Blind Fitness athlete courtney mazzola participates in midnight 10k run in alaska

Courtney Mazzola pictured on the right alongside her guide at the 2023 ‘She.Is.Beautiful’ race in Santa Barbara, CA.

Blind runner plans to mentally map and experience Fairbanks through Midnight Sun Run

Courtney Mazzola may be the only legally blind individual participating in the 2024 Midnight Sun Run. However, it won’t be her first 10-kilometer race, and her lack of sight hasn’t inhibited the desire for world travel that has brought her to Fairbanks.

A psychotherapist by trade, Mazzola grew up in Los Angeles, and now spends part of the year in Santa Barbara while also working remotely. While she doesn’t have usable vision, Mazzola possesses enough light perception to pick up on Fairbanks’ omnipresent sunlight in the summer. That’s part of what intrigued her about the Midnight Sun Run.

“Any place that would hold a 10k from 10 o’clock at night to midnight [is appealing],” Mazzola said by phone. “I was wondering how the light would affect me. So far, I actually kind of really like it because I’m so driven and oriented to like natural light. I am so drawn to it, and so I’m kind of actually loving it. I don’t think it’s affecting me as much as it might affect other sighted people.”

Mazzola was sponsored for the She.Is.Beautiful run — which promotes women’s empowerment — in Santa Barbara, California this past September, and she’ll again be running with a guide at the Midnight Sun Run on June 22.

She’s long wanted to visit Alaska, and after a friend who participated in the Midnight Sun Run some 20 years ago recommended the event, Mazzola used the race as an anchor to build her trip around.
“When I’d heard enough about Alaska, I got intrigued,” Mazzola said. “I wasn’t so interested in, like, traveling to Alaska, but living in Alaska for a month or two, just getting to actually experience Alaska in a deeper way.”

Mazzola, who plans to stay in Fairbanks for at least a month, wanted to have the unique experience of visiting during the solstice, and Fairbanks felt like it would be the “most Alaskan experience.” She didn’t know anyone in the Golden Heart City when she booked the trip but was already in touch with another visually impaired individual before arriving and is keen to find guides for hiking and running to further explore the area in a safe way.

As for the Midnight Sun Run itself, she’ll alternate between intervals of running and walking as she creates a mental map of the course. Mazzola, who has a strong sense of orientation and direction, views the race as an opportunity to create a picture in her mind and better engage with, learn and experience Fairbanks.

Mazzola has participated in everything from skiing to flying, equestrian sports and martial arts. Running appears to be her newest athletic undertaking.

“I was really proud of myself,” she said of her first 10k. “I just love that feeling, like that sense of accomplishment, of pushing myself and doing something hard….I just have an inner drive, a passion for sports, being active, moving my body, like engaging with my body and the natural world and just living life as fully as possible.”

Many are intimidated by solo travel or any one of the endeavors that Mazzola has dabbled in. While one may think being blind from birth would increase that apprehension tenfold, Mazzola doesn’t see it as a deterrent.
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“I think there’s a sense in our culture, and probably most, that blindness or any disability is somehow less than, is somehow deficient or defective,” Mazzola said. “And it’s like a lesser experience, lesser of a person, in a way, is what gets implied….So much of this is me finding my way, because there isn’t a ton of modeling of it, of other blind people.”

Original article found here: Daily News-Miner | By Gavin Struve Published June 21, 2024