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October 24, 2001
Diary entry from Captain Scott C. Lippiatt, MS Army Guard The night before the run I checked the location of flag and saw that is was drawing closer to my leg which was from Pearl, MS to our State Capitol. I only had one day, after I found about this great event, to solicit volunteers to help run. I was able to get 8 fellow soldiers to join in and we met at 5:30 a.m. I did not know what to expect when we drove in to the parking lot at 6:00. There was approximately 10 other runners, all who had different careers. I met a Mr. Murray who was 72 years old. He was motivated and ready to go. We ventured out to the highway in anticipation for our turn. I had chills when we heard the sirens and saw the blue lights. I was thinking that this is something that I could do to help the cause. Being a former police officer, a former fireman and currently a full-time Army National Guard soldier, the events of 9-11-01 really hit home. I lost a lot of "brothers-in-arms" and I can't help but to know that if I was employed with NYPD or FDNY that I would have been one of those brave public servicemen running up those stairs to help others. When the approaching group stopped, I gave everyone "high-fives" and it was like making instant friends with the fellow runners. I recognized some of the members of the other group to include another soldier from our Special Forces battalion and also the owner of one of the car dealerships in our metro-area. ( I will be going to him for my next vehicle!!) We began the run and fell into a quick pace, I learned that four of our female participants were marathon runners, so I knew we were in trouble with keeping the 10 minute pace minimum. There were people lined up the highway waving and cheering us on even while it was still dark. I sent an e-mail to some of my co-workers and they were in uniform saluting the flag as we ran by. I have never run over 8 miles, but the way everyone felt this morning, I could have ran 20 miles. The coordinators had to slow us down a couple of times and we were early coming into the Capitol. Mr. Murray took the flag and led the way! We ran around our Capitol twice in order to meet the prescribed time. It was a good feeling to see all the people including our Adjutant General and his staff there to meet us. Our Governor spoke a few good words of encouragement, a quick prayer from a local pastor, and the flag was handed off to the next group. This was the best run of my life and I will always remember the great feeling of patriotism that was flowing that day.
CPT Scott C. Lippiatt
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