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Well, I had volunteered for the Wright Patterson Air Force 18th...Or was it 19th? Annual 10K Marathon and 5K Marathon. Big big event, national thing, yes? People come from all over to run in it - you get medals and stuff, so it's kind of fun. Plus it's just something to do and train for. Total, we numbered around 2,000 volunteers, almost 10,000 runners, and their guests, which meant there were anywhere between 20,000 and 30,000 people there. Whew!
I woke up at 0430, and waited around for my step dad to get ready after I took my 5 minute shower. Were outta there by 0527, got some McDonalds, where I got a biscuit instead of a bagel like an idiot 'cause I wanted a bagel xp , and got to the base at "O'dark Early" according to MSgt. Ruiz - or 0545 (I'm using military time for the sake of making this easier for me to describe, I guess. Too lazy to put AM and PM.), and threw water bottles in a tray for a few.
Went to the baggage claim later, grabbed a cup of coffee with some pure sugar - was really really really high off of that for the rest of the day XD Whoo, that was strong - betcha don't know how fast I talk when I'm hyper. Ask Dewy, she knows.
I was randomly selected from a group in the back of 20 to catch the American flag as it was parachuted down at 0645. Now, THAT was cool - if we get photos, I'll post them. They said this flag was the size of a basketball court and a half, and they were not joking. We lined up real far apart and watched as the plane flew overhead. Two people parachuted out, looking like ants from the sky. Our Grand Old Flag came out second after the P.O.W. flag - and it was pretty scary, since...You know what the flag on a pole in front of the school looks like? Well, imagine that size, and it looks like that from right out of the plane. Next to a guy the size of an ant. Oh damn. xd :
Anyway, the 75 lb-weighted flag flew down pretty quickly, and we had to rush over to grab it before it hit the ground - around eight of the twenty walked, and that made me angry. Was the only person shouting for everyone to run, and I DID get some folks running. It hit the ground for just one second before we got it up, so we didn't break any rules or have to burn it, thank goodness. And as we bunched it up and rolled it in, the lady sang the Star Spangled Banner. Which was weird because it echo'd several times off the intercom - three times, actually. Was interesting because of the half second, then full second delays.
As we walked back to the baggage claim, they flew over the Thunderbirds, two of them, well over supersonic. If anyone in the neighborhood was sleeping at dawn, they weren't anymore - 'cause that was totally way LOUD. xD I worked in baggage for just a little bit, then volunteered to go with MSgt. Ruiz, and lo and behold, my favorite position was given to me - the food tent!
I got to pass out bagels to runners as they came in. I screamed out congradulations at the top of my diaphragm and smiled a whole bunch, kinda dancing in place, and talking really fast to keep myself warm since it was probably around 40°F that morning. I made the runners quite happy as they came in. We had plain bagels, blueberry bagels, Panera bread with osiago cheese, cinnamon sugar, cinnamon raisen, and chocolate chip available, as well as pizza, bananas, crackers, and chicken nuggets for food, with NesQuik chocolate milk (very delicious), gatoraid, water, and protein shakes as refreshment. We were allowed all of it we wished, although I didn't really have much of it at all like I wanted to.
Things got hectic around 0945 when the half-marathon runners started coming in. People enjoyed me a whole lot though - I struck up plenty of conversations and raised peoples' spirits, as well as offered a ton of bagels. I pretended that I was competing with the pizza people next to me, and I definitely had fun with that. They didn't though - I'm the only one who knows how to mess around and STILL look professional. Heheheh.
At 1145, one of the team leaders decided he needed people to help him with the trash. So I worked with that until 1425, dumping out the cans with some larger people. They weighed a TON, and we dumped 'em in two different dumpsters. Dimensionally? Probably 15ftx10ftx4ft (length/height/width) so they were huge. Both ended up overflowing, although one was way full.
Eventually we had a system developed in which we had a golf cart, and a five man team. One driver, one navigator, two tail-gate riders, and a retrieval man. We'd drive up with two full cans to the dumpster, stop, then get me on the top of the dumpster, and two folks on the can, while the driver waited and watched, push the can in, while I held on to the top and pulled out all the junk, then pushed off the can, which we set to the side, dumped out the other one, then loaded both back into the tailgate and everyone back in position and drove off. The retrieval guy drug full cans to the pick-up point and pulled the empty ones back into position. This saved a whole lot of time for all of us that we could've done just walking. It was pretty amazing.
As I left at 1515, I told my mom about what went on, which she thought was fun, went home, took a shower, packed my ROTC uniform, then went to my uncle's.
We had a barbecue over there for several hours. A bonfire and some cornhole. XD Cornhole means something dirty if you're not from Ohio - some game where you throw beanbags at a wooden board and try and get them to land on the surface or go in the hole. Yeah, yeah, much like it is elsewhere stare Anywho, had some hotdogs and hamburgers, a bonfire with some marshmellows, general overall fun. The dogs didn't remember me though - 'cept Sidney. She enjoyed me rubbing her back. XD Cute Australian terrier. She thinks she's a doxin.
Around 2030, I put my uniform on, while under stress of everyone yelling at me to hurry up 'cause nobody wants to be late. We drove down afterwards to my friend's house, where I got in another car and drove a half hour to Dayton International Airport, and greeted veterans coming back from Honor Flight - by the way, if you ever see the flyers laying around, that's MY unit on there. OH 881st. We greet them each and every time that we possibly can, and we all enjoy it. Wonderful, no?
I didn't get home until 2345. Didn't go to bed 'till an hour later because I wanted some "me" time. The entire Sunday, my legs hurt like hell. My thighs STILL kinda hurt from moving around so much. >_> Luckily my throat's more durable. I can still yell like a moron. ^_^ Anyway, sorry that was so long, didn't really think it'd take too long. Then again, I distracted myself with some more important people OTHER FRIENDS. Hope you enjoyed the story. >_>;;
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