Yesterday I took part in an amazing event. I drove the van and spectated the Old Glory Relay, as it ran from Albemarle, NC to Charlotte, NC. The flag started at Ground Zero on 9-11 and will be traveling to Atlanta, arriving on Veteran’s Day.
We started at 7:30 in the morning, and our runners had 41 miles to run, taking turns and doing 1-3 miles at a time. We were also super blessed to have a police escort from start to finish, sometimes two cars at a time.
The whole crew, with the exception of our Leg Leader, ran the first leg. It was super foggy and cool, and everyone was having a great time! We had a van full of snacks, we were carrying our beautiful American Flag, and we had a police escort. How cool is that?
Everyone got to carry the flag at least once. Above is my friend, Kelly, who was a huge part of why we had police escorts the whole time. She is a K9 cop in Cabarrus County. She hooked us up with Officer McClellan and Jax, who was so lovey and soaked up all of our attention while we waited for Kelly and Paul to arrive!
They escorted us to Mecklenburg County, which is where we picked up our final escorts.
We also picked up this little gem….
Yup. We had air support. So very cool. The helicopter circled around us for quite a few miles. It was so exciting, and a little like that scene in Goodfellas, I’m not gonna lie!
These ladies joined us for the last 6 miles, each running three, and the lady on the left was just promoted to Major the night before!
Soon we entered Charlotte, and everyone except me ran the last 1.3 miles in as a group. I drove the van, and we got to run every red light. That was definitely something I enjoyed, plus I had a great view of the gang as they ran that last mile!
We finished at the Knight’s Stadium, and I got to park the van on a sidewalk while we took our final pics. We also got to be present while they rolled up the flag for the night. This morning a new crew took over the duty, and carried the flag out of Charlotte.
Check out teamRWB.org for details on the rest of the flag’s journey to Atlanta, and to sign up to participate! The flag will be traveling to Asheville, and then on to Knoxville, Chattanooga, Nashville, Birmingham, and on to Atlanta.
