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American Morning
Woman of Vision
Aired November 01, 2002 - 09:47 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: On Sunday, 30,000 runners are going to be going to the starting line for the New York City marathon, more than 26 grueling miles through the five burroughs here, and among them will be Marla Runyan, an Olympic middle distance runner who is entering her first marathon, as she is facing an extra challenge that no other runner out there is going to be face. You see, Marla is legally blind. Marla Runyan is the author of "No Finish Line: My Life as I See It."
Nice to see you in the face -- face to face, I should say, in the flesh, finally.
MARLA RUNYAN, OLYMPIC RUNNER: Thank you. Great to be here.
HARRIS: When last we spoke, you were just finishing up a competition at a different distance, correct? It was in Boston?
RUNYAN: Yes, actually, that was a half marathon in Philly when we last spoke, but since then, I ran a 10k in Boston, the U.S. championships.
HARRIS: You made the leap, though from middle distance running, all the way up to, I guess the middle distance would be considered what distance, would you say?
RUNYAN: Fifteen-hundred on the track, the miles, and 5,000, 10,000, getting toward longer distances.
HARRIS: This is a big jump, not because of the distance, but you're going to be running with a whole lot of people as well. Have you been in any situation that is comparable to this?
RUNYAN: Yes and no. I have trained on the roads obviously. I've done a lot of high mileage to prepare for the marathon, so that's not anything new. For the first time, the New York City Marathon is having an elite women's start, which will happen 35 minutes before the rest of the field. For us, there is really only 30, 35 competitors, and those are the only people we have to keep track of.
HARRIS: Does that make it easier for you, does it make it harder for you?
RUNYAN: It makes it easier, and we're also not going to be running with any men, so it's truly a separate elite women's marathon. It's great. We can key off each other.
HARRIS: The thing is, though, you say you're legally blind. That means you can see what? Since you're not totally blind?
RUNYAN: How limited is your vision?
When you go and get your vision tested at the optometrist and they throw up the eye chart, they ask you what you can see, and I pretty much can't read any of the letters on the eye chart. Even the big E at this point is kind of a blur at this point. Usually, if you're 2,200 in visual acuity, that is considered legally blind. My vision is about 2,400, so it's a little bit worse than that. However, it doesn't mean I'm totally blind. I do have peripheral vision. I do see do a lot of colors. I do see the ground much better than I see what is in front of me.
HARRIS: Are you concerned? You know, what I would be most worried about, I would be most worried about getting lost. Are you concerned you might miss a turn or something, or you might run into a building?
RUNYAN: I'm not concerned about running into anything. I think I'll be fine in that respect. Getting lost on the road has always been, you know, kind of a hidden fear of mine. But New York City has the blue line, and I can see that I think you keep right on that blue line and it's going to take you home.
HARRIS: All right. As I understand it, they are also going to have a cyclist to give you a little bit of help?
RUNYAN: They will put a cyclist out there and he is running behind the elite women's pack, and he will vocalize the clock split as we run by, because other runners can see those clocks, and I won't be able to see what my time is at each mile mark, and he's just going to read those verbally, and just give me...
(AUDIO GAP)
HARRIS: You don't get an advantage?
RUNYAN: Exactly. There's no coaching going on, no cheering or anything. He's just giving me information that I'm missing.
HARRIS: How about these temperatures? As I understand it, it's going to be a wind chill in the 20s on Sunday.
Have you ever run in something like that?
RUNYAN: I live in Eugene, Oregon, and it does get pretty chilly there. We run into freezing rain a lot of the times. It will be challenging for everyone.
HARRIS: You've never run a marathon before. What's going to be a good time for you?
RUNYAN: I'd love to break the 2:30 barrier, two hours, 30 minutes. The Olympic standard is 2:32. So I think under 2:30 would be a great first debut and running a little faster would even be better. HARRIS: All right, well, we're wish you luck, and we're going to keep your eyes on you.
Good luck, Marla Runyan. And hope to talk to you after you leave the victory circle.
RUNYAN: That would be great.
HARRIS: That would be a heck of a jump, a heck of an achievement for you, too. Good luck.
