David Brown is one of the world's fastest blind runners and runs with his guide, Jerome Avery. Their relationship is all about trust as the two are tethered together by a short strap as they race around the track.
David Brown is one of the world’s fastest blind runners, a two-time record breaker, and the first totally blind athlete to run 100m in under 11 seconds. Jerome Avery is his running guide. The two run tethered together by a short strap. They train together almost daily to maintain their synchronization and speed, and that hard work shows on and off the track. In this episode, hear how David fell in love with running, their journey to start running together, and what it feels like when they’re the first to cross the finish line.
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Shelby Stanger:
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Jerome Avery:
You're too close in. Veer out, veer out a little bit. Stay right there. There you go. Good job. Keep going. Come on. Let's go. We're at the 30 meter mark. Come on, pick it up now.
Shelby Stanger:
This is how Jerome Avery guides David Brown as they run races together. David is legally blind and Jerome is his guide. They run side by side, inches apart connected by a tiny leather string that's wrapped around their fingers. As a team, they call themselves Bravery.
David Brown:
It balances out because where his strong point is, is my weak point. I need help with my arms swings and he helps with that. He needs help with his chicken legs and I help with that.
Shelby Stanger:
For most people, sprinting is an individual sport, but obviously not for these guys. Neither of them could just put their head down and run. They're tied together. David is blindfolded and Jerome is calling out commands. Still, they're able to run at world-class speeds. David holds the hundred meter world record as a blind runner, and he's known as the fastest blind sprinter in the entire world. I'm Shelby Stanger in this is Wild Ideas Worth Living. David and Jerome have run together almost every day for the past six years. They practice together in Chula Vista, California and interestingly enough, their coach is actually my old high school track coach. We'll get to that, but for now I want to backup and talk about how David lost his vision and took up running.
Shelby Stanger:
So, I read that you weren't born blind. Is there any way you can talk about the experience of going blind and what that was like, especially as a teenager?
David Brown:
Yeah, so age of 15 months old I came down with a disease called Kawasaki's and it gave me glaucoma and when I was three years old, I had a surgery for my left eye, caused it to shrink into its eye socket. And when I was six, the vision in my right eye started going bad and my vision started decreasing gradually over the span of seven years. And so, from the age of 6 to 13, I'm going blind and back then, and I played basketball and a lot of things like football, baseball, and those things started hitting me in the face. So it was very frustrating and confusing and when I was 11, I moved to St. Louis to attend, but Missouri School for the Blind. And that's when a lot of things actually changed because, of course, that's geared towards blind people. So I was able to do sports that blind people can do and, of course, read and write and all those other things.
Shelby Stanger:
That's really cool you went to a school for blind people. Your mom... Sounds like she was a rockstar, as well.
David Brown:
Yeah, she actually packed up and moved from Kansas City with me to St. Louis, just so I wouldn't have to be a residential athlete, her and my sisters. So, I really appreciate them for that.
Shelby Stanger:
How did you get into running then?
David Brown:
So I grew up running up and down the basketball court. And then, from there, since my vision started going bad, I got into running because I was able to see where I was going and wasn't bumping into anything so I challenged my friends to foot races and stuff, and I was running super fast. And if my friends jumped out in front of me, I was able to dodge them and just keep on running. And just the way that I felt when I was running, just how fast I was going and the freedom that I felt, that's what I love about it to this day. And when I moved to St. Louis, Missouri, that's actually when I got into track in particular. So I was running before then, I was just sprinting and going as fast as I could but then I started doing more structured track and field and long jump and all that other stuff when I moved to St. Louis and things just started changing from then. The coach saw how fast I was going just running around the track. And he was like, "You know what? This kid is going to be something."
Shelby Stanger:
In 2012, David won a contest and was selected as one of 25 emerging athletes to travel as a spectator to a major international running competition. It was there where he clarified his dream. He was going to become a professional runner. Meanwhile, Jerome was already an accomplished runner, but he was just learning about the art of guide running.
