Last week, I was in El Paso, Texas. I was with my sister from the Netherlands, visiting my daughter and granddaughter. They were helping my daughter’s best friend, who is legally blind, while her husband is serving overseas until October. Ft. Bliss is a huge base with a beautiful common area and El Paso is definitely a place to visit — especially when you like it hot, and I do! Her friend Katie has the albino gene and has had bad eyesight since birth. When she was 20, she lost it so much that she is legally blind with very slight vision in left eye, where she can put something almost up to her eye to see.

When I decided to visit her, she asked if I could be her “eyes” on the obstacle course event in downtown El Paso, since her husband typically does this for her. (She has done multiple marathons, ultras and obstacle courses blind.) I asked her how long it was, and she said it was a 5K with 15 obstacles. I said, “for you I will!” Mind you, I was the obstacle queen in my earlier days and haven’t done one since, because I think I would get hurt going crazy!

However, as her “eyes,” I was honored to guide her through the obstacle course. Most people are aware of the Spartan Races, mud runs, etc. This one is called “Badass Human Race.” They are all over the U.S., but this was the first one in El Paso. They have big containers which transfer into an obstacle, and some of the obstacles are climbing over walls, carrying heavy buckets up and down containers, running over stacked tires, pushing a heavy cart, throwing as medicine ball to a target, climbing ropes and walls, just to name a few. Katie is blind and she was killing it! Even the target throws with the medicine ball she got immediately. If you didn’t want to do the obstacles, you had to do burpees. There were just a few who did burpees.

The whole time I was in awe of her grit and determination. Before we started, one person saw she was blind and said, “you must be kidding me,” when we walked by and she had her white cane. My sister Anke found this lady and asked why she said what she did, and of course the lady was backtracking her comment. Truly, all other people were so supportive of her and were amazed how she conquered the obstacles. When we had to go over a mountain of tires (from low to high) she said, I got this, and started “running.” I followed right behind her when other people were verbally struggling. She hollered, “Just close your eyes!” A true warrior.

The obstacle before the last one was a cargo net about 20 feet high. Only four people could get on this at a time, so there were lots of people waiting (the event had 5,200 participants). I guided her up the cargo net (yes, I can still climb ropes and cargo nets very well!). On the back of my shirt, it said “Katie’s Eyes.” When she was almost at the top, everyone chanted “Katie, Katie, Katie” and applauded when she climbed on top.

Our last obstacle was climbing in a big container filled with ice and ice water. The top 12 inches were ice cubes. We both actually were looking forward to it, as it was super hot. I have never jumped in such a big ice bath, going under obstacle and over, and the cold was stabbing our bodies. But we did it! We finished and didn’t get injured, which was our goal for that day.

No matter what part of your life you are in, you must grab that bull by the horns. Life itself has so many obstacles, and with grit and determination, you too will conquer them. And lastly, if you can’t say anything nice, just don’t say anything at all. We must empower, respect and care for each other to make this a better world.

Ester H. Marsh is associate executive director, director of healthy living and a Badass Human Race finisher.