Race Ya!!

So to finish off our weekend, on Sunday we did the 19th Annual Tarrant County AIDS Walk, benefiting the AIDS Outreach Center in Fort Worth. Thanks to the generous donations of our friends and family, we raised over $500 for the cause. So a big thank you to those of you who donated.


We arrived a little early, which was great because parking was a breeze and there was no line at the registration desk. They had vendors set up in the park and a big snack truck too. We opted for the snow cones, I had root beer float and Richard had what I would call a snow cone kamikaze. They also had several AIDS quilts on display, if you have never seen one in person, they are very powerful. The love that goes into making them is apparent and quite moving. The Humane Society was there as well doing dog adoptions.

There was still a little time to kill after taking everything in so we sat down at one of the pavilions and just started chatting. Then came a strange announcement that the entertainment was arriving. I looked up and was quite shocked when Michael Jackson was walking down the path towards the pavilion. It was about this time that I processed that the announcement was talking about the MJ impersonator who would be performing. I wasn't sure at first about the level of entertainment provided for the event, but once he started performing with his backup dancers it was almost like it was really him.

Shortly after faux Jackson started performing, and the crowd had all started forming at the stage, they announced it was time to line up at the starting line. There was a radio personality roaming around the crowd with a microphone talking to random people about why they were there for the walk. Whether they were just supporting the cause, or if they knew someone with, or had lost someone to AIDS. Once most everyone had gathered at the start, I was impressed to see how many people had come to support this cause, it was a wonderful feeling. Then they started the countdown...10,9,8...3,2,1.. GO!!

I have been scouring local publications, because they had a photographer taking pictures at the start, and we were so close to the front, we had to be visible. So far, no luck, but I will keep you posted, until then, there are plenty of our pics on this blog for you to see. We have walked at this park several times before so we were very familiar with the area, which was nice. As we got further from the start, the crowd started to thin which made walking just a little easier. The day was sunny and hot and the Texas wind made an appearance, which didn't help on the way out, but made it a little easier on the return stretch.

As we neared the halfway point we took some over the shoulder pics to get a good view of the crowd behind us,which you can see weren't great shots. We passed the water station and it was hot enough at that point that water was a welcome treat. Somewhere after the water station, things started to unravel slightly. There was no clear turn around point and nobody directing traffic and we felt like we had gone more than halfway. A man who, according to his race shirt was on the board for the event, yelled to everyone who was close by that we had hit the u-turn point. We sort of did the "lemming" thing and just followed the crowd.

Walking on the return leg we were much closer to the very front, behind a few people who thought running was a better idea, we did not agree. Finally there was a lady near the path shouting what we will call encouraging words. She was actually funny as hell, commenting on how it was hard to yell and be excited when only 2 people were coming by at a time. We passed her and approached the general area of the finish.

When we started the race, the other side of the start line banner said finish line so I assumed we would finish where we started, makes sense right?? Well the walk route really disintegrated at this point and people were cutting across fields and taking paths that didn't really lead in the right direction. We stayed on the path we were on and had definitely gone the right distance, but there was no finish line to be seen. We knew we had gone too far when we hit the road we drove in on, so we hooked a left and walked on the sidewalk towards the area where the vendors were at the beginning of the day.

Now this was certainly no marathon and we surely didn't break any sort of land speed records, but I wanted my moment of personal victory as I crossed the finish line. But even once we made it back to where the start of the walk had been, there was no finish line. Even the banner for the start had been removed. Obviously we had gone wrong somewhere, but this is why there were supposed to be path monitors, to be sure that people stayed the course. Oh well, at the end of the day, it wasn't about my Chariots of Fire slow motion run across the finish that was the reason we were there, it was to show our support for a great cause.

After that, we came home and did yard work and planting in the nice heat. It ended up being one of the best and broadest range of events a weekend ever offered. Thanks again to everyone who helped. It is truly appreciated.