BLUE ASH, Ohio — “I’m dynamite.”
Richard Gabbour says this half a dozen times, almost always with a thumbs up. There are a few other phrases the 58-year-old often repeats — things that are easy for him to say. Because some other phrases can take him 10 seconds to find words for.
But talk to Gabbour for even a few minutes and one thing is clear: He loves to run.
In his Blue Ash basement, he’s training for his next race.
“I consider myself as normal as anyone else,” Gabbour said.
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.”
It means he needs help to do what he loves. To run a race, he needs someone to direct him and tell him where to turn. His wife says it doesn’t stop him.
“He’s not a quitter. He doesn’t take no for an answer,” Michelle Gabbour said. “I’m so proud of him.”
On their refrigerator, pages and pages of step-by-step race directions are printed out and taped to the door. Gabbour has run dozens of races over the years. He has the shirts in his closet to prove it.
“Even if I had a bad day — at the end of the day — I say, 'God, thank you that I’m alive,'” he said.
Downstairs, Gabbour breathes heavily on an exercise bike. On a table nearby, there’s a Metallica CD. Behind him are trophies he’s won — and a box of medals in the closet.
But this month, Gabbour reached out to WCPO 9 for help. He wants to run Cincinnati's Thanksgiving Day Race, but needs a volunteer to help him navigate the course. I called the race director, and she thanked us for helping Gabbour.
“He’s such a wonderful guy,” said Julie Isphording, former Olympian and director of the Thanksgiving Day Race.
She told me her team would find someone to run with him. Outside his apartment, I ask Gabbour what it feels like when he's running.
“Dynamite,” he said with a smile.