Jerome Avery:
A good friend at the time that I was training with was a leg amputee. And he has pretty much said after I was ready to go home and call it a season, he pretty much said, "Hey, do I want to go to Athens, Greece as a guide runner?" And the first thing I thought about was, "Athens, Greece. I've never been to Athens, Greece." And then I was like, "I've never been around anybody who was blind." And the opportunity had opened up and I just went for it. And I just continued to get better as a guide runner through the years of working with so many talented athletes. And here I am this day with David Brown, doing some amazing things.
Shelby Stanger:
So this is the part of the story where my old track coach comes in. Joaquim Cruz is one of the fastest 800 meter runners in history. After his professional running career, he had a brief stint coaching my high school track team at La Jolla High. Now coach Cruz is David's coach in Chula Vista, California. When he started working with David, Joaquim saw that he had strength and he had power, but in order to unleash his full potential, David needed a guide runner. So they found Jerome and brought Jerome to his team.
Shelby Stanger:
What was it like the first time you guys trained like this? Do you remember?
David Brown:
Well, I remember the first time I actually started running with a guide. It felt so weird. My first time actually running with a guide was actually with Jerome in 2010, surprisingly.
Jerome Avery:
Yeah, sure was, huh?
David Brown:
How that came about was I was given a chance, an opportunity, to run on a relay team alongside him and some other athletes. And I was paired up with Jerome, and that was my first time ever running with a guide, and even running with a tether. And like I said, just going from running by myself to now, I have to learn how to run with somebody else and listen to them. And even just get a feel of the track as far as a curve goes or the straight away. And then now here we're getting introduced to a relay. I didn't even know that blind people could do a relay. It was just so new to me. It was so crazy. But in 2014, me and Jerome was paired up. I had been running for about two years at that time and that's when, I guess you could say, I found another boost of speed in me, was when I paired up with Jerome. I was able to run with a guide who was experienced, and who knew what he was doing, and was confident and comfortable in what he was doing and so I was able to just kick into gear and find out what I had. And not only that just realized how fast Jerome was compared to where I was at that time. I'm like, "Man, you know what? I could actually go as fast as I want to, not have to worry about running this dude down." So I just cut loose.
Shelby Stanger:
I know anyone who listens to this is going to be like, "How the heck does this work?" So can you tell me the nitty gritty of how you two run together?
David Brown:
What happens is we're synchronizing our steps like a three legged race, we're no more than three to four inches apart from each other. And when we're running, I can't see where I'm going. So I'm running completely blindfolded. I have gauze underneath these sleep shades. So it makes me completely blind as well as everybody else who I'll compete against, so it's required for us to wear the gauze pads as well as the sleep shades or some form of eye covering to where we can't see through it. And when we're out there running, since I can't see where I'm going, I can run into Jerome. I can run away from Jerome. So Jerome is literally pushing and pulling me in, and it's a lot of work in order to one, keep me in the lane, because we only have two lanes that's given to us. So there's four people in a final. So it makes it a lot harder for us to get into a final. And then, it's very hard to stay in sync. Jerome, you can talk about that if you want.
Jerome Avery:
Yeah. That's why it's very important to communicate. David needs to know where he's at on the track at all times, from the beginning of the race to the end of the race, and those are the important things, like David touched on, we're allowed two lanes. And within those two lanes, we can go in and out of that, as long as he doesn't step on the outside lane and I don't step on the outside lane, he's fine. So that middle line, it doesn't exist for us. It's just two lanes that's one big lane. And like he said, he may veer in a little bit and I'll use that arm as we're running with the tether side and I'd veer it in and out. So it's almost like a steering wheel while we're running if he veers into me a little bit. And once again, communication. "David, you're too close in, veer out, veer out a little bit, stay right there. There you go. Good job. Keep going, come on. Let's go. We're at the 30 meter mark. Come on, pick it up now." So these are the things that I'm constantly saying while we're running a hundred meters. So I got to make sure, once again, that I'm in shape and ready to go, because David needs to hear those things. He needs to know exactly where he's at. So, a perfect example, it's almost like you're doing a workout and you have your strength coach saying, "Great, give me two more. Give me one more." And if you know you got one more in you and he's yelling that out to you and motivating you and pumping you up, you're going to give it your all. And that's when I'll say, "Give five more meters." And that five more meters before that finish line, David is just pumping through that finish line. And I at the last little bit, I don't think I said this, but when he crosses the finish line, I have to veer back. David has to cross first. Or if I cross first, he'll get disqualified. So we're in cadence running. But at that last of couple of feet, I'll slightly veer back a little bit, just so he can take the lead and cross that finish line.
