Visually Impaired Man Runs Half Marathon Completely Guided by Dogs
- 5 years ago
Thomas Panek lost his eyesight nearly 25 years ago.
He is now the CEO of Guiding Eyes for the Blind.
The non-profit trains service dogs for the visually impaired.
Thomas Panek
We’re a charity, we do all of this through donor support and people volunteer to raise a dog, to give a dog to someone who’s blind. It’s the whole community coming together to make the dogs like us to be this capable.
Panek has run the Boston Marathon with human guides.
For the 2019 NYC Half, he tried something different.
Thomas Panek
It was a relay of three dogs. We started with Westley, a black lab, for the first five miles. And then I transferred out, I took Waffle, his sister, a yellow lab, and then Gus finished it up with the 5K in Central Park here. A total of 13.1 miles. Longest distance run by guide dogs guiding a person who’s blind throughout the New York event. It was fantastic.
Each dog wore protective booties on their paws.
They prevented gravel from getting stuck in their pads.
Panek praised the calm demeanor of the dogs.
Thomas Panek
It was a little scary because along one part of the course, you run along the FDR, so there are cars coming at you on the other side, and I hear these cars, 55 miles per hour. But he’s so calm, he’s so together, he knows what he’s doing, he just guided me on the course safely and got me to the finish line.
Panek finished in 2:20:51.
7-year-old Gus will now entire retirement.
Westley will become Panek’s new running partner.
Panek says Waffle is too fast for his training runs.
He hopes others become inspired by his finish.
Thomas Panek
It’s hard to not be able to see, you know? But just to say to people that are blind, get out there, you can do it, you can do anything, you can do anything.
He is now the CEO of Guiding Eyes for the Blind.
The non-profit trains service dogs for the visually impaired.
Thomas Panek
We’re a charity, we do all of this through donor support and people volunteer to raise a dog, to give a dog to someone who’s blind. It’s the whole community coming together to make the dogs like us to be this capable.
Panek has run the Boston Marathon with human guides.
For the 2019 NYC Half, he tried something different.
Thomas Panek
It was a relay of three dogs. We started with Westley, a black lab, for the first five miles. And then I transferred out, I took Waffle, his sister, a yellow lab, and then Gus finished it up with the 5K in Central Park here. A total of 13.1 miles. Longest distance run by guide dogs guiding a person who’s blind throughout the New York event. It was fantastic.
Each dog wore protective booties on their paws.
They prevented gravel from getting stuck in their pads.
Panek praised the calm demeanor of the dogs.
Thomas Panek
It was a little scary because along one part of the course, you run along the FDR, so there are cars coming at you on the other side, and I hear these cars, 55 miles per hour. But he’s so calm, he’s so together, he knows what he’s doing, he just guided me on the course safely and got me to the finish line.
Panek finished in 2:20:51.
7-year-old Gus will now entire retirement.
Westley will become Panek’s new running partner.
Panek says Waffle is too fast for his training runs.
He hopes others become inspired by his finish.
Thomas Panek
It’s hard to not be able to see, you know? But just to say to people that are blind, get out there, you can do it, you can do anything, you can do anything.