Out of sight: Findlay runner sets Guinness record, blindfolded

Ted Simmons, of Findlay, this month became certified as a Guinness World Record holder for running the fastest mile while blindfolded. The 25-year-old ran it in 5:23 on a flat country road west of North Baltimore on Dec. 13, 2020. It was a triumphant finish to a journey that had some challenging — even wild — moments. His first trial run blindfolded was atop the rim of the Findlay reservoirs. He was guided by an unblindfolded friend running behind him. "A narrow gravel path. On the one side, your option is to run into a bunch of rocks into the water. On the other side, your option is to go down 20 or 30 feet of a hill," Simmons said. "So in hindsight, that probably wasn't the best place for us to learn how to blindfoldedly run, but that's where we started." After that high-wire act, Simmons practiced in safer places. He got a mouth guard to protect his teeth if he fell. He also learned that it worked better when he trailed his guide and old friend, Eric Wymer, head cross-country coach and assistant track and field coach at the University of Findlay. "He would talk to me constantly throughout the run, and I could lock onto his voice," Simmons said. "I had trust that he wouldn't lead me astray." Though Simmons had practiced for five months to achieve a childhood dream of setting a world record, he kept his accomplishment under wraps until this week. That's because even after he had taken off the blindfold, Simmons was blinded from knowing whether he really had the record. He knew Guinness' certification process would take a while and, more pointedly, there might be someone else in the world gunning for the same record. He knew the spirit of runners, having himself run the Chicago Marathon and track at Van Buren High School. And after all, the old 8-minute-plus record could look invitingly beatable to other runners, Simmons reasoned. In fact, it was. "It seemed like every six months to a year somebody would reset it," he said. "There was always this looming thought in the back of our heads: 'What if somebody beats us and we don't even know about that?'" To avoid that, Simmons aimed to not just beat the old record, but to far surpass it. "We knew we had to go as fast as possible," he said. It was not only about Simmons and his supporters. He was running to build public awareness for Mission Possible, a Findlay-based nonprofit that strives to equip the next generation of Christ-centered leaders. False starts Simmons' record-setting run was first scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 21. However, it had to be called off when Wymer became ill the day before. That was a bummer. With Thanksgiving approaching, the weather would only get worse and people would only get busier during the holiday season. Simmons had a team of about 10 people — including Wymer, timers, witnesses, a videographer and his parents — who were ready to ensure that no motorists interfered with his run. But as sometimes happens in life, that letdown became a turning point. "That was certainly a difficult time where I felt I was really pushing and asking a lot of them," he said. But everyone involved was gracious about rescheduling. "It really confirmed what I was doing and showed that they believed in me," Simmons said. "That gave me more momentum." So the team rescheduled for Saturday, Dec. 12. But when that day arrived, the weather was windy, cold and rainy — not friendly to a record-setting run. Record day Sunday, Dec. 13, dawned gray and overcast, but dry and without significant wind. By afternoon, the temperature was about 42 degrees. With Simmons and his team gathered, Simmons' pastor, Josh Hanson, said a prayer. Then Simmons, at the starting line, took care to ensure his feet were straight and he would be heading in the right direction. He put on the blindfold. A friend counted down: "Three, two, one. … Go." "It all became very real at that point. Started timidly, picking up the pace," Simmons said. He listened to Wymer running in front of him. "He starts to tell stories of how we ran together in high school, times we made state together and just, like, kind of reflecting on all of the experiences that we had together," Simmons said. Simmons could also hear his team of supporters behind him, though not in the same way one hears supporters at a track meet. "They couldn't cheer you on because it would distract. You might not be able to hear the guide," he said. "But just their presence, you could almost feel it. You could feel their support more than you could hear it." The excitement of it all got to Simmons. "We went out a lot faster than we had planned to," he said. Simmons planned to start more moderately, then to increase his pace throughout the run, finishing strong. Going too fast too early could put him in an oxygen deficit and weaken him the rest of the run. To help Simmons pace himself, Wymer would call out each time they had passed another quarter-mile. "I came up on him a little faster than he expected. I think he said I was within a few feet of him at one point," Simmons recalled. "I believe (Wymer's) exact words were, 'This was not what we practiced.'" Trying to breathe with the mouth guard became difficult for Simmons. "We were going way faster than expected. You can hear the drone up in front of us videoing this whole thing and we're just going and going and going," Simmons said. Somewhere in the middle of the run, he eased his pace a bit. "Around three-quarters of the way down is when I said, 'Wow, we went out pretty fast,' but I knew we had only a little bit to go," Simmons said. "So I was just trying to breathe with the mouth guard and then just trying to leave everything you had out there so you had no regrets and no question that you could have done any better." He pushed on. His friend called out — "100 meters … 50 meters" — and counted down to the finish line. But with the blindfold, stopping at the finish line wasn't so easy. "I couldn't believe it so I kept going a little bit, just a few steps more, just to make sure we really did it," Simmons said. Simmons said that without the blindfold, he could have run the mile in 5 minutes flat, or 23 seconds faster than with the blindfold. The blindfold seems to be a bigger factor earlier in the run, he said. "It's the uncertainty in the first 50 to 100 meters," he said. "You also are building your confidence and trust and bearings because when your vision is reduced, your other senses are heightened, from what I understand. It certainly felt that way."