David Brown:
Yeah, there's like a split second of just a pause and then I will lean forward and he's just hovering in mid-air almost.
Jerome Avery:
Yeah, he's absolutely right.
David Brown:
It's something like it's just that quick too where you don't even see it. And if you're not paying attention, you'll miss it.
Shelby Stanger:
That's awesome. Is there anything you guys do, technique wise, to be so in sync when you run? How long did it really take for you guys to find your rhythm?
Jerome Avery:
David just has to run. Run like he's been running, and of course, our coach teaches us technique and everything, but my job is to mimic and run like David and not have David try to run like me. So I'm just going pretty much off of him and what he has going on. Do you want to touch on that, David?
David Brown:
Yeah, Jerome and I, we have two different kinds of running styles and he talks about this a lot. Jerome, he's a pretty boy kind of runner.
Shelby Stanger:
What does that mean?
Jerome Avery:
Yeah. I'm technical and prancy, I have these long levers.
David Brown:
Yeah, he has long levers.
Jerome Avery:
And so when I'm running, you can see my form. I have great technique and form.
Shelby Stanger:
Great form.
Jerome Avery:
And then when David is running, aggressive, muscle, power, explosiveness.
David Brown:
Yeah. I'm very explosive. That's the thing. My strong point is least the first 30 meters is my strong suit. Jerome talks about it a lot. He's like, "I'll be a great 60 meter runner."
Jerome Avery:
Yeah, you definitely would.
David Brown:
So pure power and speed. I come out, I'm hitting the ground hard. And I'm just quick with my feet.
Jerome Avery:
And if you see us, our builds are totally different too. He glutes, his legs are bigger than mine. I got chicken legs. But my upper body is bigger than his. So it's totally opposite. So if we took half of each other's bodies and formed one person, we might be the fastest person in the world.
Shelby Stanger:
Faster than Usain Bolt, I love it.
David Brown:
Yeah, and then go 8.9.
Jerome Avery:
We might Usain a run for his money.
Shelby Stanger:
So is there a lot of what's going on right here going on? Lots of banter and any smack talking or words of encouragement?
Jerome Avery:
Of course. I think the relationship that we have, I mean, we developed that. We're more or less brothers now. So, ups and downs, just like any relationship or just even that motivation where he knows the right things to say to get me pumped up, or I know the right things to say to get him pumped up, but nothing intentionally to make us get mad at each other. It just gets us fired up and ready to practice. He'll always throw in my age. My age. "Oh, you're getting old. You can't keep up now." And then I'm just like, "Okay, I'll show you." And then I'll say something and when David gets quiet while we're training, he's ready to go. That means he's ready to go. If David doesn't say nothing at practice, he's ready, he's focused, he's honed in and he's fired up. And those are just those different things. We know what to do and say to get each other motivated and pumped up.
Shelby Stanger:
I love it. What's a difference between your ages? Jerome, how old are you? And David, how old are you?
Jerome Avery:
I just turned 42.
Shelby Stanger:
Yeah. And David?
David Brown:
I'm 28.
Shelby Stanger:
Spring chicken. Love it. Younging.
David Brown:
So you got the seasoned chicken and the spring chicken.
Shelby Stanger:
So when you guys are racing, what body parts do you pay attention to? What is the movement that you're listening to? Feeling?
David Brown:
Yeah, so me, honestly, I'm focusing on, and this is something that is still carrying over from when I was running in high school. So when I was running in high school at the school for the blind, we run on these things called wires. So we're literally holding onto a wire and I'm just running with one arm. And so when I started running with a guide, I'm now having to pump both arms and having to do that after running on just a wire and running with just one arm for a long time, cannot compute, long story short.
