Bonham finding her Stride
Bonham turning a life once limited by vision loss into one filled with finish lines
Amanda Bonham and her guide Anne Hunter Myers cross the finish line in Saturday’s Stars and Stripes 5K.
Late Thursday night, Amanda Vaughn Bonham found herself in a pickle.
She wanted to run the 45th annual Stars and Stripes 5K on Saturday morning but her cousin, Katie McCloud, who had guided her through the race each of the last three years, suddenly wasn't going to be able to make it. For most runners, missing one race would be disappointing but they could simply train the next day or find another event a week later.
Bonham isn’t one to wait for another opportunity though. Not when opportunities seemed like they’d never be there for her when she was younger.
Diagnosed with Stargardt disease around the age of 9, Bonham spent much of her childhood believing sports simply weren't going to be part of her life. As her vision declined, she never imagined there would come a day when she'd be training for marathons, qualifying for some of the country's biggest races and planning vacations around finish lines.
Now that’s she’s made it that far, giving up is never an option. She didn’t stop then and she wasn’t going to stop searching out ways to compete when the possibility of missing Saturday's race suddenly became real.
”For most of my life I never thought of myself as an athlete," Bonham said. "Sports seemed to be for people who could see how to catch and throw balls. I did not realize there were sports I could do."
That perspective has changed dramatically over the last several years, explaining why Bonham was determined to find a way to run in downtown McMinnville.
"I usually run this race with my first cousin, but on Thursday night she last minute backed out of the race," Bonham said. "I still really wanted to run it, but I found myself floundering. It is really tough to find volunteers to run with you for some reason. I guess the prospect intimidates a lot of people. I am competitive but am totally willing to run any pace if someone will just be my guide though! Or maybe people are worried about safety. I don't know."
Bonham's first thought was to rely on technology.
"I had the idea to run using my Meta glasses with my husband as my virtual guide, which would have been a first for me to run a race without a sighted guide using only tech," Bonham said.
Before committing to that plan, Bonham reached out to Anne Hunter Myers. She believed Myers could point her toward the race director to discuss whether the technology would be permitted during the event.
Instead, Myers solved the problem herself.
"When she wrote back she offered to be my guide if I would prefer," Bonham said. "After testing the glasses and finding a lag time of a bit more than one second, I wasn't as comfortable with the tech only idea, so I took her up on her offer."
The two talked the day before the race about what guiding would involve. Myers had never guided another runner before, but Bonham knew the multi-time Stars and Stripes champion had more than enough running experience to make the partnership work.
"I knew she was a seasoned runner with way faster paces than me, so I knew she would be a great guide,” Bonham said.
Bonham normally runs with a tether connecting her to her guide, but she accidentally left it behind Saturday morning. The duo had to wing it throughout the race, never slowing down along the way.
“She ran beside me for the race and occasionally I held on to her arm when things were tricky. I had a fantastic time running with Anne, and I hope we can do another race together in the future,” said Bonham.
The pair crossed the finish line in 27:05, tying for second in their age group. And while she was happy to claim her trophy in downtown McMinnville, it wasn’t the memory she was going to take from the day.
Simply having another opportunity to pin on a race bib and compete was enough. It was a feeling she never expected to experience when she was growing up, long before running became one of the defining parts of her life.
Bonham's path to becoming a runner didn't begin on a track or at the starting line of a road race - It began after a move across the country.
"While living in San Diego I discovered CrossFit and power lifting and suddenly found myself in a world of fitness I could actually do," Bonham said.
Running wasn't initially the goal, but things started to change the moment her second baby came into the world.
"I haven't been running for very long. I started running after my first baby was born. He will be 8 this September. I was only running 5Ks and not at all competitive. I was mostly a CrossFitter,” said Bonham. "After my second baby in 2020 I really got into running. I ran my first marathon in Nashville in 2024."
That journey may never have happened without a friend who saw possibilities Bonham hadn't yet considered for herself.
