CINCINNATI — After weeks of training, Saket and Keeyan Maheshwary laced up their sneakers well before daybreak Thursday morning, keenly focused on a race that wasn't for them.
"(On) the day of Thanksgiving, you got to pause and appreciate the things that God has bestowed on you," Saket said, sitting next to his son Keeyan.
We spoke with them in their Blue Ash home as they checked off last-minute to-do's ahead of the 115th annual Thanksgiving Day Race. Chief among them was picking up a fellow runner in need, Richard Gabbour.
"Honestly, there's nothing more I can say about him, except just (he's) inspirational," Keeyan Maheshwary said.
We first introduced you to Gabbour in October. The avid but unlikely runner was training relentlessly for the holiday race but knew he couldn't complete it alone.
That's because, as a kid, Gabbour was hit by a car while walking to a friend’s birthday party. He said he fell into a coma and then spent a year in a wheelchair. As a result, he lost his peripheral vision. It still affects him today, and he drags his feet when he walks.
“I see in tunnel vision,” he said. “I see what’s in front of me. I don’t see on my side.”
To navigate the winding course, packed with thousands of fellow athletes, Gabbour needed an extra set of eyes.
He reached out to WCPO 9 to amplify his call for help ahead of the race. It reverberated but a few doors down.
"Not everyone would do this, so I think that just makes it a bigger responsibility for us to do it," Keeyan Maheshwary said.
Keeyan's mom saw the WCPO 9 news story about Gabbour and shared it with the family.
"We (were) like, 'Oh my gosh, he lives in our neighborhood. He's right down the street.'" Keeyan, a 13-year-old cross-country runner, said. "We were like, 'Okay, let's go help him out."
It didn't take long. Soon after the neighbors met, Gabbour moved his training regiment out of the basement and over to the Blue Ash Rec Center. Saket Maheshwary joined him.
"We did practice runs behind the rec center," he said. "Just listening to his story and how much he has accomplished it is really inspiring."
The trio formed a formidable bond during workouts. It just so happens Gabbour's wedding anniversary falls on the same day as Keeyan's birthday.
"There is a lot going on in the world, and small acts of kindness can go a long way," Saket Maheshwary said.
The Maheshwarys hatched a game plan for the 5k race: one person would run in front of Gabbour, the other, to his side or back.
"[Richard] doesn't have peripheral vision, so he cannot see left and right," Saket Maheshwary said. "We can kind of protect Richard a little bit."
Whether it was nearby runners, a road bump or a puddle, the father-son duo provided Gabbour visual and audio cues to ensure his safety.
Sandwiched between thousands of runners, the trio never separated from the moment the starting horn blared to the final finish line dash.
"I'm dynamite!" Gabbour shouted with a grin during a post-race interview.
"The exuberation about finishing the race, that was awesome," Saket Maheshwary said. "(Richard) was pretty pumped up. I asked him a couple of times, 'Hey, you doing good? Do you want to sit down?' He was excited all the way."
During the 3.1-mile race, Saket Maheshwary said several runners recognized Gabbour, who's competed in dozens of other races over the years, as they passed by.
"He just kept it up. I thought maybe he would stop, but no, he just kept going," Keeyan Maheshwary said. "He knew what he wanted, and he just drove for that."
While most would deem the Maheshwarys' help an extreme act of kindness, they don't.
"I don't see it as a help to him, to be honest with you," Saket Maheshwary said. "It's just neighbors helping neighbors. It's something that you (have) to do. That's all. It's nothing more, nothing less."
