603Podcast with Dan Egan

Randy Pierce: New Hampshire-based Blind Mountaineer and Marathon Runner on Resilience and Achievement

• The people places of New Hampshire, Hosted by Dan Egan • Season 1 • Episode 13

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Imagine suddenly losing your sight at the age of 22 and how you'd adapt to a world turned upside down. That's the incredible story of Randy Pierce, a blind mountaineer and marathon runner, who joins Dan Egan on the 603podcast to share his transformative journey from isolation to conquering mountains. With the loyal companionship of his guide dog, Quinn, Randy's experiences redefine what's possible, illustrating the trust and teamwork needed for such remarkable feats.

Throughout our conversation, Randy opens up about personal loss, the mental fortitude required to face life's curveballs, and the importance of community support. He reveals how his childhood love for adventure was reignited, leading to extraordinary achievements despite his blindness. We also explore the liberating experience of winter hiking in New Hampshire, the unique dynamics of working with a guide dog, and the parallels between his adventures and life's unexpected twists, such as his inclusion in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

The episode delves into how setting goals and embracing the journey—no matter how unplanned—can turn challenges into opportunities for growth. Randy's insights on bridging divides, building trust within communities, and the power of small acts of kindness underscore the significance of unity and support. As he plans for future marathons and expands his work with Future Insight, Randy encourages us all to focus forward, illustrating that even when life doesn't go as expected, each step can lead to unforeseen rewards and personal transformation.'

Check out Future In Sight, an organization that has provided essential services & support for more than 100 years to children, adults, & elderly living in New Hampshire who are blind and visually impaired.

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Dan Egan :

Okay, welcome back to the 603. I'm Dan Egan, where we explore all things New Hampshire, the people, places and things that develop our culture here in the state, around the country and, of course, impact the world. Today we're with Randy Pierce, a blind mountaineer, a keynote speaker, author, mountaineer, marathoner and adventurer. Randy, how are you doing today?

Randy Pierce:

I'm doing great. It's a beautiful day, fun to be here with you.

Dan Egan :

Oh, it's great, Randy. I'm so honored to have you here and you know I've been wanting to get you here on the podcast ever since I started reading about you and learning about you and all the things that you've done as a blind mountaineer. Before we get too far into the podcast, tell me about your blindness. How did it come about? Sure?

Randy Pierce:

So I was fully sighted most of my life, although every year it gets harder to say that. But at 22 years old I suddenly lost all of the sight in my right eye and half in my left eye in two weeks. So very dramatic. And then it took 11 years of slowly losing more and more vision. So I went, and then it took 11 years of slowly losing more and more vision right. So I went from legal blindness to what I like to call illegal blindness, since I'm completely blind today.

Dan Egan :

All that in two weeks. Tell me about that transition. What was that like for you emotionally?

Randy Pierce:

Sure, and for most folks loss is always hard, loss of a major sense. At 22 years old, I was devastated. I felt isolated, I felt helpless and, candidly, a little hopeless.

Dan Egan :

And who was Randy before that? What were you like prior to that?

Randy Pierce:

You know and there are some of the roots that helped me along the way is that, you know, I just loved life, I had a passion for experience, so I was always out trying new things, learning new things, which set you up for, obviously, adapting. But I, you know, I was straight out of the University of New Hampshire, had a great job, good degree, lots of friends, and, you know, thought I had to give up on that. Obviously I didn't.

Dan Egan :

Yeah, you're born and bred here in New Hampshire. What was your childhood like and how did you experience the state? What were the things that you were into?

Randy Pierce:

Yeah, so my first 10 years I was in Nashville, where I was born, and it was still a little quieter back then. So beautiful woods in my backyard, that started a passion there. You know good, good family connections Uprooted. To go to Colbrook, new Hampshire you know the northern end of the state and that you know starting to get used to change. But there you know the beauty of some of our small towns. You can do everything. You can band, chorus, drama club, play every sports and I did I love that.

Dan Egan :

We just we're going to have Les Otten on the show. Of course he now owns the Balsams. What's your memories of the Balsams as a kid?

Randy Pierce:

So climbing up Table Rock and overlooking that beautiful castle, you know I've got good memories of that and you know we used to hold our high school prom in that building because beautiful old, you know, really a Switzerland castle imported Outrageous to prom inside the Balsams.

Dan Egan :

That must have been a heck of a good time. It sure was, yeah. What is it about climbing for you as a kid? Or just you know, you know, hiking what hooked you?

Randy Pierce:

So as a kid, it was the notion of challenging yourself and exploring right. Everything's a new adventure. I went from Nashville, where my world was shrinking as a city was growing around me, to Colebrook, where the wilderness was boundless, or so it felt right at 10 years old. But I think there's something about striving to get to your peak potential to be better, and, whether it's literal or figurative, that drew me and wanted me to improve, and then I gave up on that because of being blind and a blind guy can't hike. So the roots were there and then there was a time away.

Dan Egan :

Yeah, I mean, I can imagine, you know, in a two week time losing actually I can't imagine losing my eyesight. I experienced my dad losing his eyesight and I watched and was with him while that happened. But for you highly motivated, active, willing to try all things losing your sight, what changed?