David Brown:
And then I ran with a few guides too that really didn't stay in sync with me. So a lot of the time I had to keep my arm just by myself as they would pump their arms and stuff like that, just because of course we would run out of sync and then things would just get messy. Tether will fly off and stuff like that. Like I said, stuff is just getting messy. So what I'm focusing on, when I'm running a lot is honestly my arm swing, and Jerome reminds me of that a lot too. And that's his strong suit. Like I said, his strength is my weakness. So he's like, "Arms, arms." And he's constantly telling me that and I'm like, "Okay, arms, arms." And then that just pretty much helps my legs because my legs know what to do.
Jerome Avery:
Yeah. I definitely think the arms are very important and cadence is very important, to match his cadence and becoming one person while we're running. So like David said that arm, that controls pretty much everything like our cadence, our movement. And once again, if one of us arms goes up and the other ones are back, we're not in sync like he was saying, so we have to continue to be in sync. And just going off that arm, that controls it all.
Shelby Stanger:
You can tell these two know a lot about each other's running styles and mindsets. I guess that's what happens when you've been tethered together and training together on the track for six years straight. When we come back, David and Jerome share their team nickname, they're at home training hacks, and they talk about what it was like to win their first major race.
Shelby Stanger:
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Shelby Stanger:
In 2016, David and Jerome competed as a team in a major international competition. Although Jerome had competed there before, it was David's first time there as a competitor, and they both took home their first wins. So, you guys won first place in a major international race in 2016, which really brought you into the public eye as one of the fastest duos in the entire world. What was that moment like for you?
Jerome Avery:
Oh, it was a great feeling. Coming back and rebuilding and getting the opportunity to work with David in 2014 moving forward, he was prepared, he was ready to go. All I had to do was just do my job as a guide runner, and I knew everything else would take care of itself, but having him on that podium seeing the smile. And I don't know if he remembered this, but afterwards, I usually take him to his mom. Once we cross the finish line, that's the first place I take him to is his mom so his mom could see him and he broke out in a dance. Oh, my god, you got to see this.
David Brown:
That was funny.
Shelby Stanger:
I want to see this dance. We might have to get a replay of this.
Jerome Avery:
Oh, yeah, he broke out in a dance, but just that excitement and that thrill of being a part of something special and something that has never been done. So it was all big.
Shelby Stanger:
Badass. David, so you are basically the fastest blind man in the world.
David Brown:
I also hold the world record actually in the 100 meters as well. So we hold the world record for the whole totally blind classification with 10.92. So I'm the first blind athlete to go under 11 seconds in the hundred meters.
Shelby Stanger:
That's amazing. I don't know anybody who runs a hundred under 11 seconds, except for you now.
David Brown:
And Jerome.
Shelby Stanger:
And Jerome. I know two people.
Jerome Avery:
This is true, don't leave me out.
Shelby Stanger:
So I love that you guys combined your last names, Brown and Avery, and your team, Bravery.
Jerome Avery:
He'll tell you the story on that one.
David Brown:
Yeah, my sister actually came up with that. So, one day I was texting with my sister and she was throwing together just some marketing stuff for us and everything else. And then all of a sudden, she just randomly said, "Yeah, just got to get this Team Bravery thing going, this Brown and Avery." I was like, "Bravery. That's dope."
Shelby Stanger:
It's pretty dope.
David Brown:
And she said it just jokingly.
Shelby Stanger:
I'll give you that, it is definitely dope.
David Brown:
But I took it serious and I was like, "You know what?" I dished it out to Jerome and he was like, "I like that."
Jerome Avery:
And that was it until I thought about, "Wait, wait, wait. Brown. Avery. Oh, that's our last names." It took me a little bit, but we got it.
Shelby Stanger:
I love it.
David Brown:
It was funny because for a while, it took him a second, he was like, "So your name come in?" I'm like, "The BR."