RUNYAN: All right, thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired November 1, 2002 - 09:47 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: On Sunday, 30,000 runners are going to be going to the starting line for the New York City marathon, more than 26 grueling miles through the five burroughs here, and among them will be Marla Runyan, an Olympic middle distance runner who is entering her first marathon, as she is facing an extra challenge that no other runner out there is going to be face. You see, Marla is legally blind. Marla Runyan is the author of "No Finish Line: My Life as I See It."
Nice to see you in the face -- face to face, I should say, in the flesh, finally.
MARLA RUNYAN, OLYMPIC RUNNER: Thank you. Great to be here.
HARRIS: When last we spoke, you were just finishing up a competition at a different distance, correct? It was in Boston?
RUNYAN: Yes, actually, that was a half marathon in Philly when we last spoke, but since then, I ran a 10k in Boston, the U.S. championships.
HARRIS: You made the leap, though from middle distance running, all the way up to, I guess the middle distance would be considered what distance, would you say?
RUNYAN: Fifteen-hundred on the track, the miles, and 5,000, 10,000, getting toward longer distances.
HARRIS: This is a big jump, not because of the distance, but you're going to be running with a whole lot of people as well. Have you been in any situation that is comparable to this?
RUNYAN: Yes and no. I have trained on the roads obviously. I've done a lot of high mileage to prepare for the marathon, so that's not anything new. For the first time, the New York City Marathon is having an elite women's start, which will happen 35 minutes before the rest of the field. For us, there is really only 30, 35 competitors, and those are the only people we have to keep track of.
HARRIS: Does that make it easier for you, does it make it harder for you?
RUNYAN: It makes it easier, and we're also not going to be running with any men, so it's truly a separate elite women's marathon. It's great. We can key off each other.
HARRIS: The thing is, though, you say you're legally blind. That means you can see what? Since you're not totally blind?
RUNYAN: How limited is your vision?
When you go and get your vision tested at the optometrist and they throw up the eye chart, they ask you what you can see, and I pretty much can't read any of the letters on the eye chart. Even the big E at this point is kind of a blur at this point. Usually, if you're 2,200 in visual acuity, that is considered legally blind. My vision is about 2,400, so it's a little bit worse than that. However, it doesn't mean I'm totally blind. I do have peripheral vision. I do see do a lot of colors. I do see the ground much better than I see what is in front of me.
HARRIS: Are you concerned? You know, what I would be most worried about, I would be most worried about getting lost. Are you concerned you might miss a turn or something, or you might run into a building?
RUNYAN: I'm not concerned about running into anything. I think I'll be fine in that respect. Getting lost on the road has always been, you know, kind of a hidden fear of mine. But New York City has the blue line, and I can see that I think you keep right on that blue line and it's going to take you home.
HARRIS: All right. As I understand it, they are also going to have a cyclist to give you a little bit of help?
RUNYAN: They will put a cyclist out there and he is running behind the elite women's pack, and he will vocalize the clock split as we run by, because other runners can see those clocks, and I won't be able to see what my time is at each mile mark, and he's just going to read those verbally, and just give me...
(AUDIO GAP)
HARRIS: You don't get an advantage?
RUNYAN: Exactly. There's no coaching going on, no cheering or anything. He's just giving me information that I'm missing.
HARRIS: How about these temperatures? As I understand it, it's going to be a wind chill in the 20s on Sunday.
Have you ever run in something like that?
RUNYAN: I live in Eugene, Oregon, and it does get pretty chilly there. We run into freezing rain a lot of the times. It will be challenging for everyone.
HARRIS: You've never run a marathon before. What's going to be a good time for you?
RUNYAN: I'd love to break the 2:30 barrier, two hours, 30 minutes. The Olympic standard is 2:32. So I think under 2:30 would be a great first debut and running a little faster would even be better. HARRIS: All right, well, we're wish you luck, and we're going to keep your eyes on you.
Good luck, Marla Runyan. And hope to talk to you after you leave the victory circle.
RUNYAN: That would be great.
HARRIS: That would be a heck of a jump, a heck of an achievement for you, too. Good luck.
RUNYAN: All right, thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
