Make-A-Wish 2008

The SHAPE community held its annual Make-A-Wish 24-hour fun run. There were 60 teams from various on-base organizations, national teams, and just "out to support the cause" teams. Things kicked off at 3pm Friday and went for 24 hours. We attended the first day's activities to cheer on the teams and see friends. The girls got their faces painted. Tori wanted to be Darth Maul and Emilie a Puppy Dog. Tori didn't realize why babies were crying when she went up to them. Of course Darth Maul scares her when watching Star Wars but it was a way that she could get the most face paint on herself. Emilie went up to a man and asked if she could run with his baton. He thought that she would just do a lap or two and then give it back. Well as she kept going and going and going and going he just said that she could keep it up. His team hadn't materialized the way it was supposed to and she was just doing her best. So after 2 hours straight of running (with only brief walking intervals) we figure she ran over 5 miles. So to say that she was a little pooped out in the end is an understatement. After that we hung out with close friends of ours and listened to Task Force 8 (the base Jazz octet). Then it was off to bed so that we could get up early for our time slot. Ed was running for "Team Sacked" from 7am to 8am. Well off he ran. His goal was to reach 7 miles in the hour. Buffy, Em and Tori all accompanied him at various stages and set up a cheering section. After the run we all just hung out and socialized with friends. Ed surpassed his goal and completed 7.9 miles in the hour. Overall it was a great couple of days supporting a really great cause. We'll see how we all did as a community when they tally the laps run and see how far from SHAPE we would have run. When we left we were approaching the Taj Mahal.