Shelby Stanger:
Team Bravery. I love that. When Jerome and David trained together, they aren't just practicing to increase their speed and strength. They have to practice what it feels like to run together as a synchronized unit. When you watch them run, their feet hit the ground at almost the exact same time. And Jerome's job as a guide is pretty complex. He not only has to stay faster than David, so he can keep up with him if David gets a second wind, but he also has to be in good enough shape where he can talk to David and motivate him and give him commands while running at record speeds. So what does training look like for you guys? Can one of you walk me through a typical day of training?
David Brown:
Well, our days are broken up. We train six days a week and it's broken up Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays are... Well for me, shall I say, because Jerome's is switched, but Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays are my lifting days, as well as sprints and mechanics. And then Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays are a little longer days. So a speed endurance or endurance days, where we may do a fartlek. You know what that is.
Shelby Stanger:
Fartlek's where you go slow, then fast, and you just mix it up.
David Brown:
Yeah, I'm like, "You were with coach Cruz, you know what that is." Yeah, the fartleks, or we may do a circuit day, or we may do some short sprints, more volume. That's what it usually comes to on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. And then Sundays is our rest day. Jerome, you want to say what you do?
Jerome Avery:
So we meet up now, since everything has changed in our schedule has changed, we made up at least three to four times a week. It all depends on what we have going on for the most part. But it's usually three to four times a week. And in between then, I'm making sure that got to stay in shape and ready to go too. So the days that I don't meet up with David, I'll be doing my own training as well, because not only do I need to run alongside of him, but I definitely need to make sure I'm faster than him as well, too.
Jerome Avery:
Just in case, because David sometimes will sneak out and jump out real quick. And I got to make sure I'm able to react to him no matter how fast he goes. So those are the things I definitely have to make sure I'm ready. And even then, if we're doing a workout together, I'll actually do an extra one at my tempo. Those are the things that are very important as a guide runner. I can't only just run with him, but I have to be faster than him and stronger, because David, he's a bulldog and he'll push you all over the place if you ain't strong enough to handle it.
David Brown:
It's not easy, what he does, or should I say what we do. It's a lot of literal give and take, pushing and pulling out there.
Shelby Stanger:
So you guys, the pandemic obviously has changed the way we do podcasts. It's changed everything. How has it affected your training?
David Brown:
Well, it affected us in the sense like Jerome mentioned, we only see each other three days a week now, but the grind never stops. We're finding ways to adapt and do things where we are in the sense of our home gyms and stuff like that. And when we do meet up, we make sure it's good quality work. Coach Cruz has been doing a great job putting together workouts while we're in quarantine. And even when we do meet up to make it just, honestly, butt kicker workouts and I've been enjoying this training the way that we've been training and doing the things that we've been doing, we've been making some great gains and this season should be a great season, honestly. Jerome?
Jerome Avery:
Yeah. Honestly, it was a blessing in disguise. It allowed us to honestly heal our bodies and focus on refocus and work on things that we felt like we needed to. Mine was mainly nutrition and recovery. We constantly train in and out, for the whole year pretty much. And we only take maybe a month off, if that.
David Brown:
If that, yeah.
Jerome Avery:
So, and I'm talking about with competitions week after week. So our body is healed now, our body is recovered. We're able to strengthen certain areas that we felt that we were lacking. David will speak on nutrition, just those small little things that we were able to hone in and work on. So it was a blessing in disguise if you ask me. And on top of that, I think though it also allowed us to get away from the training facility and practice at parks, practice where it was an open field, away from a lot of people. So we were able to have different scenery of training because if you train in the same spot so much you get cabin fever and you ready for something different, you ready for something else. And that's one thing that is great about having coach Cruz as your coach, someone who is elite and been there before, he understands, "Okay, let's move to somewhere else. I see how you guys are body's looking, I see what you guys are running. Let's go somewhere else." And he'll noticed once we're in a different environment, in a different area, how well we'll adapt to it. So those are the good things about having a great coach and an experienced coach with us every day.
Shelby Stanger:
That's awesome.
David Brown:
Yeah. Feel this has given me a chance and an opportunity to actually, I want to say explore myself as an athlete, be able to adapt to this situation. Before I was even at the training center, what helped me get to the training center was I was doing a lot of stuff from my house. Like what I'm doing now, whether it be drills or strength and conditioning, whatever it may be. It reminds me of getting just back to my roots and what I was doing when I was a teenager. The love of the sport is coming back and the field is getting fired up again.
