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Friday, September 22
Legally blind runner says she feels free on track
By Adrian Wojnarowski
Special to ESPN.com
SYDNEY, Australia -- Marla Runyan marches to the buffet line in the
athlete's dining hall on a mission for a side of broccoli, only to pile peas
and spinach on her plate. She sits down, takes a bite and let's out a long
sigh. Get up, try again. The colors get her every time.
|  | | Marla Runyan suffers from Stargardt's Disease, which has stripped away her sight since age 9. |
Welcome to the life of Marla Runyan, the most unrelenting athlete in
these Olympic Games. When is it ever easy to be the United States runner in
the 1,500 meters? Try the inside lane of an Olympic track, pushing and
prodding for position in the 1,500 meters.
"It's the one place where I feel a sense of freedom, where I'm
independent," Runyan said.
Runyan is legally blind, suffering from Stargardt's Disease, a degenerative
disorder slowly stripping away her sight since her ninth birthday. In the
history of the Olympics, no athlete has made the miraculous crossover
Runyan's done, a Paralympian turned Olympian. Four years ago, she cleaned up
in those disabled games. Two years later, she had a terrible knee and foot
injuries as a heptathlete. Eventually, a coach watched her run the 1,500
meters, and told her she had the potential to do the unthinkable for a Paralympian:
get to the Games. The Games.
When she won the The Pan Am Games a year ago, she stumbled into the stands to
find her coach. She searched. He screamed. She chased the voice. Finally, she
found him and dissolved into his arms. This is Runyan's way. She comes and
comes, never slowing, never stopping. How else could she make it here?
"I'm not a klutz," she said. "I can maneuver around people, but whenever
there's any contact on the track everyone points a finger to me. Hey, there
were incidents in 1996 and 1984 with Mary Slaney at the Olympics and I wasn't
in any of those races. If you put 12 very fast people in lane one, there's
going to be contact."
Life isn't so easy for her in the Athlete's Village, and finding
vegetables is the smallest of her struggles. Sometimes, it's strange. As a
Paralympian, the disabled athletes are forever reaching out with a helping
hand. Why wouldn't they? After all, they'll probably need one a little later.
For the first time, she's carrying a cell phone with her at the Olympics. All
the athletes were given one. As she fumbled for hers in the middle of a Team
USA press conference, it was easy to see a touch of panic on her face. Was
the silver phone turned on? Would it start ringing and interrupt her
teammates talking to a packed room of reporters? Finally, she set it down on
a table. If it was on, it was a mystery.
"I just can't read those numbers, or the display," Runyan said. "I've
never owned one. They gave us these here. ...With my magnifying glass, I can
see some of the words in the display, so one night I just sat on my bed for
an hour or so with my magnifying glass figuring it out."
Mostly, she senses, the rest of these Olympians look a little warily on her.
After all, they're used to walking shoulder to shoulder with personal
perfection. Unless Runyan takes the time to tell her story, people she's met
can't understand why she walks past without so much as a nod. She can't see
faces. Unless Runyan takes the time to tell her story, a photographer pushing
her to peer into his camera lens can't understand why she's staring into
space.
She isn't a contender for a medal, and really, these Olympics aren't
about winning and losing for her. This was a race for the starting line, and
understand, there will be no loneliness for this long distance runner. The
cards and e-mails pour in for her, thousands and thousands of disabled people
telling Marla Runyan that they're with her on the track in these Olympics.
"I understand that I'm running for a lot more than just myself," she said.
Adrian Wojnarowski is a columnist for the Bergen (N.J.) Record and a regular
contributor to ESPN.com
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