Announcer:
Welcome to the Nation's Blind Podcast presented by the National Federation of the Blind, the transformative membership and advocacy organization of blind Americans. Live the life you want.
Melissa Riccobono:
Hello everyone and welcome to the Nation's Blind Podcast. If you don't know, my name is Melissa Riccobono and I'm the co-host of the Nation's Blind Podcast, and I have my other host with me (Anil laughs) my fabulous co-host, as he said last episode, often imitated but never duplicated. Anil Lewis.
Anil Lewis:
Very nice. Look at you. Look at you. I thought you were going to do something else earlier when you saying if you don't know. I thought you were about to say. If you don't know now, you know!
Melissa Riccobono:
Now you know, that's true!
Anil Lewis:
Welcome to the Nation's Blind Podcast (Anil and Melissa laugh). Melissa getting old soul there. Very nice. Very nice. Yes, I'm here. Looking forward to this particular interview of a topic that is foreign to me (laughs).
Melissa Riccobono:
It's foreign to you, oh my goodness! No, not foreign.
Anil Lewis:
Yeah, I'm an old dude.
Melissa Riccobono:
You move some, don't you?
Anil Lewis:
I'm an old dude, Melissa. I do need to move more though, so maybe this will be inspiring. Maybe this will motivate me to move more.
Melissa Riccobono:
I think all of us, aside from maybe a couple of our guests, could do with moving more, I would certainly like to have a little bit more movement in my life, but were you ever an athlete? Were you a sports guy in high school?
Anil Lewis:
Yes. I think that's why I'm healthy in these late years. I didn't play high school ball. We played street ball, which required a little more athleticism and a lot more courage (laughs).
Melissa Riccobono:
Yes. A little bit more running, faster running sometimes, I'm guessing.
Anil Lewis:
Yes, during the sport and sometimes after. Yes (laughs).
Melissa Riccobono:
Yes. I had brothers, I understand this at least a little bit. I don't know if they had street ball quite the same way you had street ball, but I do kind of get the picture, I think.
Anil Lewis:
Yeah, it was fun. It was fun.
Melissa Riccobono:
Good. Well, I'm glad it was fun. That's what it should be, right?
Anil Lewis:
Absolutely.
Melissa Riccobono:
I was a runner in high school.
Anil Lewis:
That's right!
Melissa Riccobono:
Yeah.
Anil Lewis:
Paralympic athlete.
Melissa Riccobono:
Yes. Yeah, it was a long time ago. But yes, I did run in the Paralympics in 1996 and it almost seems like it's a part of another life in some ways, but it's not. It is my life (Anil chuckles) and I still, I don't run anymore, but I definitely love walking and more and more I am wanting to get involved with rock climbing and also I would love to find somebody to tandem bike with because I had a tandem growing up and really miss biking.
Anil Lewis:
I think I would like as well. I would love tandem bike riding.
Melissa Riccobono:
Yes, it's amazing.
Anil Lewis:
Especially with someone who's really good at pedaling, so...
Melissa Riccobono:
Well... (Anil and Melissa laugh).
That does help (laughs).
Anil Lewis:
No, I would help pedal. I would help.
Melissa Riccobono:
No, I know you would. I know you would.
Anil Lewis:
We should stop embarrassing me and introduce our guests (chuckles), the real people responsible for movement here.
Melissa Riccobono:
Why don't we do that? We have great panelists to talk about movement and we're going to start with Terri Rupp. Just reading Terri's posts on Blind Mother Runner makes me...
Anil Lewis:
It's exhausting.
Melissa Riccobono:
Tired, hearing her talk about, "Oh, I ran a hundred miles and then I did this, and then," yeah, it's inspiring, but it's also tiring. She's also an advocate, a speaker. She's a parent of two kiddos who are very close in age to my two kiddos. She's also a Federationist and a leader within the NFB. This is Terri Rupp. How are you Terri?
Terri Rupp:
Hi everybody. I'm so happy to be here.
Melissa Riccobono:
Well, we are happy to have you here.
Anil Lewis:
I'll still always know you as Blind Mom in the Burbs, but I understand you're evolving. Yes, I get it.
Terri Rupp:
(Laughs) Well, Blind Mom in the Burbs had to retire so that Blind Mother Runner can step into the spotlight.
Anil Lewis:
Yeah, very nice. That's backwards. You would think that the retiring would end up being more like me as opposed to going to be an ultra marathon runner. Tell us about that evolution.