"I have a dear friend named Terry Rupp who lives in Las Vegas. She is an endurance runner who is also blind," Bonham said. "She encouraged me to explore the sport of running and helped arrange me to have my first guide with Achilles in my first ever race, which was a Turkey Trot in Las Vegas in 2019."
More importantly, Rupp convinced Bonham that running wasn't something she simply could do - It was something she could excel at.
The introduction to Achilles International, a nonprofit organization that pairs athletes with disabilities with volunteer guides and teammates, also opened doors for Bonham she never knew existed. Achilles brought Bonham into a community that continues to support her as her goals have grown from local 5Ks to some of the biggest marathons in the world.
"Achilles International is my run club, and they support my travel race events by helping me find guides and often covering some of the costs of the race, too," Bonham said. "This year they sponsored a travel trip to Dollywood for the park's first ever race weekend. I did all three distances to complete the Butterfly Challenge."
Rupp's encouragement didn't stop after Bonham finished her first race. As the miles piled up in training, Rupp believed Bonham was capable of much more than 5Ks.
"She was also the one who pushed me to do my first marathon after we had a chat and she heard how much I was running every week."
Bonham listened, completing her first marathon in Nashville in 2024. It wasn't long before one marathon became another goal, and then another. She has since completed the Boston Marathon, one of the sport's most prestigious races, and is ready to check another World Marathon Major off her list soon.
"This fall I am running the Chicago Marathon," Bonham said.
Those accomplishments would have seemed impossible to the little girl who once believed sports weren't meant for her.
"Running has changed my life," Bonham said. "I love the feeling of being able to run, to know there is something my body can do that takes me places in so many ways.
"Training gives me alone time and gives me time to meditate on life and God. Racing brings me into a greater community of like-minded people who are so welcoming and supportive and generally just amazing folks with so many stories of struggle and triumph."
Each race also introduces her to people she otherwise never would have met.
"I always meet inspiring people at these events, and especially when I am running with Achilles," Bonham said. "And the relationship I form with my guide runners is a special bond indeed.”
Myers became the latest name on a list that continues to grow - a list that Bonham doesn’t make to keep up with guides. Instead, Myers became another lifelong friend.
"Each person who has seen me through a race will forever be a friend to me,” said Bonham.
Friendships. Medals. A winning mindset.
Bonham has come a long way with the sport since leaving Tennessee.
And she’s come home intent on applying her new mindset in many different ways - something that may not have seemed possible when she was a little girl learning about an eye disease that would take away her vision gradually over the years.
Back then, there was less hope and more bitterness. And while running didn't restore Bonham's eyesight, it did change the way she viewed herself.
"There were many years of my life when I did not have love for my body," Bonham said. "I resented it and my sight loss. Taking charge of my body with fitness and especially with running has given me a freedom to love myself again. It is truly empowering to see your body adapt to training and perform at levels you could have never even imagine. I am so grateful to have found this hobby, and I hope to pursue it for many years to come."
Those miles have also shaped where Bonham hopes life takes her next.
She is currently studying to earn her personal trainer certification through the National Academy of Sports Medicine while also working to renew the massage therapy license she held for years before starting a family. Her goal is to blend the two professions, helping others move better, hurt less and discover the same confidence that running helped her find.
"I hope to combine body work, corrective exercise and personal training to help people move without pain and find their own power in fitness."
Those ambitions fit naturally with the life Bonham has built since returning home to Tennessee.
She and her husband are raising two boys on the family farm, where she homeschools her children and balances family life with a training schedule that has already carried her through Nashville and Boston and will soon take her to the starting line in Chicago.
Bonham knows competing in marathons means more work, more long training runs, more races requiring careful planning and, most likely, more guides willing to share the road beside her.
She also knows every challenge she has overcome has made the next one seem a little less intimidating, not because the obstacles have disappeared, but because she has spent years proving to herself that they don't have to define what comes next.
For Bonham, another starting line is always waiting. And if her journey has proven anything, it's that she's going to find a way to be standing on it.
