed. A marathon? Bring it. Nothing was stopping her. It is such an honor to run for someone as a guide. The partnership that is formed is so special. That bond starts the second you meet and only gets stronger with every mile. So, yea. On Sunday, my job was to help Cindy get to the finish line and keep her safe along the way. Mission accomplished. I can only hope that our paths cross again both as runners and as friends.
Listen to this:
No Pain - Modern Living, Cosmo's Midnight, Sumner
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