November 2, 2001

My name is Rob Lake and I was fortunate to run with the flag the last leg in western Oklahoma into Texas.

Many people from our hospital ran together in the last few legs and we all couldn't believe the impact this had on ourselves and the crowds. The warm receptions in Sayre, Erick and Texola were heart felt, warm and generous. Sissy Burch, Ronald ( Erick Fireman) and Gerald ( works with Exxon) ran from 11:30 at night until 1:00 the next morning. Although it was the late the crowds and the feeling of pride made the run quite enjoyable and memorable. We started our leg in Erick and the crowd that was out late was fantastic.

The fireman Ronald from Erick asked to join us the last leg but said he couldn't run far. He ran the whole way running in jeans. Gerald ran the lag before us and ran with us since we only had two runners and needed to go 7.8 miles. (We thought we only needed to go 4 or 5). The four of us ran the final leg together and wouldn't trade our memories for anything. We were proud to be a part of it and enjoyed handing the flag off to texas.

The woman outside of Texola I will never forget and is permanently etched in my memory. It was 12:50 in the AM and she was by herself welcoming us into Texola singing God Bless America with flag cutouts. Fritz ( state coordinator) stopped and let her hold the flag and offered to take her picture with it. She couldn't believe the moment.

Rob Lake
Great Plains regional Medical Center
Elk City

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