Here is Part 2 of our story from 2021 about Laura Sosalla’s journey from serious COVID symptoms to a commitment to run that year’s Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon.
Find Part 1 here.
In hindsight, Laura Sosalla concedes, her plan to run this year’s Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon so soon after her blinding encounter with the COVID virus was not fully developed.
“I would say I leapt first, and now I am looking second,” the Twin Cities counselor/therapist, acknowledged. “I set the goal and now I'm filling in all the blanks to make it happen.”
Because running had always been important to her and wisdom earned in a previous marathon motivated her during her COVID battle, Laura was drawn back to the event as a way to put COVID behind her and prove she’s still the person she always was.
In the throes of the virus, Laura had experienced excruciating headaches, lost her sight, slept 16-18 hours a day, and wondered if and how her ordeal would end. Then, as COVID symptoms receded, but with her vision still seriously impaired, she powered through the final courses of a graduate program with the “can’t not finish” attitude that drove her through her first marathon.
The blanks Laura is now filling in include finding running guides, building a support team, experiencing how visual impairment changes the running experience and, no small thing, getting fit enough to run the 26.2 miles from Minneapolis to St. Paul after being knocking off her feet by the virus.
“It was both exhilarating and also an awkward mess,” Laura said describing her first post-COVID run with a guide Twin Cities In Motion found for her. “I think we went maybe two miles total? I would run a block and then walk a block, run a block then walk a block.”
Laura was surprised by how much stamina had been robbed by COVID.
“It definitely was a lot harder than I thought it would be considering my memory kept referencing back to who I was before getting COVID,” the active, outdoorsy 37-year-old remembered. “But I was so excited to be back out. I didn't realize how much time it would take to recover fully.”
Laura kept moving forward, ultimately finding a committed running guide, Scott Skoog, as well as a sponsorship from the St. Paul Running Room that includes gear, training, coaching and a supportive community of fellow runners.
Laura now mixes solo treadmill running and guided outdoor runs with Scott and other guides to gradually build her fitness.
“We use a tether as we run,” she explained. “It sounds like some blind runners use verbal commands. But I'm so fresh into my visual impairment, that a tether feels more secure at this moment in time.”
Running side-by-side with each holding onto a climbing sling, Scott describes what Laura can’t see.
“I usually describe the landscape and use prompts,” he explained. “Phrases like "high toes," "bridge coming up," "tree roots," "follow close" and such. If I'm feeling a bit goofy, I say things like "gazelle the puddle," "zig zag," "zombies behind us". For setting pace, we check in with each other saying "how's it going?" and then adjust accordingly. When we match pace just right, it feels like we're flying!”
Laura runs with her eyes mostly closed, since light overwhelms her vision and causes pain due to photophobia and blepharospasm that has outlasted her other COVID symptoms.
“I can see enough where I can get bright little snapshots into the world,” Laura added. “I can't really orient myself to where I am. But I can at least tell if there are hazards in front of me. I've also noticed it's important for Scott to tell me when we're going up hills and for how long. It gives me an opportunity to prepare and know what to expect. It also gives me an opportunity to feel connected to what's around me.”
Laura’s impaired sight has modified her relationship with running.
“Running has become a very inward experience,” she said. “If I have muscle soreness, if I feel my lungs laboring or my heart pounding, it is a lot easier to get stuck on that. Whereas with my eyes I might attempt to get lost in something like the pretty clouds or pushing myself just a little bit harder as I approached the top of a hill. So, in some regards it has become a more difficult experience. A lot more meditative. Where I'm just stuck with my thoughts and my body as I run.”
“Running has become a very inward experience. ... A lot more meditative. Where I'm just stuck with my thoughts and my body as a run."
But Laura has also discovered new joys, including a fresh attitude towards birds.
“I used to like really expansive and open places,” Laura, a former Rocky Mountains backpacking guide, shared. “Now I love running with trees around me so I can hear the rustling of leaves, or the way the wind blows through the branches. I also used to think birds were kind of gross, but now I absolutely love them! I love hearing them chirp. I love hearing them move through the sky and listening to how their sounds change.”
And overall, from the onset of her COVID symptoms to her current strides toward the marathon, Laura has found reasons to be thankful -- that her condition isn’t worse and for the people who have supported her on her journey.
“Thank you,” she was eager to say, “for the overwhelming amount of random acts of kindness, generosity, love, support, and belief in me from all of my friends and family, coworkers, colleagues and clients at Sunrise Wellness, Least Counseling Services and the Metro CISM team, my advisor and academic support at Adler graduate school, Dr. Gothard and Dr. Beebe and my medical care team, Vision Loss Resources, Twin Cities In Motion, the Running Room for creating a partnership and sponsorship, and last but definitely not least to Scott Skoog my committed running guide.”
(Read the first part of Laura's story here.)
This article originally appeared in The Connection in June 2021 TCM's weekly e-newsletter. Subscribe here.
Today, Laura is no longer blind, but she has a permanent visual impairment from Photophobia and Blepharospasms. She's recently married -- to fellow marathoner Mark Putaski -- and plans to run this year's TC Half Marathon for More for the This Old Horse charity team.