Don Balcom, a mechanical engineer with Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD), has been selected by the International Paralympic Committee(IPC) to represent Team USA at the London Marathon in April.

"I love the competition," Balcom said. "Running allows me to push myself and I love how I feel when I cross the finish line. You have to endure a lot in order to finish. These are more than races to me. These are goals. It's very fulfilling to cross something off your bucket list."

Balcom is visually impaired, with five degrees of vision in each eye and also diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa, which causes constriction of peripheral vision. Despite his disability, Balcom has been ranked number one among visually impaired runners by the IPC in the United States and 13th in the world. While Balcom has steadily moved up the national and international rankings, he didn't start running to gain notoriety; he started to lose weight.

"When I first started to run, I was a little overweight," explained Balcom. "I was sitting around a break room, eating my lunch and watching an Ironman Competition and I thought how it would be fun to lose some weight and compete."

He began his training by running short distances on a treadmill at home and began searching for triathlons and races in the area. While searching, he found the Paralympic Sport Club of Southern Maryland.

Paralympic Sport - Southern Maryland is a not for profit, community-based sports club managed by St. Mary's County Recreation and Parks. This program was developed to expand the availability of quality sport and physical activity programs for physically and visually impaired youth and adults. The primary emphasis is to involve permanently injured veterans.

Balcom also made contact with Disabled Sports USA who asked if he would like to run a sanctioned road race. They had a team of veterans who were competing in the Hood to Coast Relay Race in Oregon. Although he had never run competitively, he was offered a spot on the 12-person roster.

According to Balcom, he had no idea how large the race was or that he would be competing against nearly 13,000 people. Hood to Coast Relay Race is a 200-mile race with 36 legs, each team member takes three legs.

Although a novice, he didn't disappoint. On his three legs he finished 52nd, 46th and 32nd out of 1,100 runners. In his age group he finished 3rd, 5th and 5th.

He said this early success was a clear indicator that competition and running was his calling. Following the Hood to Coast, Balcom ran in the 2012 CA ASA 5K, 2012 Jingle Bell 5K, 2013 SMCN Resolution Run 5K, 2013 Race to the Creek 5K and the 2014 SMCN Resolution Run 5K.

These smaller races prepared him for marathons like the Lower Potomac River Marathon, Bataan Memorial March, Marine Corps Marathon and later the Boston Marathon, where he placed 1,670th overall, running a 2:55:45. After returning home, Balcom discovered he had won the Boston Marathon Blind/Visually Impaired Division.

His successes led the IPC to select him as a member of Team USA for the London Marathon.

"Joining Team USA and representing my country has been a lifelong dream," he said. "I'm counting down the days until I can't wait to put on that uniform and compete in that race."

For more news from Naval Air Station Patuxent River, visit www.navy.mil/local/patuxent/.