Terri Rupp:
Well, I started Blind Mom in the Burbs when I had a two and a half year old and a six month old, and I was blogging about all things parenting and blindness and little by little I found that I was writing less and less about blindness and more and more about my running adventures, and it was just fitting that I stopped posting about the kids because they now have their own social media presence.
And I switched over last summer to being Blind Mother Runner as I run away with my adventures (laughs) into ultra running and chasing after my big bad dream of one day running the Badwater 135, which National Geographic calls the toughest foot race on earth.
Anil Lewis:
Wow, wow.
Melissa Riccobono:
Wow. Were you always a runner or did you come to, how did you come to running (laughs)?
Terri Rupp:
I was not a runner until about seven, eight years ago. I had heard about blind runners and sighted guides from Jessica Beacham. I heard a speech...
Anil Lewis:
Oh, there's another one. Yes, Jessica, yes.
Terri Rupp:
Yes, another runner. She's a dog mom. I heard a speech at one of our national conventions from a blind guy who ran across the country, and I got lost during a 5K following a group of people wearing bright red and bright blue shirts, and I thought, "How on earth am I going to be able to run a marathon if I get lost (laughs) on running a 5K?" So I found this current chapter in running when I got a call from a guy named John Sterling who was looking to start the Las Vegas chapter of Achilles.
Anil Lewis:
Oh, nice.
Terri Rupp:
And we just really hit the ground running. He asked, "What is your running goal?" And I said, "I want to run a marathon." And he said in his head he was saying, "Please don't say rock and roll. Please don't say rock and roll." And I said, "I want to run the Las Vegas Rock and Roll Marathon (Anil, Terri and Melissa laugh)."
Anil Lewis:
Will you tell our listeners a little bit about Achilles?
Terri Rupp:
Achilles International is an organization that pairs people with disabilities with sighted volunteers, so not just blind runners, but runners with other sorts of mobility impairments and veterans, and we have a visitor who comes every year from New Jersey who's autistic and it is a really great community.
Anil Lewis:
There you go. We have another guest with us. A friend of mine from long, long ago. I met Richie way back in Texas doing a lot of their youth program work there, and now he's currently the president of our sports and rec division. Welcome. Richie Flores, you want to tell our listeners a little bit about yourself?
Richie Flores:
Yeah, sure. Thanks for having me, Anil and Melissa. Good to be on the podcast. This is Richie Flores and yeah, I became the Sports and Recreation President back in 2022. Following along, good standing leadership. I've been a member since 2008 of the sports and rec division since it was created.
And so basically we bring programming, like fitness programming and adaptive sports resources, and we try to get folks who like to move and exercise and compete in sports and recreation together at the National Convention. And we have an elected board of nine members who plan these activities on a year to year basis who represent various sports and things. So yeah, it's good to be here.
Anil Lewis:
You need to give Jessica Beschan another shout out. Jessica was influential in Terri. Jessica was the immediate past president in the sports and rec division. Right?
Richie Flores:
Jessica Beecham was and is my mentor still in the sports and recreation leadership, and they were the one who came to me and asked if I was ready to take their spot with their supervision afterwards, and she kept us on, and this is the first year our board has not had a Beecham on it (Anil laughs) for probably like...
Anil Lewis:
Every boy needs a Beecham (Richie laughs). Luckily our national board has a Beecham.
Richie Flores:
Yes.
Anil Lewis:
It's true. Tell us about your sports related activities there, Richie.
Richie Flores:
Oh man. Well, I've been playing a sport called beep baseball almost as long as I've been part of the sports and rec division, maybe a couple years longer, 2006 I found that in Austin and I've been competing in it ever since. This will be, I guess my 20th or 21st World Series.
Melissa Riccobono:
Wow.
Anil Lewis:
Can you describe to our listeners a little bit about what beep baseball is?
Richie Flores:
Yeah, so beep baseball is an adapted form for the blind and visually impaired of America's favorite pastime, baseball, and it's a way for with use of audio beeping balls and buzzing bases and some sighted contributions, blind people can hit a ball and run to a base and make some defensive plays. And it's basically the most exciting six seconds of adapted sports I'll say and argue in that you have to make it to a base before the defense finds a ball. And usually that's all in like six seconds.
And yeah, we use softball bats, we use a one pound ball with a beeping mechanism in it, and yeah, we utilize a pitcher who's part of our team. So the goal is to have you hit the ball and we use some defensive spotters out there that are sighted that give a one...
Anil Lewis:
Yeah, don't mention spotters too. Man I have PTSD about some spotters (Richie laughs). I have to tell you about that one day.
