The blind leading the race

Running a grueling 42-K point-to-point marathon is daunting and difficult enough. Completing the long-distance run when one is totally blind is rare and almost unbelievable.

But who can doubt the grandeur and magnificence of the human spirit?

When the 4th Pasig River Heritage Marathon kicked off from the Manila Cathedral in the early dawn of Leap Day, February 29, among the 408 runners who took up the challenge of the merciless route was Rodrigo Eje, 38, a blind masseur who ran with Gomburza, the advocacy group organized by Running Priest Fr. Robert Reyes.

Eje, connected only to a fellow Gomburza member by a length of string, pounded the pavement down the circuitous and trying course from Fort Santiago to Fort Bonifacio just like everybody else, passing through dark alleyways, back streets, main thoroughfares, major highways and sleeping communities, crossing 11 of 13 bridges that straddle the Pasig on the way to the finish line.

He finished the race in 5 hours and 30 minutes–not really a contender for top place or the attendant cash, trophies and other prizes that were awarded to the pace setters. But winning the race was not Rodrigo’s main goal.

"The challenge for me is to run in this marathon and finish it. It is responding to the call to run so greater awareness can be made for the sustained rehabilitation of the Pasig River. It is taking up the challenge to run despite my limitations," Eje says. Six months ago he started practicing to run his first full-distance marathon ever.

What are the additional challenges to someone with a visual impediment such as he? "Mahirap lang sa humps. Pero ang mga kasamahan ko sinasabi sa akin in advance kung may hump at kung ilang minutes na ang nakakaraan," he explains.

Four faithful buddies, also from Gomburza–Eduardo de Pedro, Bertumen Bayron, Deo Marcha and Jun Viray–keep Eje company on the track. Thus, one man’s accomplishment is victory for all.

The buddies trained for the marathon by running three or four times a week in various locations–at Blue Ridge Subdivision, around the UP Oval, up and down the rolling hills of White Plains in Quezon City and at the Marikina Sports Center.

He had run minor marathons before: the 5K race held at the Industrial Valley compound in Marikina in December, the Ateneo Alumni 10K run in the Ateneo campus in January and abs-cbn’s Takbo para sa Kalikasan 10K in mid-February. After completing the Pasig River Heritage Marathon–said to be the hardest and trickiest local marathon because of its irregular, point-to-point route–Eje is ready to meet the challenge of more marathons in the future.

"I’m so happy I finished the race even if I am totally blind," he says with obvious joy and pride as he catches his breath at the finish line. "I am offering this run to the Pasig River itself and for others like me who are handicapped. I hope that through my running other handicapped people will realize that physical disability is not an obstacle and that they can do what they want to do if they only try."

Off the track Eje does massage and reflexology at the Isetann Cinerama at C. M. Recto in Quiapo and at Rustan’s Cubao.

A positive person who believes that limitations are only in the mind, Eje says that after training for endurance his next objective is to train for speed.

"Pahingi ng picture, ha?" he adds, as the interview winds down. Blessed are the blind for they can sometimes see better than those who have 20-20 vision.