As a visually impaired Ironman, Michael Blumenthal knows what it means to beat the odds. Though he can barely see, he completed the 2009 Ironman Wisconsin with the aid of his coach, Robbie, who will run with him in the NYC Marathon. Michael almost did not finish the Ironman; about 5 miles from the finish line, his coach and 3 race directors found him staggering blindly after a runner with a head lamp. “They told me, ‘You’re the last one, and we’re here to bring you in. You need to get running or you’ll miss the 17 hour cutoff,’” he says. With his coach encouraging him, Michael started running and made it to the finish line just within 17 hours.
At the Ironman, Michael achieved what many would not think possible. At the beginning of the race, a race director had told Michael that if he saw any trouble, he would pull him out of the race because of his vision. Michael assured him that he would finish, and at the finish, the director approached him. “He said that he kept a close eye on me throughout the swim, bike and run,” Michael says. “He said that I made him believe that I could do it.” Now with this, his first marathon, Michael continues to show a level of faith and confidence that makes believers of the rest of us.