Randy Pierce:

So, personally, I gave up on it. Right, and that's okay. Right, because failure for anything is temporary as long as you choose a path of resiliency. Right, that you say wait, wait. I don't have to always be in this quit mode and, like for many people, it took a little encouragement from the right folks to nudge me and say, hey, why not try this? What's the real problem? Right, because that's what we're doing in risk management. It what we're doing in risk management. It's not that I can't do it because I'm blind. It's about how do we mitigate the risk so that I can do it differently. And with that right nudging, you know, the world opened up. What's the Henry Ford quote?

Dan Egan :

Whether you think, you can or think you can't. You're probably right. So true, the mentors at that time, the people that provided the nudge. Where did they come from? Were they already in your life or were they new introductions?

Randy Pierce:

So most of them already in my life. And there's the beauty of having a diverse set of experiences and people, because you need sometimes to hear a message from different angles and different ways for it to really resonate. And I certainly did. Right, there was resistance. I didn't go willingly into this embrace, being blind. Right, it took some extra nudges from many people. And then the blind community in New Hampshire. There were some icons that gave me the demonstration, the example to follow.

Dan Egan :

That's amazing. And so when did you go on sort of the journey of hiking and pursuing that as a blind person?

Randy Pierce:

So for me, my condition is a nerve disorder, so my optic nerves died, and they're what died first. But then my cerebellum was damaged. I lost the nerves below my knees. I spent one year, eight months and 21 days in a wheelchair because of the other aspects beyond blindness, and so I lost the ability to walk. And when you lose something you really get to appreciate the value it had in your life. And in my case, I did a lot of things to learn how to walk again. And hiking is walking in spectacular environments and you know there's a long part of that journey, including some incredible people. But now I just want to celebrate the abilities I have.

Dan Egan :

How did you teach yourself to walk again so?

Randy Pierce:

I didn't do it alone, right? The first thing I did is I went through a series of what they call trans-tympanic injections. So the doctors literally did surgeries going through my eardrum and they put a steroid that they developed when they were working on Christopher Reeve's spinal cord injuries to try to reinvigorate the nerve, because your vestibular nerve is one of your keys to balance. You get balance from your sight and not so much for me, you get it from your proprioception, your connection to the ground, and you get it from your inner ear. So their goal was make my inner ear send a stronger balance signal to my damaged cerebellum.

Randy Pierce:

So I do a surgery, six weeks of physical therapy, do a surgery, six weeks. We did that six times and I went through a progression where first I'm walking with Loftstrand crutches in the therapist, where Loftstrand, you got handles that you hold in there it's like giving you four legs really. And then they said, said, let's get you to a single device. And here's where a remarkable thing happened. An occupational therapist and joanne moriarty baron said I want to give you a better tool than what the medical world is using. And she thought outside the box and she went out and bought a hiking stick, because it was strong enough to give the support for my weight and light enough to be easy for me to keep moving at a swifter pace. Well, look what that did.

Dan Egan :

Wow, that's amazing. Just that impulse really changed it. I mean, you went from teaching yourself to walking again to accomplishing something that's really quite unbelievable, that some people spend many years trying to do. But you hiked all the 48, 4,000-foot peaks here in New Hampshire in one winter season, is that?

Randy Pierce:

right, I did, yeah, the winter from 2011 to 2012,. Right, you've got from December 22nd that year to I finished in March 10th, but I would have had until March 19th. And you know, again, I didn't do it alone. And you know, one of the key tools we didn't even discuss is that I did it with a guide dog right and the hiking stick in my right hand, and that was the other part of my journey and that when you learn to walk, you're walking slow. When you learn to ride a bike, you ride slow. You're a little less balanced. You got to get a little speed to be a little more comfortable, and that's what a guide dog gave to me was a little bit of speed to augment that balance issue, and also a little tension in the harness helped me stabilize and my dog loved the woods. He and that hiking stick are what led me back.

Dan Egan :

That's amazing. Your documentary on that journey is called Four More Feet. So talk to us about the dog, your sight dog. How did that come to be and how long did you have that relationship prior to this achievement?

Randy Pierce:

Oh, great question. You know people don't realize that part of the question. They often forget that it's not instant. There's a long progression, right? You don't start out and climb Everest or Washington, right, you start out and you work.

Randy Pierce:

And Quinn came into my life he was a yellow Labrador retriever in 2006, in October, and we did all kinds of walking together and we learned and grew. But our first hike wasn't until 2009. We had three years of foundation building and that first hike we went to Pacman Adnock in Wilton, new Hampshire, and we went up the Wapak Trail, which is a little tougher than the Marion Trail, and I remember it took us four and a half hours to get to the summit, just slow and learning all the way about how this works and you know there's plenty of fun anecdotes. But ultimately I went back a year later with him and I hiked it in two hours. And I went back a year later and I hiked it in 45 minutes in pouring rain, right? So it's always a journey to get better, right? It's practice makes progress, not practice makes perfect, Absolutely.

Dan Egan :

And so what is it that the dog provides? You talked a little bit about it speed, stability. Is it your connection to the harness?

