• About Torch Run
• History of Torch Run
• Torch Run News
• Torch Run Leadership
• Torch Run Map
• Photos & Video
• Contact Us

In Her Own Words: Pat Thomas Shares Her Experience Running in the National Games Law Enforcement Torch Run Final Leg

You would think traveling in an RV for a week with six guys would not be a great way to spend your summer vacation. For me, though, it was one of the most memorable weeks of my life. This past July, I rode hundreds of miles a day carrying the Flame of Hope across the state of Nebraska to spread the Special Olympics message. And it was incredible.

 

Here’s my story: when I was chosen to represent the Virginia Law Enforcement Torch Run in the National Games Torch Run Final Leg, I was thrilled, scared, nervous and excited. As a marathon race walker and the mother of an intellectually disabled teenager, I felt my passions of distance racing and parenthood had combined to give me the perfect opportunity to “go the distance.” I began training to run instead of race walk. Before I knew it, I was flying to Ames, Iowa to be part of the Torch Run Final Leg.

 

When I arrived, I was assigned to one of nine teams. My team included Special Olympics Nebraska athlete Evan Davis, who would go on to light the Olympic Cauldron to start National Games. One of our first runs navigated us across the river from Iowa to Nebraska on a suspension foot bridge. Imagine, more than 60 Torch Runners, all wearing the same National Games red uniforms, running in formation and chanting, “We are the Torch Run, the Mighty, Mighty, Torch Run.” As we entered downtown Omaha, people cheered. What an incredible feeling. Our journey had begun.

 

For the rest of the week, the nine teams worked their way across Nebraska, running and attending special ceremonies. A typical day would include a 6 or 7 am wake up, followed by breakfast and a trip in the RV to the next town. Once there, we’d get into formation and run to site of the town ceremony (1 to 3 miles), all while chanting and holding the Flame of Hope high. At each ceremony, a Final Leg runner and an athlete would give a short speech and exchange gifts with the town’s Mayor and Chief of Police; then it was on to the next town.

 

Each team participated in up to five ceremonies a day; more than 70 local communities held ceremonies that week. At the end of each long, hot day, we would return to the hotel, eat and go to bed about 10 p.m. For more than a week, I did not read a newspaper, or turn on a TV or computer. I was totally focused on spreading the Special Olympics message.

 

The daily town ceremonies were incredible. In one town, we were led by a truckload of VFW members carrying flags and joined along with way by many local Special Olympic athletes. As we ran, people waved and cheered. Large or small, each ceremony was motivating and filled with love and pride for the local Special Olympics athletes.

 

Midway through the week, I twisted my ankle during one of the runs. I woke up the next day, though, determined to run the more than 3 miles to O’Neil, where I was set to speak to the crowd. I couldn’t miss this. I made it, and I shared what it was like to have a intellectually disabled, beautiful and gifted 17-year-old daughter. I then asked them how wonderful it would be if the world were like Special Olympics? A place where everyone is accepted, everyone works together as a team and everyone leaves a winner. The crowd went wild. By the time we got back on the bus, I could no longer walk. That night, at a local emergency room, I would find out I had been running on a broken tibia (after returning home the X-rays would also show a broken ankle bone). That run to O’Neil was my final “run.”

 

I remained with the team for the rest of the week, though, attending each ceremony on crutches and handing out Torch Run Final Leg pins. The week ended with the Cessna Airlift, during which more than 200 Cessna planes carrying hundreds of Special Olympics athletes landed in Lincoln (as each team deplaned, we handed the athletes Final Leg pins), and the Opening Ceremony. That night, as I helped escort athletes into the stadium, and then lined up to welcome the Torch, I knew this would be a moment I would never forget.

 

Whether you run 5 miles across your home town, escort the torch into a Special Olympics Virginia competition, or have the honor to be on the Final Leg Team, know you are a part of a team that spreads Special Olympics’ incredible message of hope, love and acceptance. I challenge each of you to find a team and run with the Flame of Hope. It will change your life.