Melissa Riccobono:
Ugh oh!
Richie Flores:
I think I've heard the legend already, so (Ani laughs) I think we've discussed it.
Anil Lewis:
That was the end of my beep baseball career (Richie laughs) right there. For those listeners who'd like to hear the story, please send $50. No, I'm kidding (Melissa laughs).
Melissa Riccobono:
To the National Federation of the Blind.
Anil Lewis:
Yes (laughs)!
Melissa Riccobono:
With the memo, "Hear spotter story."
Anil Lewis:
Yes, spotter story and I'll send it to you.
Melissa Riccobono:
But I love beep baseball. I've never played a real game and that's really sad because I mean, oh my gosh, I grew up loving baseball, still love baseball to this day. My dad loved baseball. My brothers love baseball. We are just a baseball family and I so wish we had baseball, beep baseball here in Maryland, but I love it because everybody wears blindfold, so everybody is the same, which I really, really love. The same with goal ball and I think other blind sports as well...
Anil Lewis:
Except the pitcher.
Melissa Riccobono:
The pitcher does not. Oh, okay. Got it. Got it. Okay, that makes sense.
Richie Flores:
He wears a face mask to protect that face laughs).
Melissa Riccobono:
That makes sense, that makes sense.
Anil Lewis:
But you guys need to understand that when Melissa says her family loves baseball (Melissa laughs), that's an understatement. That is, (chuckles) that is, baseball. You know families that have baseball as their religion?
Melissa Riccobono:
Yeah, yeah
Anil Lewis:
That's pretty close.
Melissa Riccobono:
Well, the Milwaukee Brewers and all the baseball, I mean, let me just say, and Will might edit this out and if he does it's fine, but one of my very first complete sentences was hustle your buns (Anil laughs). Because I was watching my brother's baseball games and my mom would cheer very loudly and say, hustle. Hustle your buns. Hustle your buns. Get to the base. So anyway...
Anil Lewis:
No, he can't edit that out (Melissa laughs). We have a third guest joining us who hopefully is more my speed. The president of our National Organization of Parents of Blind Children, Cassie McNabb. Welcome, Cassie.
Cassie McNabb:
Well, thank you for inviting me. As the other two were speaking, I was wondering why I had been invited (chuckles) because I am not an athletic person. I did some cheerleading in middle school.
Anil Lewis:
That's athleticism. I'm sorry, that's athletic.
Cassie McNabb:
But that was about the extent of, I guess now if child chasing were an Olympic sport (Anil laughs), I might have a gold medal in that. But I am the president of the National Organization of Parents of Blind Children, very proud to be in that role to get to encourage parents and include them in our organization. There's so many questions that people come into our organization with and one of the questions that a lot of parents ask is how do my kids play sports? And so we want to make sure that parents know that movement is a part of life and that they should encourage their children to participate in sports, whether they play with their blind peers or sighted peers.
Anil Lewis:
And that's important because if we leave it to the system, I've heard so many stories of how blind kids aren't engaged in physical education, and the best they do is have them walk laps around a track, something like that. And we need to get them to understand that blind people can be just athletically inclined as any other individual.
Melissa Riccobono:
Well, it's so important, especially for young blind children. That's how we learn about our bodies. It's how we learn about space. The more we play in general, climb and fall and get up and climb again and jump and run and learn to somersault or cartwheel, whatever it is that really is the work of childhood.
And that just has so many foundational benefits that if kids miss out on that because parents are just too afraid to let them try, or people just say they can't try or they don't want to try. They'd rather just sit and read a book. I mean, reading is great, but it really is important, if it's important enough for all kids to have physical education that actually teaches and works on skills. It's just important for our blind kids to have that same kind of education.
Anil Lewis:
Absolutely.
Melissa Riccobono:
That's my soapbox.
Anil Lewis:
And getting outdoors is so important too. I mean, I see now they're giving people vitamin D tablets rather than getting them out in the sun and enjoying themselves. Just out of curiosity, before we go to a quick message, what is your favorite outdoor activity?
Terri Rupp:
Running (Terri, Anil and Melissa laugh).
Melissa Riccobono:
Really, I would never know!
Anil Lewis:
Running is really your favorite outdoor activity?
Terri Rupp:
I can do it for days, and I literally have done it for days (laughs).
Anil Lewis:
Wow. Wow. I've never been able to reach the runner's high. I always reach the runner's exhaustion before I reach the runner's high (Terri laughs). How about you, Cassie?