Randy Pierce:

Just walk me through that piece of it, sure, and it is multifaceted, right, and it's also. They're not just taking me everywhere I want, right, or everywhere they want. Otherwise we'd be at the dog park every day, right, but I hold the harness handle and when I do that the dog changes. It goes from a car not being started to maybe. First you get the key in the ignition, then you put it in the drive. That's what it's like when I lift that handle.

Randy Pierce:

He's in full work mode and he will normally just help me walk a straight line. He'll find obstacles right. They are obstacle avoiders if possible. So if there's something in the trail, you just walk me around it if he can. If he can't, he uses something called intelligent disobedience, where he's trained to refuse to go until I show him by tapping that there's an obstacle there that I have to work with him to navigate. And that's why I write the first hike four and a half hours, because he didn't know what I could do to manage an obstacle. He didn't know that by the subtle shifting his back legs to the left or outside, away from me opened it up. So I'm not going to hit my knee on that little protrusion of a tree branch or a rock that's sticking out.

Dan Egan :

Wow, so he's acting as your protector and, at the same time, allowing you to sort out the obstacle to get around that.

Randy Pierce:

That's fascinating, and it's absolutely teamwork all the way through, and I'm a big fan of what the power of team can bring to any of our lives.

Dan Egan :

Yeah, without a doubt. So you have this experience you're climbing faster, you've gone to a similar place where you know your speed is getting better, but then you choose to hike all of these summits in the winter. Why the winter? What was the decision around that?

Randy Pierce:

So I started out in the summer. I've gotten quite a few peaks in the summer and I have hiked them all in the summer as well. Summer is harder for a blind person because in New England it's all these twisty, rocky routes that you know. It just looks like sometimes that a boulder field erupted and navigating that on my footing is challenging. In the winter snow fills in all those twisty, rocky roots. It makes it smooth. It brings new challenges, for sure, and new risks that you have to attend. But my biggest challenge is always footing, and snow can make that smooth. And then I just have to deal with traction and the loss of hearing with a hat, the loss of sensitivity on my hands with gloves, all of those things, but those are lesser.

Dan Egan :

Yeah, I think sometimes people forget that winter hiking is a totally different experience and in a lot of ways, as you describe, a bit easier, because it's a little bit of a highway, particularly if people have come with snowshoes and groomed it for you. I quite enjoy it. I think a lot of people turn off their hiking mode in the winter because they think it's cold, it's snowy, might not be the same, but I've had the same experience where I enjoy it more and for you, that must have really felt, freeing less obstacles.

Randy Pierce:

Tremendously. So there are differences. It is a little more isolated. You're not going to stop and leisurely sprawl in the summit to have a lunch. Right, You're going to keep moving. But those differences don't detract.

Dan Egan :

They change and enhance the experience in my mind Absolutely. So you know, here you have your partner in the dog and you have a goal. Some of these peaks you've been on before, but to do them all in the winter? Was there other people with?

Randy Pierce:

you. So different people on different hikes, always with somebody. I did some stretches alone but there was somebody behind or somebody ahead at some point. That I knew was part of the connection, and that's when that highway is there, when the snow is packed in, when we're breaking trail. You know those were different. I just had to have a good group with me because I cannot wear a snowshoe on the foot. That's by my guide dog. I could wear one on the outer side but I couldn't wear one on the inner side. So sometimes if it was not packed out enough, I might have to use a human guide for a stretch right so that I could have those, both those shoes, on. Oh, so you would switch.

Dan Egan :

when you needed two snowshoes, you'd go with a human guide and then, when that changed, you'd go back to your dog, you bet.

Randy Pierce:

Yeah, because the dog was. There's a little bit of liberation and independence and pride of our work and I'm proud of my teamwork, with my human friends as well, for sure. But there's a difference. There's a dependency, and I don't mind dependencies that are part of teamwork, but I really love to celebrate what my dogs have brought into my life in that freedom.

Dan Egan :

Yeah, part of that freedom is the mental side of it, right, I know that when I hike I kind of lose myself in thought, I kind of drift. Time slips away, worry slips away, all of that, and you know whether I enter into the flow state or just a more conscious state, but at the same time less, a little less aware of other things. What's that like for you? Needing to always be on thinking about your footing and not being knowing where you're going?

Randy Pierce:

Definitely in the summer. I don't get to the zone out while hiking I've got to be in full focus mode. But like anything right, you get better at that. You almost can do it subconsciously when you've done it enough with the same partner. So there's consistent input in your body just responds right. How many times do you drive and say I don't remember those last five minutes of driving? Your subconscious was there and working it and there's plenty of complexity to that task. So I could do that very rarely in the non-winter. In the winter it could happen all the time.

Dan Egan :

That's why I love winter so much. And when you get to the summit, Randy, and you're there with your friends, describe that for me.

Randy Pierce:

Sure Right, I wrote a blog post once called Sense of the Summit, because obviously people are like it's all about views and you can't see those. So why? And of course I can see them. I see them in my mind. It's the difference between sight and vision, and I'll work with the people that are there. In fact, I like a good group because everybody notes a different point that calls to them and I want to share all of their experiences and build my vision of that based on what they tell me.

