Jorge BarronGuide

Jorge ran his first marathon in 1989. Since then he’s run 19 marathons (personal best 3:30) and three Ironman Triathlons (personal best time: 13:30) in around 17 years of participating in endurance races. Yet, he reports that none of these races gave him the satisfaction that he’s felt from training with Heidi.

Jorge says, “I love endurance races, specially Ironman, but I always felt that, in order to truly LIVE these incredible experiences, I needed to share them with someone else - if not during racing at least during the intense training that needs to take place before one of those races and that is so satisfying. Coincidentally, I had always wanted to interact with blind people - both because I always believed that being blind was only a difference and not an impediment to a normal, fulfilled life, and because I wanted to understand what that difference really meant and how could it be overcome.”

Jorge met Heidi in the Fall of 2004 and instantly knew that they could both grow together and learn a lot from each other. After a year and a half of training with her, they’ve become best friends and Jorge feels incredibly proud of how much they’ve have grown as a team and how much they have learned together. “Heidi's courage and determination, her unconditional love, and her simple, sincere joy, have been a blessing to me.”, he says. “Heidi and I have enjoyed not only our regular training together, but also a very sincere friendship. Heidi's family have unconditionally supported her and treated me like one of their own.

This has been the most rewarding time of my life.”