“There was no luck involved. Nothing but the good Lord, I prayed for it all week,” Hart said. “They said it was going to be crappy today, look what we’ve got, we’ve got sunshine today. I prayed my rosary and I told my wife it’s not gonna rain, they aren’t going to do it to my warriors.”
He said 260 runners and walkers ran the 5- and 10-K courses through Smith Park to honor 30 wounded warriors and six “Gold Star Families” who have lost loved ones. There were about 50 more runners than in the inaugural event last year.
Midge Rohman of Middletown was sitting on a little silver camp stool at the finish line enthusiastically clapping as runners and walkers passed by, waiting for her daughter Adrianne Haney to cross.
“I’m so proud of her for doing this for the vets,” she said.
Kay Faesel, an eight-year Army veteran from Bowling Green, Ky., was wearing a medal around her neck and belting out the “I’m Proud to be an American” song along with the music after she finished running. She said she made the four-hour trip for one simple reason.
“I’m a veteran as well, so anything we can do to support soldiers, I’m all about it” she said.
Steady rain Friday night didn’t dampen the start of the hot air balloon challenge, said Patrick Venturella, Ohio Challenge spokesman. He said the weather made it too dangerous to let the balloons take off, but they did fire up their burners setting the balloons aglow.
“The festival wasn’t cancelled, the balloons unfortunately weren’t able to go up, but we were able to get a glow off,” he said.
The Wounded Warrior Weekend also included skydiving, baseball, a dinner and “gun shoots,” said Matt Harvey, organizer of the run/walk.
Shilo Harris, a retired Army staff sergeant, lost both ears and suffered severe burns in 2007 when his Humvee tripped a 700 pound roadside bomb in Iraq. He traveled with his family from Texas to be at the event not to be honored, but rather to help his fellow wounded warriors.
“I do several of these events because I wear my scars on the outside, I’m actually really blessed in a way to wear my scars on the outside,” he said. “People see that I’ve been there, done that. I’m more of a catalyst. I come out here and I get to help draw some of that negative energy out of these veterans. Hopefully when they leave here they have that much more of a sense of fulfillment, that much more peace in their heart and in their minds.”
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