Randy Pierce:

And you know, Mike Dickerman and Steve Smith have a marvelous book that describes the views of everything, from every summit in every direction, and I study that book because I want that to be part of my picture. And on summits, I will tell people well, here to the east, and I'll point because you can easily learn that here's what you're going to see here. When we're on Lafayette and you're looking across the Pemi, you can see between Bond, Cliff and Bond that deep coal and I can describe that and point it and trace it, and I can do it on a cloudy day.

Dan Egan :

Well, those are two legends of the White Mountains right there, mike and Steve. They've written so many books, have they?

Randy Pierce:

influenced you? Oh, tremendously. You know, Steve Smith and I got to connect a little bit and the way we connected was another mountain miracle for me. From the point I went totally blind. I used to love maps. They just called to me right, it's part of exploring and I could no longer find a way to access maps and I kept calling places, map stores, and saying you know, I'm totally blind, I'm looking for a map that I can feel like, a tactile map. We don't carry Braille maps, and I heard that so many times.

Randy Pierce:

And then I saw a piece with Steve Smith talking about what they call a raised relief map. And it's all about semantics, because I called that same map store and said do you have raised relief maps? They're like, oh yeah, but it lets you feel the mountain peaks. And here in New Hampshire he's had one put together. I called him. He sent it to me overnight. I had it the next day. My wife came home and I was feeling the map and she's like we should order the other maps he had. I'm like I already did. But the last thing I want to say about Steve Smith, right, so how do I access his books? Wasn't out on Audible at that point in time he sent me a draft copy. He's like here's an electronic copy because you deserve to be able to know these peaks, to learn these trails as thoroughly as anybody else.

Dan Egan :

That's great, steve Smith, a legend. His bookstore in Lincoln, new Hampshire. You can stop in. He's a huge resource for hiking in the whites and all books and all things that it is. If you haven't been, I think his bookstore is Mountain Wanderer, you nailed it Mountain Wanderer in Lincoln, new Hampshire, and definitely stop in and see our good friend Steve, who has kept our books mine and Randy's in circulation in your book. See you on the Summit. Tell me about that. All right, see you at the Summit.

Randy Pierce:

It's about that. All right, see you at the Summit. It's the subtitle right my Blind Journey from the Depths of Loss to the Heights of Achievement, and I think it's a journey we're all on right. What does it mean to be at the summit, literal and figurative? I believe that all of us, if we push ourselves, if we challenge ourselves which doesn't mean you fail to rest, but if you challenge yourselves in the right way, take we challenge ourselves, which doesn't mean you fail to rest, but if you challenge yourselves in the right way, take care of yourself you can be your best, you can be at your peak potential, and that's a great goal to constantly striving for right. There's always more peaks, of course, but that's part of the goal is get to the summit, celebrate work's not done, still got to climb down right, but get to those summits in your life. And in that journey there's going to be low points for everybody. My biggest low point wasn't losing my sight, as I detail in the book, but certainly that was a big challenge.

Dan Egan :

What was your low point?

Randy Pierce:

You know, superlatives are interesting. There's probably multiple, but in my case, the loss of each one of my guide dogs, because the reality is I spend more time with a guide dog than anyone else in my life because they're with me 24, seven. They're saving my lives. You know, each, each dog has had multiple instances where, without them, I would have been hurt severely. And I don't just mean a mountain trails, those aren't the most dangerous things I do, right, walking on crowded streets, right. So losing them is tough, it's going to be part of the journey. You know, losing each of my parents, right that. We all in our world are going to experience some kind of loss, and the tough news is it's never going to be easy. The good news is it doesn't have to get easier. We can get better at handling it.

Dan Egan :

There's some coaches and a lot of thought around today about training our mind to handle these things, how we handle negative events in sports, how we end to handle negative events in life, that the brain is a bit of a muscle, that if we train it it reacts and that reaction moves us forward. And how we train it, is that that something that you've experienced?

Randy Pierce:

Experience and believe in completely right. I mean, there's all sorts of narratives in our mind that influence the way we're going to perceive things, and learning to reframe things is a help on that journey. And you know, one of the strongest lessons I ever learned, I think, came from the book Buddha's Brain. But we hear this voice in our mind telling us we can't, or telling us that something's terrible, and we think that's our voice and it is of a sort, but in the higher sense we're not that voice, we're the one listening. And that's if we choose to be passive, if we choose to be active, we can replace that voice with what we really think is the right message, the reframe message, the I can, the I'm not terrible because of this loss, I am fortunate because of the experience and the bond that will always be part of it. Right, those are reframes that build our mind and our strength for anything.

Dan Egan :

Yeah, I think these days, with so much conversation around mental health and people taking time out from mental health, there's also resilience, right and training the mind and understanding that it's part of life. It's not something happening to you, it's part of living. You want to expand on that a little bit?

Randy Pierce:

Yeah, I'm a big believer and people think resiliency you either have it or you don't. And I don't think you or I ascribe to that, nor do most folks. It is something you can train and develop and grow by practicing. But that means you're probably going to experience some lows, and I in no way want to devalue the challenge of mental health, of depression. I mean, I have lows and that's a lesson I try to impart when I speak often is that you know people look and say you're so positive, you're so optimistic and everything's going great. But no, no, the lows are part of my life too.