Cassie McNabb:
My favorite outdoor activity is probably swimming.
Anil Lewis:
Oh, nice. I used to love swimming too. How about you, Richie?
Richie Flores:
I like walking almost two miles home after work. To give a little breath of that Berkeley, California fresh air, unwind from the daily grind. Let myself get a little of urban city culture on the way home. Just a little relaxing, energizing. Same time.
Anil Lewis:
I could get into the walking. How about you, Melissa?
Melissa Riccobono:
Oh gosh. There's just so many. I love swimming, but swimming in Maryland in the winter outdoors is not (Anil chuckles) really a good plan. I love biking. I really do love rock climbing. I guess that probably would be my favorite. I haven't done it much, but I loved it when I went in Colorado. I was a summer program, assistant director and a Braille teacher and used to take the kids rock climbing and really loved seeing the kids be able to participate.
But it was also a really cool perk of the job that I also got to rock climb. So I really would like to do that again. Again, unfortunately, there are some rock faces here in Maryland, but a lot of the climbing that is done is in a gym. So anyway, I'll have to maybe take some trips to actually be able to do it outside more often.
Anil Lewis:
That's a good reason to travel. My favorite outdoor activity is barbecuing. Let's just take a break for a quick message (Melissa chuckles). We'll be right back.
Message:
Lace up and join us for a 10K walk or run across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge on November 9, 2025. This is your chance to forge connections with your community, empower others to get active and support education, independence, and opportunities for blind people.
If you cannot attend in person, you can still participate virtually. Our chapters, divisions and affiliates can even complete the challenge as a White Cane Awareness Day activity during Blind Equality Achievement Month. Register at nfb.org/movers.
Melissa Riccobono:
Alright, welcome back to this movement episode of the Nation's Blind Podcast. Let's move on. See what I did there? Terri...
Anil Lewis:
Yeah, very good.
Melissa Riccobono:
We talked already a little bit about how long you've been a runner, but let's talk a little bit about what your first marathon was like and also if you want to talk about what your longest marathon has been up to this point.
Terri Rupp:
My first marathon was the 2018 Las Vegas Rock and Roll Marathon, and it was so much fun. I had a whole army of guides around me. I actually had to turn away guides because I had too many (laughs), but we were just there for the fun of it. My longest distance that I have completed was at the Jackpot Ultra Running Festival in 2022, where they extended the race that year and the year before to a 72 hour race. The year before I was able to complete 115 miles, and in 2022 I completed 150 miles.
Melissa Riccobono:
Wow.
Anil Lewis:
One-Five-zero.
Terri Rupp:
Yes.
Melissa Riccobono:
One-five-zero (laughs).
Anil Lewis:
Wow.
Melissa Riccobono:
So how do you prepare for that? Both your mind, and I mean, I guess your body is very important, but you also definitely have to prepare your mind to do 150 miles, twenty-six miles, whatever it is. What are your routines? How do you go about doing that?
Terri Rupp:
I think the most important thing is consistency. Whether I am doing a twenty mile long run on a Sunday with my human guides or a three to five mile run with my running dog guide, every day is important. Everything we do to move our body is important. I also just started strength training this year after a knee injury.
So movement is medicine and it's so important to move your body every single day. In addition to moving my body, I also train my gut because Anil would really like to know this, but ultra running is actually an eating game because we have to consume hundreds of calories every hour so that we can sustain...
Anil Lewis:
I see what you're trying to do. You're trying to trap me (Terri and Melissa laugh). It's working though. It's working.
Terri Rupp:
So my long runs are there to train my gut. I bring all sorts of different things like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, nerds, clusters, fruit, highly expensive running fuel that's created for dinners (Terri and Anil laugh), and I love training and I love Saturday nights when I pack my cooler full of fuel to train my gut (laughs).
Anil Lewis:
Nice.
Melissa Riccobono:
Nerd clusters. I just have to say, I think my gut would refuse that (Anil and Terri laugh) in the middle of a run. Just sounds like a recipe for disaster, but there you go.
Anil Lewis:
I thought you were about to say you really enjoy them. It sounds like you were about to say how tasty they are.
Melissa Riccobono:
No, no. I mean, I would enjoy them, but not in the middle of a run, I don't think (laughs). But do you have any advice that you would give to blind runners or just for blind people that are interested in participating in marathons?
Terri Rupp:
I just have to say, do it. If you want to start running a 5K or a marathon or an ultra marathon, reach out to somebody who has done it. And we are so passionate about this sport that we're always willing to share what we know with you. And if anybody ever wants to reach out to me, you can get ahold of me in any of the ways on social media.
