A July 4th Hero

"Runners, take your places," came the command over a loudspeaker system as runners and walkers of all ages, shapes, and sizes lined up to begin the Time Group (TG) 4 start of the 2008 Peachtree Road Race through the heart of Atlanta, Georgia's Buckhead district and the all famous Peachtree Road.

The Road Race was celebrating it's 30 + year of running.  It became the world's largest 10K (6.2 miles) race in the early 1990s when it began to accept 55,000 runners.

The loudspeaker once again booms out a command, "Runners ready?  Get set."  "BOOM" goes the starting gun and off they go with ILLY, the Deaf-Blind Clown running right there in the middle of the TG!!

Naw, ILLY was not garbed in clown costume!  He had on blue running shorts, white undershirt and red headband and wristbands that could qualify him as the Independence Day clown!

He started the race fine but there were tens of thousands of runners in front of him which slowed him down.  He kept running and running, zig-zagging among the other runners like a clown would do!

Then he came to a water table and was handed a cup of water in which he promptly took a sip and poured the rest on top of his bald and bare, except for the red headband, noggin!  When the cold water hit his head he yelled "Ahhhhh"!

Later on into the race he ran through four sprinkler systems coming from fire hydrants and other means of spraying water!  Oh how exciting!  Felt so cool to get wet!

Continuing down the road nearing the finish line, which he finally crossed with flying colors and a photographer standing there waiting to catch his tired face on the camera.

Well, ILLY had ran the race in hot and humid Atlanta weather but he was so tired and hot that he asked a volunteer to please guide him to a tent where he could claim his prize for running the race, a new t-shirt with the new Peachtree Road Race logo.  The volunteer started to guide him to the tent but then someone else stopped her and confused ILLY got sent to the Medical tent instead where he had these medical folks all around him. 

They asked him to lay down on a cot because they wanted to check his vital signs.  He turned out fine with great vital signs, which means he indeed was still alive!

But you want to know who the hero was, huh?  Who really saved ILLY, the Deaf-Blind Clown's storied life?  The hero in this story is not one, but three, beautiful white, slim, and boisterous 'ladies' dipped in ice cold freezing water!!  Ahhhhhhh!   One each went to ILLY's arms with the third planting a kiss on top of ILLY's bald and bare noggin!  Man, did it feel so good and for sure ole ILLY cooled down fast and thanked these three heros!

After some time cooling down, ILLY got his t-shirt and went on his way home stealing a peach from the Peachtree!

**  Note: The three 'ladies' were actually hand towels!!

Written By: ILLY, the Deaf-Blind Clown, July 31, 2008