Randy Pierce:

I maybe don't always celebrate them openly. They don't have to be part of my social media output. That doesn't mean they're not there and I am willing to own them in those moments too. The trick is, in any moment, in any challenging moment, you have a couple of choices about what you're going to do and as soon as you say, all right, I've got this, this is the reality. Now what do I want to do, where do I want to go? And you start building momentum in a positive direction. Whatever that means small momentum, big momentum it's easier to keep going positive once you start.

Dan Egan :

Yeah, there's no doubt about that. Once you start moving in that direction, four pushups turn into eight, right and away you go. Of course, we're talking with Randy. We're talking with Randy Pierce here, a blind mountaineer and CEO of Future Insight. Randy on the 603 podcast is really hitting, I think, on so much insight. That helps us. Randy, talk to me about future insight. What is your foundation?

Randy Pierce:

Sure. So it's 111 years old. It predates me. I know there's a lot of gray hair on my head, but not quite that much.

Randy Pierce:

You know, 35 years ago, when I lost my sight, the organization at that time was called the New Hampshire Association for the Blind, and they are one of those resources I went to to say how do I handle blindness? And that's what we do. Right, we train people of every age, birth to seniors, of every level of sight loss, every level of sight loss, from low vision to no vision, throughout the entire state. And I went to them and they taught me the simple things. Right, you know, how do you brush your teeth? How do you do personal hygiene? How do you navigate? How do you handle finances? Eventually, how do you learn to use technology in accessible ways? That's what they did for me 35 years ago.

Randy Pierce:

So a couple of years back, when they said we need a leader to take over this position as president and CEO, I thought what a powerful statement. Because they didn't bring me in as a blind person. Right, they've never had a blind CEO before. They brought me in because they believed I had the skills to do this job. But part of the reason I did is because of exactly the work they do in teaching people to reach their potential, and so for me. I look at the 28,000 people in New Hampshire who have significant sight loss and I want to make sure they all get the same chances and opportunities I did to learn to grow, to be their best selves and to live their best lives. So how could I not be passionate about a job with that kind of calling?

Dan Egan :

Yeah, you must really bump into a lot of people and change a lot of lives there. Of course, not all of them are hikers. They must be achieving other great things.

Randy Pierce:

You bet right. I don't think everybody should be hiking or running marathons or any of those things. I think they should be following the pursuits they want. And the truth is, the team of professionals we have, the providers that are, you know, trained in helping people go there. They're the ones doing the miracles. My job is to just set them up so they can do that, to make the access, to make obviously the finances of that all work out. But they're the ones going in and saying what did you used to do in your life that maybe you think you can't, because we probably can find a way for you to be doing it again.

Dan Egan :

And so tell me about Vision Quest.

Randy Pierce:

So, prior to this role, I founded an organization with my wife back and started the roots in 2009, really launched it in 2010,. 2020, vision Quest as a method of raising awareness, right Visibility, so that we could use that awareness, use some of the other things we do in fundraising to donate to the organizations that made my life change, that I think can make a lot of people's lives change, and that was a guide dog school and that was Future Insight. And, you know, one of my proudest achievements is in those 10 years, my community that we slowly, steadily built gave a million dollars just shy of a million dollars. If I hadn't taken the job early, we would have hit the goal.

Dan Egan :

That's amazing. So it was a fundraising mechanism for greater good.

Randy Pierce:

Right and, hopefully, along the way, delivering awareness. And people say you delivered inspiration. I like to think I delivered some thoughts on methodology, helped people think their way to managing a lot like what you're doing right. When did you run your marathon? Well, that would imply that I ran one. I'm on my 15th and I'm training for my 16th right now my first marathon. So you talked about that moment of loss For me.

Randy Pierce:

I had run a race called the Boston Athletic Association 5K road race. It's the day before the Boston Marathon. It's right down there in Boston, same finish line, and in 2013, I ran that with my guide dog, first time it had ever been done, and as we crossed the finish line, there was a great picture of Quinn and I crossing it with the flag display in the background, and that got posted a lot of places to celebrate ability awareness. But here's the thing they posted it the day after I ran it, which is the day the Boston Marathon bombs ripped that flag display apart, and it was very impactful in my life because, right, I think when we learn to resolve differences in healthy ways, when we learn to communicate in healthy ways, lots of amazing things happen. When we don't, some terrible things can happen and not just at the epic scale like that Boston Marathon in our everyday lives, right, we let things build up, we get frustrated with our family, with people, and it causes explosive moments literally and figuratively, I guess. But the reality is that's the moment I said, well, what do I do about this? Can't change what's happened, don't want to waste too much effort on that. I want to put my effort focus forward. I say and what can be done differently? And so I said I'm going to run the Boston Marathon next year, because the Boston Marathon doesn't just celebrate elite athletes, though it does. It celebrates the elite human spirit. Right, people run for causes that are incredible, people running overcoming incredible challenges. I want to be part of that community to celebrate that.

Randy Pierce:

And then the first thing I did was fail. I didn't run the Boston Marathon because my boy Quinn got osteosarcoma. He got bone cancer on his skull and I lost him that year. So my very first marathon instead of running the Boston Marathon in 2014, as I hoped, I said goodbye to my boy in January, no time to train for and qualify for Boston. But I just made a different marathon. I ran my first marathon in May of that year it was the Cox Providence Marathon down in Rhode Island and I learned a lot. I dedicated that whole year to my boy. I ran 2000 miles. That year I ran and won my first national marathon championship out in California and then I came back one year late to run the Boston Marathon. So when you say the, I would always choose that first Boston as the marathon. In my life I've run faster, I've run slower, but that is the most pivotal moment because I was fulfilling a promise and I was changing my life.

