‘I feel free’: Bay Ridge man who lost his sight finds freedom in running marathons

One morning, Bay Ridge resident Zak Turner noticed his computer screen at work looked blurry. He figured it might be time for glasses. What happened next was something he never expected.

Months after first experiencing blurry vision, Turner, 25 at the time, sat beside his girlfriend — now his wife — waiting for the doctor to come back into the room.

The doctor let them know Turner had tested positive for a rare gene linked to Leber’s Hereditary Optic Neuropathy, a condition that would cause him to rapidly lose his eyesight over the next six months, leaving him with only peripheral vision.

As his condition became more severe, Turner feared he would lose his job, his independence, and the life he had built for himself.

“A lot of the next six months. It was kind of like that ‘why me’ mentality, I don’t deserve this,” Turner told Brooklyn Paper. “I always prided myself on pushing through things, but this was one obstacle [and] I was like, oh my gosh, this is tough.” 

Turner was used to pushing himself — he grew up playing football, basketball, baseball and soccer. He went on to play college football at Sacred Heart University in Connecticut.

But now, just a few years later, he had lost all central vision in his eyes.

“ There was something in the back of my head where people thought I couldn’t do things anymore because I’m legally blind,” Turner. “There’d be times where I would sign up for something, and my wife would be like,’ Zak, nobody thinks you can’t do something. But it was like this internal motivation.” 

He decided to return to sports, starting with tandem biking and then guided running. Turner admits that when he began his running journey, he could barely finish a mile.

“If I never lost my eyesight, who knows, I may never have run a marathon,” he said.

Turner runs with a “guide” who leads him using a tether. The freedom he found in running became a spark that would change the next few years of his life.

“ A lot of my days are walking around with caution, making sure I don’t miss a step or walk into someone,” he said.

But when he’s running with someone, it’s a different story.

“I feel free like I don’t need to tiptoe [or] make sure I don’t miss something,” he said. “There’s some times where I will just close my eyes, and I’ll tell my guide this is the best feeling ever.”

Turner runs with the support of his wife, his sister-in-law Christine, a marathon runner, and Achilles International, a running group that supports runners with disabilities.

One mile became easy to run, Turner said, and soon, three miles felt like one. This progress led him to the starting line of the 2022 New York City Marathon.

“I remember vividly, I was so emotional right before I started. I was just crying to Christine because I was so happy,” he said. “I used to joke people who run marathons are nuts, and then I’m at the start line about to approach mile one, and I’m like, this is unbelievable.”

Friends and family came out to cheer on Turner and his sister-in-law Christine, who ran side by side for 26.2 miles. Around mile 16, exhaustion set in, slowing their pace, but they promised each other they would finish the race no matter how long it took.

“I run with someone the whole time, and I’m so fortunate for that,” Turner said. “Whether we’re talking, pushing each other, or getting through the tough times, there’s a lot of people out there on the course doing a marathon by themselves.”

They eventually reached the finish line, where their friends and family were waiting for them.

“We just both were so emotional, just crying because we were in so much pain, but so happy we finished,” said Turner. 

Turner said his first marathon was one of the hardest things he had ever done. Within a year, he was ready to do it again at the 2023 Boston Marathon. 

As a runner, Turner has exceeded what he once thought was possible as a visually impaired athlete. He said he loves the trust and communication involved in guided running and enjoys working with guides who are new to the process, coaching them along the way.

He has found spots in his Bay Ridge neighborhood where he can run independently.

Beyond running, Turner has expanded his life in ways he never expected before his LHON diagnosis. He still has the same job he had before his disability but has also begun speaking at conferences and events, sharing his running journey.

Now, he is preparing for his next race — the New York City Marathon in November. This year, he faces a new set of challenges: finding time to train, aiming to beat his previous marathon times and caring for his newborn child.

“My whole goal is to get more awareness around the visually impaired blind community, but also, to inspire others to push themselves outside their comfort zones,” Turner said. “That’s what I’m doing and I want to set an example.”