As I have been posting, I spent the long weekend in Dallas with my college roommate. I went down for the second year to help her and her husband with Sports Extravaganza (for visually impaired youth). It happens that Sports Extravaganza and MEA happen at the same time each year. In reality, it was a working weekend. Friday is spent setting up the field. It's amazing how much work it takes to make this event possible. Saturday is the actual event with a little over a thousand athletes from birth to 22. The event, of course, is followed by massive clean-up. Although it was a lot of work, it was a phenomenal time. On the way to dinner last night, sore and sweaty, we discussed the highlights of the day. Later as we sat up talking, stories of the event continued to find their way into our conversation.
I helped get athletes on the track in their correct lanes. Some athletes literally need to be faced in the correct direction. High school volunteers helped as blind guides and blind guides runners although I'm certain those are not the official terms. A neighboring high school football team came in their jerseys to help with tear down. Volunteers of all ages had almost as much fun as the athletes.
One high school girl who was running with the athletes smiled each time she returned from a run. She was having a blast because the athletes were having such a positive day. Each time she returned with her smile and a story about the runner.
Since the athletes are visually impaired, a little over half use the guided runner. One little five year old wanted to know if her friend could run with her. We said yes until we realized her friend was another athlete. Her vision teacher often to run with her, but she wanted her friend. When I approached her with a high school student and said do you want to run with _______ (gave the girls name), she was happy to have a new friend. Not only did she want to run, she asked several questions of her new friend. Adorable.
Many of the athletes met me at the track for more than one race, so they remembered my voice. Most wanted to share their medals and previous experience. I guess I can't really share the excitement these athletes spread with their smiles and stories.
The high school football players were also a lot of fun. Each player was respectful to quite respectful. No matter what task I gave, they followed through and had fun joking with me and each other. A lot of the work is picking up chairs, tables, rebar, water, and other equipment. I drive a golf cart and load stuff into the cart. The football players rotated in and out of the passenger seat. Towards the end as I was super tired, a young athlete popped into my cart. "Long time no see. How you been?" he laughed. I asked if he wanted to do one final check. He was enthusiastic, so we went around. On the way, we passed another cart and his buddies. "Beat you back!" he challenged. I tried to explain that our cart was slow and tended to stall. He explained that he thought I'd be the one to win since he was on the cart when I was driving fast and dropped chairs off the back. Obviously, I had disappointed him with the slower cart while impressing him with my earlier driving skills.
Yesterday the weather (Dallas) was in the upper 80s. It felt great to be out in the sun all day. When I returned to Minneapolis, I realized that although I prefer the 80s, there's nothing that beats fall colors.
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