Dan Egan :

Now stand by for a minute. Randy, did you qualify for Boston? You met the. Tell me about that you qualified.

Randy Pierce:

So sure, but let me give a disclaimer on that front. So in my age and I have qualified for Boston once as a normal runner. But a sight impaired runner has a different qualification right so I did qualify my very first marathon. I snuck in by about 10 minutes. Right so I did qualify my very first marathon. I snuck in by about 10 minutes. And then my first Boston marathon. So I ran three hours 50 minutes and 37 seconds, which at that time that my age group probably wouldn't have qualified me except as a visually impaired runner. I have since run a speed 325 that would have qualified me as a regular right, fully sighted runner.

Dan Egan :

But you know, obviously there's more challenges when you're running without sight, holy cow, I mean that's amazing, amazing, my man. And so that's a long way to run. You know, sighted but unsighted, what's it like on the dog and your guide dog, and what's the relationship, you know, at the breaking point where you're thinking you can't go on. Does the dog ever think it can't go on?

Randy Pierce:

So Quinn is the only guide dog I've ever run with and in fact he helped launch a program for guide dogs that run right. So working with the school as part of how he got that journey. Most guide dogs it's not something they could do. There's too much speed. Me today is not a runner. With me he's a hiker, not a runner, and at certain distances the pads on pavement might be an issue that I would consider. So never run that long distance. I run with human guides now and if I ever get to run with a guide dog again, you know we'd be mitigating those distances and, like everything, you'd train them up to it. That's great.

Randy Pierce:

Have you skied? I have, you know. I almost sent you a video because it was a fun experience. So I went up to the New England Visually Impaired Ski Festival. They asked me to speak at the festival. I said I'm not a skier. They said we'll change that and I remember there's lots of ways to do it.

Randy Pierce:

But we're up at Sugarloaf in Maine and I'm with a good buddy of mine, brent Bell. He's a professor at the University of New Hampshire and he's a great skier, and the first day you know, of course, he's skiing backwards to talk me through it and he's shooting video and we put the video up on YouTube and my wife says oh, that's really good. You don't see all the bunny slopes with your wedge turns slowly coming along. That's great. Second day get a little faster. Started exploring parallel turns, going up a little higher on the mountain. Put that video up there. She's like that's pretty good. Third day we're going up higher and you know, probably 35 miles an hour, which on day three of skiing I feel pretty good about. And skiing is liberating because I have no guide tethered to me. I'm not in contact with anything but the skis, my poles and the mountain and the voice guidance at a distance. And day three, of course, my guides are no longer skiing backwards and my wife says show me no more videos.

Dan Egan :

That's awesome, yeah, so amazing. So was skiing liberating.

Randy Pierce:

Amazing, right right, when you are blind, if, depending on your level, you're probably attached to a cane that's tapping out and finding every obstacle, which is slow and meticulous, it works, gives you all your landmarks, but it's slow and meticulous. And not only that, but people look at you differently, often with a cane. So one of the biggest factors that discourages people from using one is probably a type of vanity, because you don't want the kinds of looks that people give you. And all of that goes away with the guide dog, because I always joke nobody ever asked to pet my cane, but guide dogs warn people.

Randy Pierce:

But you're still attached. You're holding a harness handle, there's still somebody leading you. You get on skis and it's going to be audible cues and, depending on how well you go as you get faster, you eventually go to a radio headset because the person needs to ski behind you to give you more immediate information. But all I do like I don't even know how fast I move unless I touch the ski to the ground and get that information. So I feel so much more free and just learn to feel the mountain trust, obviously, my guide, but it is one of the best experiences I've ever had and I know you understand that, even at a much higher level than me.

Dan Egan :

We, uh, at some of my camps, we actually go through, uh, um, a blind skiing drills, uh, where I ask people to close their eyes and be guided. Uh, I've asked people to tuck and, you know, make a downhill run with their eyes closed, guided. It's quite an experience. What do you visualize in those moments? What's going on? What are you seeing that helps you?

Randy Pierce:

So, honestly, I'm probably not a good enough skier to appreciate all of it, because most of my focus is what am I feeling? Do I listen? Do I trust them? You know, because people use questionable language sometimes. Right, you're doing all right? Was that a right? Was that? Was that the word right or the right turn? So I'm hyper-focused on feeling that and learning that and I I wish I had gotten beyond that, because I've talked to a few blind skiers who have and what they get is different. For me it's all in the moment full focus, work, joy, but work.

Dan Egan :

Yeah, Amazing. Now you know, of course, my man. Your bio is outrageous. Your accomplishments are unbelievable, but then there's this little thing about being included in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the back of your book. I'm looking at a quote by Teddy Bruschi. What's happening there? How did that all come about?