Melissa Riccobono:
Great. Do you have a favorite marathon that you've done?
Terri Rupp:
My favorite marathon is the St. George Marathon, which I've done four times. I was asked to be the keynote presenter at their expo last year, and I speak a lot about the marathon magic. The St. George Marathon has this incredible marathon magic because you're bused out 26.2 miles outside of St. George and you're starting in the canyons and it's dark and cold and you're huddled around campfires.
And then after the Star Spangled Banners is played, thousands of feet start moving in the same direction in the dark, and it's almost like you're part of a really strong rainstorm. And as the sky starts lighting with the sunrise, then the feet start tapering out as the crowd starts spreading and thinning out. And it goes from a really strong rainstorm to little pitter patters and sprinkles, and it's just absolutely gorgeous. I highly recommend anybody who is a marathon runner to do the St. George Marathon.
Melissa Riccobono:
Wow.
Anil Lewis:
Nice. I'll just count myself as doing it vicariously through your description (Terri and Melissa laugh). Very nice.
Melissa Riccobono:
That was a beautiful description.
Anil Lewis:
Yes, it really was. I was in there, caught up in that moment.
Melissa Riccobono:
So Richie, why don't we move to you. Can you tell us a little bit about our sports and rec division and what alternative techniques you use while playing sports and also what techniques or what you would say to other blind people who want to start to get moving?
Richie Flores:
For sure. So NFB sports and rec, we put together programming for our National Convention and then also to engage our membership in between conventions, usually on our social media, activenfb@gmail.com if you want to get in touch with the board of directors, that's our email. And then we also have a Facebook group, NFB Sports and Recreation. And so that's kind of our way.
And then our email listserv of course, NFB Sports and Recreation to engage with us between conventions, but we usually put on a three hour presentational type resource share every year about different adaptive sports and different folks who are representing in those areas. But then we also offer a couple of try and demonstrations at the convention if people want to try different sports. Most recently it's been blind tennis and blind cricket and soccer has been pretty popular lately and definitely some self-defense.
So yeah, a little bit of resource sharing, some demoing at the convention, but mostly just connecting with each other who have like-minded passions within sports and rec movement. But things that, alternative techniques I believe that we work on and that we really practice when we're involved with adaptive sports is number one, always the adjustment to having to do something with a modification.
And that's because it's okay to be blind, so it's also okay to participate in a modified sport, whether that's modified rules, whether that's adaptive equipment, whether that's using a guide in the community, I lean heavily, a lot of course orientation and mobility, that mental mapping, that spatial awareness, the confidence that comes with, of course, practicing and becoming familiar with the space and then knowing it like "the back of your hand" or whatnot, because usually most sports are played on a same kind of court, and so you have to really get to know every part of it.
And that includes tactile discovery. Of course, paying attention to what's under your feet, what your hands are guiding you towards. The body positioning you usually end up making to have to make a good play or practice good mechanics. And finally, of course, active listening, focusing on the audible cues or whether that's the equipment, your teammates, the environment helps you really stay. It helps me stay locked in at least into the moment.
Anil Lewis:
Nice, you make it sound like it's really life skills training as well, so that's important.
Richie Flores:
Yeah.
Anil Lewis:
My notes here say that you were a Paralympic athlete, but I didn't know beep baseball was a Paralympic sport.
Melissa Riccobono:
Yeah. What did you do in the Paralympics?
Richie Flores:
Personally, I don't know where that came from. I personally haven't been part of the Paralympics, but the Sports and Rec has several past leaders and current individuals who have participated in, and Lisa Maria Martinez and Chris Garcia were past presidents who were judo athletes and who have gotten medals. Our current member, Maria Elburn was part of the Australian Goal Ball Paralympic team, and now he lives here in the US and Emeline Lakrout from New York is a up and coming rock climber, which is going to be a new sport in 2028.
Melissa Riccobono:
Oh my gosh, for real (laughs)?!
Anil Lewis:
Melissa, you got to get training Melissa. Got to get the training.
Melissa Riccobono:
Oh my gosh. That's pretty amazing.
Richie Flores:
Tyler Merren has presented at our event and is a proud member of our organization who's a multi goal ball, gold medalist as well. And so we connect people in the paralympics.
Anil Lewis:
He retired this year, didn't he?
Richie Flores:
He did retire, I believe. He's still doing a lot of demonstrations and...