Shelby Stanger:
Do you guys have any advice for people who are not be able to hit the track? Any stay at home tips for training to stay active and fit while we're still, in Southern California, on semi lockdown?
David Brown:
The best thing, my tips is to, well, go on walks. Me and my girlfriend been going on a lot of walks lately, and that's one way to stay active. You don't have to have those hard hitting, pumping walks, just go on a walk, get outside, grab a jump rope. I've been hitting jump rope a lot and that's been one way to stay good and cardio based. And then if you want to do a little more attract specific stuff, you can always do walking drills. I do walking drills and high knees and stuff. I know Jerome mentioned, are you still doing this, high knees on your bed and stuff?
Jerome Avery:
Yeah, I do.
David Brown:
Yeah. So you can do stuff like that too where high knees on your mattress, just for some resistance training and stuff like that.
Shelby Stanger:
How's that mattress holding up?
Jerome Avery:
Surprisingly, it actually works good. Because the first thing you want to do is your body's want to sink when you're doing a high knees, but you got to focus on keeping your body in that position. Super tiring as well, too.
David Brown:
It's very tiring. It's great.
Jerome Avery:
There's so much around us that we can actually utilize that we don't think about, especially when we have our track and have our gyms and have all these access to other things. There's so much around us. I've even just started walking or doing stuff where I would go in and out of my building complex and just realize, "Oh, there's an incline right here. It's about a 50 meter incline. I can do some hill runs right there, or some quick explosive stuff. Huh, why don't I utilize this little lever to my balcony that opens up, and I can do box jumps pretty much?" Or just different things like that. Now let me tell you this, the balcony isn't where I would fall over on the other side. So, throw that out there.
David Brown:
If you're in an apartment complex and you're on the third floor, do some stair walks, walk up and down the stairs.
Jerome Avery:
And that's one of those things. I just started utilizing everything that was around me. I started putting it to use and started incorporating that in my day and day activities.
David Brown:
Same here. And then of course, I got med balls and stuff like that. So of course you can also purchase some equipment if you want to, there is some pretty cheap prices out there for some stuff, if you want to do it, if anything, Jerome was doing this, he was talking about filling the jugs of water and doing curls and stuff. Right?
Jerome Avery:
Yeah, see there's so much around us. Partner up. If you have a partner that you're quarantining with, partner up doing resistance stuff, doing weight stuff together, using them as weights. There's so much that we can actually do.
Shelby Stanger:
Talk to me about what's next. Obviously there hasn't been a lot going on in the last year. Are you guys ready for the world championships?
David Brown:
I'm just going to be honest on the podcast with you all. I hope it happens. Whatever happens though, I will say this, Jerome and I will be ready, no matter what. So if it happens, we're ready. If it doesn't, we're ready, and we're going to be doing what we did once COVID hit at the same time. We were grinding before, once COVID hit, we continued to grind and got better. So we'll just keep on going and keep on pushing and no matter the situation, we just going to be ready, in season as well as out of season. That's just me. What do you say, Jerome?
Jerome Avery:
That's the perfect answer right there, I can't even come back after that. You said everything that I would say. That's it.
Shelby Stanger:
It's so clear that David and Jerome work in cadence with each other on and off the track. They're such a great example of how the most powerful relationships require give and take. Fingers crossed, all is well with the world and Team Bravery can compete again this year. I can't wait to watch them dance across the finish line in their next competition. Jerome and David, thank you so much for coming on the show. I had so much fun talking to you guys. Your energy is contagious. It makes me want to run and get out there and do so much more than I think I can. Wild Ideas Worth Living is part of the REI podcast network. It's hosted and created by me, Shelby Stanger, written and edited by Sylvia Thomas, and produced by Chelsea Davis. Our executive producers are Paolo Mottola and Joe Crosby. As always, we love it and we read all of your reviews. So please not only subscribe, but rate and review the show wherever you listen and remember some of the best adventures happen when you follow your wildest ideas.