Randy Pierce:

Yeah, you know, life is full of so many unexpected turns. Right, you write a book that's a memoir and it sounds like fiction, except you got the validity of the experiences lived. For me, I believe we should talk about a GPA. That's not the grade point average for students. It's the goals, the plan and the action that get you to live your life in ways that matter to you. And when you do that, you get a lot of rewards, in my opinion. But one of them is the unexpected. I call it the magic on the path.

Randy Pierce:

And for me, I wanted to learn how to program a web page because I'm trying to expand and I want to do that using a screen reader, because I can't see the screen anymore. And as I'm learning and practicing, back in 1996, I'm like well, I need something to practice on. So I made a Patriots webpage. Well, 96, they had a good year, they went to a Super Bowl and fan webpages weren't a thing yet. So it was one of the first, it was the second and you know the Boston Globe and Boston Herald ran a piece on it. It got me a big community coming to read my previews, my reviews. I had a doghouse that my dog allegedly wrote for players who didn't perform. But all of this is community building. And all of this had a surprise for me.

Randy Pierce:

When 2001 came around, the Patriots had just started saying we're going to have a fan of the year contest. People have to nominate you to see who's the outstanding fan. And what does that mean? The year contest people have to nominate you to see who's the outstanding fan. And what does that mean? Do you yell, well? Well, in my case, they said we got more people submitting your name than we'd ever had before, and that was a group of my friends making a campaign to everybody that went to my website. I didn't even know about it. I hung up on the call to tell me I got the award because I thought it was a telemarketer, but ultimately the team named me fan of the year, the year they won the first Super Bowl.

Randy Pierce:

So it came with a chance for me to go, an expectation for me to go to media row, being on all the radio shows, tv shows Rosie O'Donnell, jimmy Kimmel, best damn sports show and that allowed a couple of things right. So I'm a reasonably articulate guy. I have a great human interest story with my guide dogs right with my journey and it resonated. And I have a great human interest story with my guide dogs, right with my journey and it resonated. And I have a passion for football which had played the role of being an escape in my life at first, when I lost my sight, because football translates very well to radio, to description, to the play-by-play.

Randy Pierce:

All of that led to the journey that finally the NFL took me on and said well, we think you're the ultimate fan and they put a plaque of me and my guide Doug up in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton Ohio. So a little different journey than some of the team that Tom Brady is going to have to get there. And you know, I'm proud of it in a different way, because I'm proud to always right. I like to say that as people we should learn to commit, to connect, to collaborate, to communicate, because that's what will create the best world for all of us. And that's a lot of words with the letter C for a guy who doesn't see, but that's what really was the culmination of that Pro Football Hall of Fame, right, it's all community and connection and those things matter.

Dan Egan :

Yeah, I mean, you spoke a lot. You've spoken a lot here about community and you must have different communities that come together. Is New Hampshire the New Hampshire community? How do you?

Randy Pierce:

describe that and how has it supported you? So New Hampshire has been amazing. Community has been amazing and it's interesting because we live in divisive times and you know, I'm very transparent. I like to boldly not tread into things, but to be open about things, and people don't always communicate as well as we could. We don't resolve differences. In fact, people have so much more in common than different. Let that be your foundation of communication and trust building and understanding, to build that tolerance. Now, despite as divisive as that is, people will turn around and rally if you'll give that right message.

Randy Pierce:

You know, I still remember we did a fundraiser for 2020, vision Quest and I was opposed to the notion because my director, rachel Morris, said I want to do this fancy gala ball. I'm like, I'm not a suit guy. I've got a community of runners and hikers and that doesn't seem like that group. Well, let me tell you it was that group. It was business leaders. It was so much more incredibly successful event. I was totally wrong. Rachel was totally right. I tell her that all the time. But one, I trusted her. Two I create an environment where it's okay, it's right, psychologically safe, to come together, but it's also here's what we're focused on. When you focus on the right things, it's easy to build that community and get effective results. So there's dangers there but there's rewards there. It's not a lot like everything we do in extreme sports or in our lives.

Dan Egan :

I mean community really creates acceptance, inclusion. It creates a way for the universe to kind of rise up and catch us, hold us, it expands us. In a way it can limit us if it's a small community, but this idea of community feeling safe has these different communities and these different sports and helped you feel safe and appreciated you bet.

Randy Pierce:

And you know. Here's a simple example, right? So we mentioned Patriots, a big tailgater, and New England and New York it's rivalry. Right, you could be football fans, but as soon as you say, no, I'm a Pats fan, I'm a Jets fan. Now you're enemies in a lot of people's minds and that's not my mindset, not what I espouse and not what I choose to surround myself with or accept.

Randy Pierce:

So the Jets had a huge insider's page and group and they would tailgate with us whenever they played and they quickly learned. Yeah, we can have some playful rivalry, but the goal was really about building, and I'll never forget the day we had a car delay that ended up. I was late, so I wasn't gonna get to my spot and our tailgate spot was reserved by the Jets fans and held for us. And think about that message. Right, 9-11 did a lot to bring us together in that aspect, but it's choosing to learn at a higher level that, despite any small not necessarily essential disagreements, there's a lot more to be had, and most of that is a choice in how you approach people.

Dan Egan :

The Jets- fans held your parking spot, the tailgate. That's pretty special for sure, you know. It's impressive, Randy, and I'm moved by all that you've done, and it just really opens up the question what's next?

