Detroit free press marathon parking5/21/2023 “And what was happening that was so difficult, a bicyclist was traveling, going over 35 mph. “Here I was, I’ve been blind since birth, I’ve used athletics to kind of be able to find strength and endurance and all of that, to allow myself to have that strength to deal with my disability,” Bernstein said. I had memorized that lane so I can do it independently without an escort or a guide,” Bernstein said. I was walking in the pedestrian lane of Central Park. There’s a road I used to walk on that serves as a circumference of the park. “I was just walking in Central Park and I love Central Park, I’ve learned it. Sara Reichert, a former all-American runner at Michigan State, will serve as his guide.īernstein’s life changed forever in that one fateful moment in New York. “It’s phenomenal, he’s run us before but for him to overcome his accident that he was in and to run Detroit again, we’re so pleased and happy that he chose to do that,” marathon executive race director Barbara Bennage said. That’s the clincher, the reason he hasn’t let his pain keep him on the sidelines. It brings out the best in the human spirit and it brings out the best in everybody.” It’s the kind of experience where everybody is rooting for everybody else, everybody wants everybody else to succeed and everybody wants everyone else to do well. “I think the essence of marathon running and what makes it so fantastic you don’t have to win, you don’t have to come in first place. “For me it has tremendous meaning because I’m actually doing it in my hometown of Detroit which is what gives me a sense of joy, enthusiasm and pride to do it in the town you’re from and where it’s the most meaningful because it’s where I live,” said Bernstein who lives in Birmingham. You have to approach it from the perspective – you have to live with this pain and you have to realize it’s going to be with you. “Pain isn’t something that you ignore, it’s something you come to live with. “The key is you have a level of pain that is always there, the pain doesn’t really go away so you have to learn to live with the fact that you’re going to have chronic pain and that chronic pain is going to be with you for the remainder of your days,” Bernstein said. “I believe that ardently.”īernstein, who was born blind, suffered a catastrophic injury seven years ago when his hip was shattered and his pelvis crushed when a bicyclist ran him over while he was walking in New York City’s Central Park. “It’s up to us to take those experiences and use them to have an impact and do something positive with them that can have a positive impact on the lives of those around us,” the 44-year-old Bernstein said. Those aren’t hollow words spoken by the first blind Michigan Supreme Court Justice. Richard Bernstein firmly believes that life experiences – good or bad – are given to us for a reason and purpose.
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