John Robert McKay has been legally blind since he was 2 years old. Back then, fluid had built up in his brain and was unable to circulate due to a shut vault. When doctors injected a tube to release the fluid, the pressure impaired his sight.

“It was going to happen, (but) I’d rather be blind than dead,” said McKay, now a freshman at Gordon College in Barnesville.

Being blind, however, has not prevented the 19-year-old history major from pursuing a hobby that most people wouldn’t associate with a lack of vision. He runs cross-country competitions.

Although McKay has been involved in track since sixth grade, cross country was a new experience to him when he first started it as a freshman in high school. “The uncertainty of not knowing where my feet are going is kind of freakish,” he said, referring to the fact that cross-country runners compete on sometimes uneven terrain.

“One day, he wanted me to see him run. It seemed like he was eager to do something,” said David Roper, McKay’s cross-country coach at Oglethorpe County High School in Lexington, Ga.

Roper asked McKay to join his team, and despite a few painful accidents over the years, a passion developed that continues to this day. Running his competitions with a guide has not had any impact on his competitiveness. In fact, between his first cross-country race in college in August and his last race on Halloween, McKay has improved his time for the five-mile course by five minutes.

“He’s persistent. He’s not trying to put on a show. He’s never really satisfied,” said Roper of his former student.

McKay himself is rather modest about his achievements.

“A blind person can do anything he wants to,” he said.

If proof of this statement is needed, try this: When asked about how he is able to move as comfortably around the Gordon College campus as he does, McKay said that before he started classes, he spent one afternoon memorizing the campus.