Randy Pierce:

I get asked that a lot as my guest. I bet you did too right. And I remember my 48th peak in one winter was Cannon. We chose it for a lot of reasons and one of those reasons was there's a tram, so that a couple of news crews were gonna be up there, a lot of my non-hiking friends, and I knew I was gonna get asked up at the top right that question. So I prepared. I said you know, 48 beaches in one summer sounds like a nice follow-up. But as much as I can love the water, like you, I don't know that I could do 48 beaches in one summer.

Randy Pierce:

And the truth is, what's next? Well, you know I told you short goals, long goals, I like those. My short goal is I finally got back to running because I'd taken a little hiatus due to my job. Job had to get my focus. So, first marathon I'm going to run the Bay State Marathon October 15th so I can qualify to run the 10-year anniversary of my Boston run. That's the short-term goal. What's the big goal? What's the real goal?

Randy Pierce:

I mentioned it 28,000 people in New Hampshire who are living with significant sight loss, and many of them, you know, it's New England. We're stoic, I'll find a way to get through. But you know what my organization can help them and what I need to do is find ways to connect to them, and that's all the eye doctors and practices getting connected and build those relationships, and they are great folks who are using and seeing the value of what we do. And then it's reaching out and finding the way to afford it. We connect to 11,000 of the 28,000. I mean simple math here. There's a lot of people who aren't getting help that could change their lives, and so that's my passion. What's next? What's next is building this organization to reach and help the most people possible, and that's what I'm going to do Expanding the community.

Dan Egan :

You, betcha, have you run the New Hampshire Marathon?

Randy Pierce:

So when you say the New Hampshire Marathon, there's a whole bunch of New Hampshire Marathons, well, isn't the official one up in Bristol.

Randy Pierce:

Oh, you know, yes, I have heard that, and no, I haven't run it. So I guess I got to change my goals on that front. Right, there's the Manchester Marathon. I did the Gate City Marathon because, being from Nashua, I certainly had to get into that. But the Clarence Lamar is probably my next non-mainstream, because he won the Boston Marathon from New Hampshire. Right, one of the only people, but you're note-taking. Challenge accepted.

Dan Egan :

It has the most vertical up and down, so it really fits you well. So are you going to guide me? Absolutely not. Now you're setting my goals, holy cow. Let's see what happens there. Yeah, I went from a jogger to a plotter, so I don't know it's a thing you know any pace is fine.

Randy Pierce:

I've had some fast paces, but I love this quote.

Randy Pierce:

I learned it from a friend of mine, richie Blake, who said right, somebody who you know is down. What do you say to them, randy? Not know their exact situation, but I understand life can be a struggle. But I also know some other things right, with the right support, with the right encouragement, with the right inner fortitude to start making choices, to move in small directions, things can change. And you know, I believe that in so many ways because I think about my life If I had quit at legal blindness, if I had quit at blindness, if I had quit at the wheelchair, I think of how much beauty in this world I would have missed. And that doesn't mean there were no struggles in the time and after that. But it also means, don't forget, there's the rewards that are there.

Randy Pierce:

You know, I tell you 10 things. Nine of them are great. One of them is a complaint. Guess what people remember? They remember the complaint. And that's why those tough moments, those lows, stand out. They don't have to. And you know, sometimes my dog was going to die of cancer. Right, I can't change that, I can't make that better, but I can change my perspective on how I view that. That's that whole reframe. So that's the message right, it can be better. Some of that is your accountability to reframe, and accountability isn't a punishment, it's not something you have to force yourself. It's a reward so that you can give yourself a gift, and that's what I believe. Give yourself that gift, get that support, change your mindset and live to your peak potential.

Dan Egan :

Oh, and just keep on living. The essence of life is life. I'm with you. So beautiful, Randy. Thanks so much for your time here on the 603.

Randy Pierce:

Congratulations on all that you've accomplished.

Dan Egan :

Thank you very much and congratulations to the 603 podcast. Thank you, man. I wanted to ask you one more question. You know we might drop it in, but there's people that you know they've followed that thought right, they've gotten better, and then regret how long it took them. What do you say there?

Randy Pierce:

So, again, that's a reframing right, because, yes, maybe you could have made that journey faster. I think about when I first lost my sight and I took some poor choices, about being frustrated, helpless, right, and I think, boy, I lost some time by not getting better. But here's the thing, reframe it. Yeah, I also did what was necessary to get better and I got here. Could I have done it faster? Sure, but I got here. Don't forget to celebrate that part. It's okay that the journey isn't always as smooth or as best as we might've made it Just constantly say can't change what's happened. Let's okay that the journey isn't always as smooth or as best as we might've made it Just constantly say can't change what's happened. Let me use that as a lesson when I focus forward so that maybe next time I will be more efficient about reframing and transforming and living that best life.

Dan Egan :

I love it. And also, what are the websites you want to plug, randy? How do people learn more information?

Randy Pierce:

So I'm one focus right now futureinsightorg right. So it's my primary passion because the need is so great and I know that I think about where would my life be if I hadn't had the help that came right, if I didn't have somebody show me that there is a better future in sight if you just start getting the right support.

Dan Egan :

Awesome Thanks so much. Thank you, Dan.

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