Find Your Daily Voice
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Run A Marathon Blind? Guiding Eyes Running Guide Dogs Make It Possible
Thomas Panek, president and CEO of Yorktown Heights-based non-profit Guiding Eyes for the Blind, has been a runner his whole life.
“I ran on my cross-country team in high school; it was around that time that I began losing more and more of my vision,” recalled Panek. “I would always follow the runner in front of me, afraid to get out in front, but I kept getting hurt.”
Running became harder, but Panek never stopped. In his 30s, guided by human volunteers, he completed 20 marathons—including New York and Boston. Nevertheless, he still wondered what it would be like to be more independent,…