Anil Lewis:
Yeah, he's mentoring too. Still very active with the team. Yeah.
Richie Flores:
One thing that is a priority of our organization that we've noticed is connecting more with the leadership and those who make decisions for all the blind Paralympic sports, which is about twenty of them. And right now they don't have a lot of organizational support. They're all individual. If you do judo, the only advocate you have is yourself. And so we're finding out there probably needs to be a summit of blind sports Americans who care about the Olympics, because right now there's really, there's a lot of difference between the sports when it relates to the level of competition, whether you have some sight or no sight and partial sight.
And so there's a lot of things that we're learning recently from going outside the goal ball, the traditional goal ball and let's say judo. But now we're starting to learn with these new sports coming in like rock climbing, like cricket, like soccer, there's more blind athletes that need advocacy, and that's what we do best, right? So...
Anil Lewis:
Yeah. Got this guy I need you to talk to. He lives in Baltimore who's going to set up a conversation (laughs).
Richie Flores:
Exactly. Exactly. I really do feel Marie Elburne said it on our last board meeting just a couple of days ago that perhaps we really should consider on a blind sports America that can really help advocate for blind Paralympians, because right now they're their own advocates individually or USABA, which USABA only supports goal ball and soccer, which is two out of the twenty Paralympic sports.
Melissa Riccobono:
Yeah, absolutely. Well, Cassie said before she didn't know why she was on this podcast, but I know why, and that's because last year, Cassie became a part of one of my dreams. The very first time I ever rode across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge in a car, I was fascinated by it. It is a bridge that is 4.4 miles long. It's 186 feet high, and there was nothing like that in Wisconsin.
And it bridges eastern Maryland and western Maryland, and I don't know why, but as I was riding across in the car, I said, "Can you ever walk this bridge?" I thought I would love to be on it and figure out what it's all about. And the only way I can do that as a blind person is to actually do it. And my driver said, "Oh, usually you can't, but there's one day in the year where you can."
And that was over twenty years ago when I moved to Baltimore in 2003, life happened. A lot of things happened, but finally this past year in 2024, I saw that the Bay Bridge Run was happening again, run/walk and wrote on Facebook and said, "Okay, I'm doing this. I've said, I'm doing it before and I never have. I'm really doing it this time, who's with me?" And who calls me, but Cassie McKinney from Tennessee and says, I'm with you. This sounds like a great idea.
And Cassie, of course, as president of the NOPBC, we figured out that there are ways to raise money for different organizations during this event. And so we walked the Bay Bridge together. There was a team of us. There were people that did it virtually as well. But Cassie, why don't we talk just a little bit about what it was like to walk the bridge?
Cassie McNabb:
Yeah, so I never, I didn't even know that this was a thing. And then I saw Melissa's post on Facebook and I'm like, "Yeah, that sounds awesome. Let's do it." So being on the bridge, first of all, being in a group of people as big as the crowd was walking because they put you out in different groups.
Melissa Riccobono:
Yeah, they call 'em waves (laughs).
Cassie McNabb:
Yeah, waves. Yeah. I was a wave all right. And the music's loud, and there's all this energy and just all this momentum. And then you're like, okay, so you just start walking. And after we had been walking, I don't know, probably a mile, I realized, I'm like, we've been walking uphill the whole time (Anil laughs). It was the incline of the bridge. And I'm like, okay, well, whatever goes up must come down, right (Melissa laughs)? I mean, so that means if we've walked uphill for a mile and a half, at some point we're going to get to walk downhill for a mile and a half, hopefully.
And I just kept thinking, okay, we've been walking, and you would have people that were walking on the right and people that were running on the left. So you'd have this wave of runners go by and the whole bridge would shake (Anil and Melissa laugh) the whole bridge and just like, "Oh, is that normal? I don't know if that's normal (Anil laughs)."
And then you would hear people cheering and you would pass the mile markers and there would be someone there and they'd be like, "Yeah, you've done three miles." And I'm like halfway there. And then as we got toward the end of the bridge, they finally had water because we were all like, "Okay, they said there would be water. There hasn't been any yet." And then people would tell us, "Oh, you're almost done." And so I thought, "Okay, well that was four and a half miles, but that makes means we still have two miles to go."
And those last two miles were the longest of the whole event because they were through neighborhoods and it was the anticipation of finishing, but not knowing how much further there was to go. But there was no feeling like crossing that finish line. And I had never done anything like that ever in my life. The only thing comparable was in Dallas when we did the March for Independence and it was like a 5K, and we had to walk on the interstate to get to where we were going downtown.
