#45 - Run for the Fallen

#45 dawned a very cold morning.  It is 35 degrees with snow flurries.  I think to myself, "this is a really bad idea and I wish I was done last week."  But I dig out my long underwear and my gloves and off I go.


#45 takes place in Clifton at the University of Cincinnati. Sponsored by the Arnold Air Society, the participants are primarily Air Force ROTC cadets.  (Wait, it gets better.) The race raises money and awareness for families of solders who are Prisoners of War and/or Missing In Action (POW/MIA). According to their website there are 83,388 US soldiers who are unaccounted for today.

For this race, I was killed with politeness. I have been "Ma'am" to death.  Yes, ma'am.  No, ma'am. Watch yourself there, ma'am. You are doing great, ma'am.  Thanks for coming out today ma'am.

It is a very young crowd.  With Jo and I, we have raised the average age to 23.

Against a crowd easily less than half my age, (and actually my children are older than most of this crowd) I forge ahead.

The route starts near the baseball stadium on UC campus. It goes out to Jefferson, turns on Martin Luther King Drive and turns again on Clifton Ave.  Halfway down Clifton, we enter the actual campus and meander through the dorms and buildings.  There are lots of twists and turns and I had to slow down several times to figure out which way to go. (My usual tactic of following the crowd was ineffective as the crowd had long passed me by.)  The student volunteer wildly waving his hands to get my attention is usually the direction to take.

However, as I am entering the final kilometer, I realize that the cadet in front of me has fallen behind.  He is limping.  His squadron has returned to the route just behind me to encourage him to finish with gusto.  They are chanting is cadence:

Born to fight,
trained to kill,
Ready to die,
but never will.

I think to myself, I could pass him.  I could bring on a burst of energy and pass this cadet.  With a limp.  (Wouldn't that be a victory?)

I decide not to.  I mean, how completely demoralizing would that be for a cadet to finish after this 49 year old woman?  In front of his squad?  Couldn't do it.

#45 is done.