I have never run a race blind folded, but I have run many times (and raced a few times) without having the full use of my vision. This June there is a race in Boston called the Vision 5k where runners are blindfolded and given a guide so that they can experience what it is like to race blind. You need to register by tomorrow (May 18) and attend a training session on Saturday in order to participate in the blindfold challenge, as well as raise a minimum of $1500. The first training session was at the beginning of the month and has already gone by. They will then match you to a guide that races at about the pace you expect to run.

I think that this would be a lot of fun. I did not find out about it until it was a bit too late to be able to participate in it, but perhaps I will aim towards working it into my schedule next year. I have gotten migraines during races before, although I have only had one where I couldn’t see anything at all for most of the race. That happened in Van Cortlandt park the weekend after September 11^th, when we weren’t even sure that there was still going to be a race. The migraine began around a quarter mile into the race, and I was completely blind by the first mile. Normally when I have migraines while working out, I just hallucinate and have blurry vision or lose parts of my vision and do not go completely blind, though.

Has anybody ever run this race or run a race like it?