Anil Lewis:
That was fun. That was fun.
Cassie McNabb:
So that was the closest I had ever come to doing anything like this. And so I was like crossing the finish line and just having this overwhelming feeling of accomplishment. It was quite an adventure.
Melissa Riccobono:
And you got a cool medal. And I agree with you though. When I got off the bridge, I kept thinking, "Okay, we're going to be, the finish line's got to be right around the corner. Okay, it's not around this corner. It's got to be just around the corner (Melissa and Cassie laugh)." I'll be much more prepared this time around. I thought it was going to be more of an equal distance where you would start, get to the bridge. The bridge would be in the middle, and then ending would be just as short. But that's not how it works out.
So knowing that this year will be helpful because we're happy to announce that we're doing this again, we're going to do this and you can join us. It's a 10k walk or you can run across the Bay Bridge. It's November 9, 2025, and you can also do it virtually with us, and you can raise money for the NFB as you're doing this.
And Richie, you had a chance to help us host the live event. We had a little live event from the Bay Bridge. I don't know if we're going to do that again this year or not, but what was that like? Were you walking or running or doing anything with us, or were you just sitting there letting us all walk and run and talking about it (laughs)?
Richie Flores:
No, actually, it inspired me to, I think this was December, was it last year?
Melissa Riccobono:
November, it was November.
Richie Flores:
Yeah, so I signed up for my own 5K in town. It was a different weekend. It was right out on Thanksgiving. And so I did the Houston 5K with my family, and it was inspired by hosting the Bay Bridge Live Facebook event. It was all for NFB, it supported some NFB initiatives. We had some incredible moments. I remember, of course, the influencer of all extraordinaires, the Blind Mother Runner joined us (Melissa chuckles) for some chats.
The Paralympic gold medalist came through, and there was even this CEO from an access technology company that surprised us with matching donations. Of course, Melissa Riccobono in the parents division, gave us some live on location shares that inspired the project. It was fun, it was meaningful, it was community driven. Can't wait to see what's brewing up for the next one.
Melissa Riccobono:
Yeah, I hope we do do another live. It was really fun, this year I have meta glasses too, so I think I could connect better and maybe even share a little video, which would be kind of fun if we're able to do that. But yeah, this is really a chance to get involved with your community. This could be a really good Meet the Blind month activity. You don't have to do this in November with us.
You can certainly do it earlier and get a chapter together, walk, run, and you can have much more information at nfb.org/movers, and that will be in our show notes as well. So we'd love to see your videos, your photos, take us on social media. We were also really honored last year to be a winner of the Corrigan Sports. They give certain charity partners awards, and so Cassie, you got to go and accept an award on behalf of the NFB at a fancy lunch, right?
Cassie McNabb:
I did. I felt like I was in that movie "Dirty Dancing" where they're at the little lodge on the lake, the white linen tablecloths and crab cakes, but that's the kind of vacation spot that's on the other side of the bridge. People have little boats in the marina, and they took time for us to be a part of this lunch.
So I got to meet a lot of different people from all over that part of Maryland and just express why we do what we do, why the National Federation of the Blind is so important and what it means to be blind and still be a part of society, still be active in motion and really excited, and hopefully we'll get to see some of the same faces of Corrigan again this year. But yeah, I think it was really good just to let folks know who we are, even more in the community.
Melissa Riccobono:
And I loved that we were just out there with everybody else. We happened to be blind, but that didn't matter. We all were a part of wanting to cross this bridge and experience crossing the bridge, and so that was really special.
Anil Lewis:
Evidently this event was so successful, we decided to go coast to coast. So we've been invited as an organization now to participate in the California International Marathon. That's more Blind Mother Runner territory there, so looking forward to see how that evolves as well.
Melissa Riccobono:
Yeah, absolutely. Should we go to social media?
Anil Lewis:
Sounds good.
Melissa Riccobono:
Okay, so we asked people on social media, "What is your favorite outdoor activity?" And I love this one, Ramona from Idaho says, "I am 81. I love to go outside and walk. My balance is not good enough for biking like it used to be, but swimming is the best outdoors. Water aerobics is perfect." I hope I am moving like that when I am 81. I'm just saying (Melissa and Ani llaugh).
Anil Lewis:
I know that Ramona and the Idaho group, they used to have this fundraiser with the bike riding and they give away socks.
Melissa Riccobono:
Yes!
Anil Lewis:
(Laughs) Interesting giveaway gift.
Richie Flores:
I have about eight pairs.
