Relentless Romero Blogs

My youngest daughter took this picture of me last week. I was riding to a coffee shop near our home to give her some money, so she could have something to eat and drink with her friends. As it turned out, she was not at the coffee shop and was in a car with a bunch of her friends going in the opposite direction. Her friends spied me, and hollered at me out the window. I couldn't look up as I need to concentrate intently on the road in front of me so I can avoid potholes and hazards in the road. My daughter's friends began asking her how I was able to ride a bike when I couldn't see. Like me, she just passed on another long winded explanation of explaining my degenerative eye condition and the meaning of legal blindness. She has had to explain my legal blindness so many times, I could understand how she was just tired of rehashing the same topic another time. When I got home, she showed me this picture. This is the first time I have seen myself "commuting" since

As I struggled with a difficult situation of the heart, a person I respect very much once told me four words that gave me the courage to continue moving forward.  Those words were: There are no rules I had to pause for a moment and process the profoundness of this wisdom. She was correct. There are no rules for how we fall in or out of love. In fact, some of the greatest love stories have the most unlikely beginnings. The same can be said for inventions, discoveries and breakthroughs. Most of the time, a brave soul has to withstand monumental criticism and opposition in order to bring something truly extraordinary into existence. This was true for Thomas Edison's thousands of failed experiments before the light bulb, Steve Jobs' journey to inventing the iPhone, and Mick Fleetwood's saga that resulted in the creation of a timeless band that would birth the Rumours  album. Conventional thought can be a deadening of the soul. It can be an excuse for medioc

I have ran many races in my lifetime - some through deserts, some through mountains, some through major cities - and I've always said they are 90% mental and 10% physical. For the first time in my running career I am thinking my next race will be 90% physical and 10% mental. Next Saturday, I will toe the start line for the 1st Annual Taco Bell 50k run in Denver, Colorado. The Taco Bell 50k is the brain child of Lazarus "Twinkle Toes" Zolnikov. "Zoli" is a mysterious man of Russian decent who is said to reside in the Denver Metropolitan area. Few people have ever seen him, and it is said you will know him by his deep Russian accent. On one occasion, it is rumored that Zoli ate 30 hard shelled tacos in one sitting at a Taco Bell. The Taco Bell 50k is shrouded in mystery, and nobody knows when it will be ran. In fact, just 10 days before the race a FaceBook invite was sent out to select runners notifying them of a "guaranteed entry" into the ra

Have you ever dreamed of doing something really big that scared the pants off of you?  Have you ever failed at something, and struggled to find the courage to get back in the game and try to remedy your failure?  Have you ever thought something was impossible, then you did it and discovered it was possible? This is the story of my Summer in 2018.   Almost eight years ago, I discovered an athletic challenge called “Leadman”.  It is a series of endurance events that takes place in Leadville, Colorado – the highest incorporated town in America at 10,135’ above sea level (there is 30% less oxygen in Leadville as compared to sea level).  In order for an athlete to be named Leadman/Leadwoman, they must complete five events: 1.    Trail Marathon 2.    50 mile trail ultramarathon or mountain bike 3.    100 mile mountain bike 4.    10k run 5.    100 mile trail unltramarathon These events take place over a 10-week time period from June to August in Leadville. The c