July 10th, 2017 By Exit54

Just around two months ago, I came across a pretty popular tweet that was getting promoted by fellow F3ers. A brother from SOB named @JRRTolkien had this idea called SPEEDFORNEED and it involved the men of F3 Nation going to local races and pushing the disabled (primarily children) in specially-made race wheelchairs. As the father of a special needs child, I knew immediately this is something I wanted to be a part of and, in basically no time at all, I’d agreed to spearhead the initiative for all of MECA. This seemed a bit daunting at first but fortunately @Hootie stepped in and offered his assistance.

Fast forward to this past Friday night and I can definitely say the two months of preparations for our inaugural SPEEDFORNEED event were all rewarded and then some – when myself and 40ish other MECA PAX got to bring the race experience to Jayson and Rui-Ray Patterson. Jayson and Rui-Ray (sons of @Dougie and M. Deanna) are 9 and 7-year old boys born with the condition of Arthrogryposis. The first sight we got of them, they were speeding down Means Avenue in their basketball wheelchairs. I knew immediately that these kids were up for whatever challenges riding in the race chariot would present. If anything, @Frodo and I were going to need to ramp up the pace a bit to give them something truly exciting.

So how did we do? Well, I’ll let Deanna answer that:

When people meet our family, our differences are often what they notice first: different skin tones, different ways we talk, different abilities we have.  Sometimes it’s hard for people to look past those differences and other times, those differences don’t matter at all.  Last night was one of those occasions where our differences stood out, but not in a bad way.  You see, our sons are fiercely athletic.  Yes, they each have orthopedic conditions that prevent them from being as agile as the average person, and yes, they work harder than average to do the same things as the average person, but that doesn’t slow them down one bit!  They swim, ride bikes, play adaptive basketball, & run.  They love & fight the way only brothers can.  And yet there are times when their physical differences make everyday life challenging or out of reach.  Running a 5k is most certainly one of those life events that felt out of reach.  That is, until adaptive athletics came into our lives.

When Hootie asked if our boys wanted to race with F3Nation, we looked at each other with a questioning look.  “We have a running wheelchair & we need someone to try it out,” Hootie said.  Why not?  Our boys are always up for a new adventure so we loaded up their basketball wheelchairs & headed Downtown.  

Rui-Ray was up first riding in the chariot pushed by Frodo & joined by Bull, Exit54, & JRRTolkien.  When asked, he said his favorite part of the ride was “going really really fast & when he lifted the chair up over the finish line!!”  Then F3Nation gathered around Jayson & Frodo as they took off for the race.  Being an adaptive athlete means Jayson is used to being the one who pushes his own wheelchair, so it came to us as no surprise that he wanted to push himself!  Not this time sweet boy, this is your turn to ride.  He tucked his hands behind his head, kicked back, and enjoyed the ride!  In fact, Frodo told us Jayson helped himself to a water at the first water station!  Jayson said his favorite part was “riding over the bridge & going really fast down hills.”  

We are very grateful to the men of the F3Nation for inviting our sons to be part of such a fun night!  Going “fast” isn’t something our family gets to do often, so it was a fun treat for them to ride.  We are very excited for the SpeedForNeed campaign & look forward to seeing how F3Nation uses their influence to raise awareness and empower children with disabilities through participation in fitness events!

Thanks for the fantastic summary, Deanna. And now let’s hear from @Frodo:

It was a blast getting to drive/push the wheelchair for Jayson, for a couple reasons. First, it was fun having a “teammate” for the event. It was great to see his smile, see him waving the American Flag in the last half mile, have him asking for water at each aid station, and his enthusiastic yell of “Faster”….especially on the uphills. It was a great reminder of the impact we can have on others. Second, it allowed me to show my kids a tangible way we can serve others. We all have God-given talents and gifts and we can use those to serve others. 

It was great to run with the rest of the PAX. But, the opportunity to help Jayson complete a 5K was by far the highlight of the night.

Sounds like a success to me. I won’t bore you with my own verbal recount of the event because Tolkien’s video does a far better job. Instead I want to thank a few essential people who made this happen:

• To @JRRTolkien – this is all happening because of you. Working with you behind the scenes these last two months, all I can say is you’re a machine. You’ve got focus and drive and ingenuity – a true #HIM.
• To Race Director Sara Rogers and the Concord Parks & Rec – when I came to you with this proposal, you never presented any obstacles, 100% supportive from day 1. Thanks for giving us this stage to showcase SPEEDFORNEED.
• To @Hootie and M. Emily – I got lots of assistance from lots of PAX over the past two months, but you and Emily were the ones who connected us with the Pattersons. That was the key to everything. Also thanks for speaking from the heart during post-race shieldlock – could not have been said better.
• Finally, to Jayson, Rui-Ray and the Patterson family – we cannot thank you guys enough for partnering with us on the inaugural event. SPEEDFORNEED is going to continue to grow, and will bring this experience to as many deserving children as possible – in MECA and beyond. But someone had to agree to do it first. Thanks for giving us the gift of your children, we look forward to partnering with you again in the future (Rui-Ray has called the blue chair for next time ;-).

I’ll close with a giant-sized AYE! to the men of F3 MECA who have bought in to this initiative. Without your donations and your presence on Friday night, none of this possible.

/Exit 54

New Donation Site: https://www.crowdrise.com/o/en/team/f3sfn

SFN Website:          www.F3SPEEDFORNEED.com

Email:                      F3SPEEDFORNEED@gmail.com

Twitter:                    @F3SPEEDFORNEED

Facebook:               https://www.facebook.com/F3SpeedForNeed

Boondocks, Comanche, Concord, Davis Lake, Harrisburg, Highlands, Rolling Stone, The Dawg House, Tradition

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