In this episode, Jenelle and Joy talk with their longtime friend Terri Rupp about identity, disability, motherhood, leadership, and ultra running. Terri shares how she moved from holding many leadership roles to finding balance through running, while also navigating blindness, hearing loss, and the everyday realities of raising teens in Las Vegas. They also explore what it means to be visible without becoming an “inspiration” object, and how mentorship, community, and self-acceptance shape Terri’s life both on and off the racecourse. Key topics Terri introduces herself through her many identities: mom of two teens, wife of a firefighter, immigrant, blind athlete, ultrarunner, and someone newly adapting to hearing loss.She reflects on saying yes to too many leadership roles in the National Federation of the Blind and why she used those titles to fill a gap when she didn’t feel like she had a career.Running becomes her source of peace, structure, and joy, especially because it gives her time away from constant calls, emails, texts, and meetings.Terri explains how she got into running as an adult, starting with a 5K, then a marathon goal, and eventually moving into 100-mile and timed ultra races.She breaks down what ultra running actually looks like for her: planning food, using walk-run strategies, and fueling every 45 minutes.Terri describes how she runs with sighted guides using a nylon tether, plus verbal cues like left, right, and “my way” or “your way.”She shares how her guide dog Trinket is specially trained for running and can handle weekday runs up to about 6 miles.The conversation explores the mental side of endurance, including sleeping during fixed-time races, hitting the wall, and learning when to push through versus when to stop.Terri opens up about the emotional strain of balancing disability, parenting, volunteering, and caregiving, especially as her children become more independent.The hosts and Terri discuss the gap between how a blind person wants to show up and what the environment allows, especially in social situations where seeing and greeting people is harder.Terri reflects on identifying as blind, even with usable vision, and how blindness skills training and the blindness philosophy helped her accept that “blind is blind.”She talks about supporting her daughter, who also has a degenerative eye condition, by exposing her to positive blind role models and programs without pushing too hard.Terri names mentors and “expanders” in both blindness and running, including Joanne Wilson and Pam Allen, and explains how other runners have helped stretch her sense of possibility.The episode closes with Terri discussing a rare OPN1 gene variant that affects her hearing, balance, and nerves, and how she’s adapting through health, nutrition, and movement.
