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THE RUN!!!
The forecast was grim, the weather was cold and rainy. But despite it all, hundreds of runners descended upon St. Vincent's One Nineteen on Saturday. I was shocked to see so many people with smiling faces there ready to stomp on cancer with the 6th Annual Brenda Ladun Conquer Cancer Run.
That morning, at about 5 o'clock, I looked outside and saw it was cold and rainy. The temperature was about 33 degrees or at least it felt that cold. I not only braced myself for the cold, I also prepared myself to only expect to see the heartiest of runners. But when I arrived at St. Vincent's One Nineteen, I saw people of all ages, shapes and sizes, from the most serious runnner to casual walkers.
When I was at the podium to welcome the crowd... the temperature seemed as if is was rising. I thought it must just be a hot flash. But I noticed other people talking about how the weather had improved in just a few minutes, the rain had stopped and the temperature had warmed to about 45 degrees. It was perfect running weather. During the run... I was in the middle enjoying talking and exchanging stories with other runners. After I finished I had to go back to check on 84 year old Les Longshore. He's an avid runner in Birmingham and at his age, he doesn't shy away from many runs... he is planning to run the Mercedez Marathon this year as well! I went back to escort him to the finish, and we talked about how the weather had improved during the run. Les was running in honor of his beautiful wife who is now battling cancer.
I brought him up to the stage to honor him as our oldest runner, and as I stood there, the temperature dropped by about ten degrees and the drizzle returned. I thought how wonderful it was that God had allowed just enough warmer dry weather for us... and just as the last runner crossed the finish line, the weather returned to the 30 degree mark with rain.
Thank you everyone who participated and I thank the good Lord for a blessed day and a weather bubble over us to protect us while we ran!!!
The race is on for Saturday.... even though we may have a chilly morning... warm up your Saturday with a hot cup of free coffee from Starbucks and a morning run at St. Vincent's One Nineteen in Hoover.
It's a beautiful facility with inside bathrooms that will be warm!! We have a lot of free food, music and fun for the kids.... so please stop by even if you don't want to run, it promises to be a lot of fun!
Did you see the Vikings/ Saints game lastnight? Dr. Jim Andrews was mentioned on national television. He actually helped both Brett Favre and Drew Brees get back on the playing field. No doubt he was torn between rooting for each. As he told me in a recent interview, since he's helped so many pro athletes his strategy in watching a game is to cheer for his patient as he takes the field.
I suppose he was hoping for the best for each of his patients as they performed their quarterback missions.
Behind he scenes at the BCS National Championship
Thanks to a great crew at the BCS National Championship. What you didn’t see
On TV were the countless hours everyone on our nine person crew spent to bring you the best coverage of the BCS National Championship Game.
Bill Castle our Chief photographer spent countless hours building a set at the Rose Bowl Stadium that rivaled that belonging to ESPN. In fact thousands of fans passing by the set at first thought it was an ESPN production. Bill not only planned, designed and constructed the set, he also negotiated with security and BCS officials to get the perfect place for the set. During the 5pm newscast before the BCS Championship, I ran from our satellite truck parked about fifty yards away. I made the 50 yard dash with 10 minutes to go until news time. When I arrived the set was covered by fans taking pictures sitting on our set. Now there were 7 minutes until news time. All I could think of was to use my professional, outside, mom voice. Ok ladies and gentlemen. You have to clear the set! We have a newscast in a few minutes. The
You didn’t see me ask security to yellow tape to rope off an area around the set to keep Mike Raita and Jeff Speegle on track during their broadcast. I enlisted a security officer’s help to prevent fans from rushing our set.
Later in the evening despite the yellow tape, a beer was tossed at us by a Texas fan. I was glad to have quick reactions and a clip board. My hair was not drenched thanks to my clip board doubling as an umbrella.
The live shot happened! I did get on the set to share a story of trios reuniting at the BCS Championship. Three brothers from
What else didn’t you see on TV? You probably didn’t see the miles and miles of wires our engineers Roy and David ran to get you a clear picture of post game reaction. You didn’t see them working hard in the truck not only to help our own crew, but to help crews from other stations all over the state receive their reporters stories via our satellite feed.
To a great crew! You did a great job in
February
