Legally blind woman eyes Chch half-marathon

Imagine closing your eyes and running a marathon. Could you do it?

Christchurch woman Nicola Asmussen has been legally blind all her life. On Sunday she is joining almost 5000 in the ASB Christchurch Marathon, running a half-marathon with a guide tethered to her arm.

‘‘I have no vision in my right eye, and what’s called poor partial in my left. I can kind of see people’s faces but not the colour of their eyes,’’ Asmussen, 50, said.

She said her condition was due to ‘‘a wee bit of genetics and bad luck’’. She was born two months early.

‘‘I’ve been severely short-sighted for all my life and as a result I’ve had cataracts and detached retinas. I always say I’ve used my eyes twice as hard as everyone else, so they are twice as old as me,’’ she said.

Asmussen’s first walking/running event was the 2015 The Press Summer Starter. She walked the 10-kilometre course, helped by Achilles International New Zealand, an organisation aimed at helping Kiwis with disabilities participate in events.

‘‘They put people with guides who help them do the event as normally as possible,’’ she said. ‘‘I am normally guided by two people.’’

She had since walked in events across the country. Sunday’s marathon would be Asmussen’s second time running an event. She ran Wellington’s Cigna Round The Bays in February.

‘‘I’ve thought I would always be a walker, but it was bloody cold last year and I didn’t want to be that cold again, Nicola Asmussen so thought it was about time I learnt to run,’’ she said.

‘‘When you’re running, obviously you’re moving a lot faster, so my vision isn’t as clear because things are moving past quicker.

‘‘The guides are there running with you, and they’ll tell you if there is a crack coming up in three steps, or whatever is coming up.’’

She had been training two or three times a week for the marathon, and said she put ‘‘a lot of effort into being fit’’. She encouraged other people with disabilities to get involved.

‘‘Find a friend, join a group, go to a gym – just getting off the couch and going for a walk is a start,’’ she said.

She hoped to run across the finish line in under two hours and 39 minutes. ‘‘I don’t like the word, but running in a marathon with everyone else, it almost makes you feel normal.’’