Melissa Riccobono:
Eight pairs of socks, wow (Anil laughs)!
Richie Flores:
Yeah, from the Idaho biking fundraiser.
Melissa Riccobono:
Yeah.
Anil Lewis:
Nice.
Melissa Riccobono:
Katelyn from Arizona says horseback riding. Oh my gosh. I have only horseback ridden once. And she says she doesn't do it nearly as much as she would love to, but it's always such a joy. And Jennifer from California, here you go, Richie, beep baseball, exclamation point (Melissa and Richie laugh).
Richie Flores:
Jennifer played on many of ball fields together. Yes.
Melissa Riccobono:
Oh, you probably know. That's probably true. Absolutely.
Richie Flores:
If it's a Jennifer, I know you know how small this world can get (Richie laughs).
Melissa Riccobono:
Yes it is a small world after all (laughs). It's a small, small world.
Anil Lewis:
I'm surprised you didn't sing it. That was, anytime Melissa gets an opportunity to sing a song, she usually sings it.
Melissa Riccobono:
I usually do. That's true. That's true. I can't be too, I got to keep you guessing.
Anil Lewis:
Predictable. I understand. I understand.
Melissa Riccobono:
Can't be that predictable.
Anil Lewis:
Well, I just want to thank you guys. This has been less painful than I thought it would be, considering that you've actually almost inspired me to keep moving and we'll see what I can do to be active in this coast-to-coast effort that the Federation is sponsoring. We really appreciate you guys joining us.
Melissa Riccobono:
Yeah, thank you guys so much. Any last words from any of you that you'd like to share with our listeners?
Terri Rupp:
I just want to also add to one of your questions earlier of how to get started is in the National Federation of Blind, we really emphasize positive blind role models. So it's funny how you guys are calling me an influencer. I'm just a mom of two teenagers who loves to run. But I think it's really important that we surround ourselves with positive blind fitness role models as well, because we were all there once upon a time not knowing how to get out and do something that we love.
Anil Lewis:
Yeah, yeah.
Richie Flores:
Explore every resource that's available to you. Sometimes you don't have that choice. It's like whatever's in your area, if it sparks your interest, give it a shot. And then you also get used to starting to practice on your own. Sometimes the adapted sports world is a little lonely, but you got to keep that passion alive by practicing on your own and trying to find it to build it within your own community, be a leader within that. And then of course, like Terri was mentioning, find mentorship within it. Connect with somebody who's more experienced within that sport. Yeah, just being around people who are better at it than you is a faster way to grow within that.
Anil Lewis:
Yeah, and I'd like to really emphasize what you were saying is your favorite outdoor activity. I mean, it shouldn't be dismissed. Walking has so many health benefits, and a lot of people think that it's really not exercise, but it really is.
Melissa Riccobono:
No, it is. And I was going to say that too, that your body just might not allow you to be an ultra marathoner.
Anil Lewis:
I know mine doesn't (laughs).
Melissa Riccobono:
I have chronic fatigue syndrome. I can't do that. I can't really run even the way that I used to, and I'm much better than I used to be, but I just know. But I was able to walk the bridge, and so figuring out what really fills you up fills your bucket and being okay with that, that if it's not, not everybody can be Terri Rupp. Not everybody can be Richie, a beep baseball star. Maybe it's just that you love to walk around the park in your neighborhood, or maybe you just swim laps at your local Y and you're just fine with that.
I mean, that's what I love about the Federation, right? It's live the life you want. So if you want to be an ultramarathoner, absolutely go for it. If you just want to be more active and you just want to know that there's opportunities out there for you and you just want to give it a try and start building that consistency and that routine and have some accountability buddies, that's totally okay too.
Anil Lewis:
Cassie, you have any final worries before we wrap this podcast up?
Cassie McNabb:
I was just going to say that not everybody is super athletic, and not everybody is going to walk 15,000 steps a day, but the most important thing is that you are in motion and all you have to do is put one foot in front of the other and keep moving.
Anil Lewis:
There you go.
Melissa Riccobono:
I love that.
Anil Lewis:
Just keep moving. That's a good way to close. I want to thank you guys for listening to the Nations Blind Podcast. I want to thank all of our guests here for participating in the Nations Blind podcast. Hopefully our listeners got some inspiration to get to moving, and until then, remember, you can live the life you want.
Melissa Riccobono:
Blindness is not what holds you back.
Announcer:
We'd love your feedback. Email podcast@nfb.org or call 410-659-9314, extension 2444.