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<\/a><\/p>\nI’ve said this before and I’ll say it no doubt thousands of times hereafter — I always err on the side of being early and ALWAYS regret that being early only means I should have been much, much later to arrive.<\/p>\n
We were the first individual participants to check in and at that stage there was only one open slot on a team pulling the plane at 10:55 AM. I figured this would alter as things get setup but we put our names in and gave our phone numbers — they’d text us with our times, like we were waiting for a table at an uber popular restaurant.<\/p>\n
Steve and I walked about the mini car show, cheered on a couple of kids pulling a Cessna, and then just wandered around the car dealerships that were nearby. We were just killing time waiting for the organizers to get organized. No biggie. I had misread the times and the first “pull” of the day wasn’t until 10 AM anyway.<\/p>\n For the record, Taco Bell having a food truck seems anathema to the very concept of food truck fun.<\/p>\n We got back to the main staging area a little before 10 AM and the opening festivities were in full swing. Nitro from American Gladiators was brought out to do the Pledge of Allegiance and he brought up some of the Special Olympic athletes to help him out. That was a nice moment… made all the more so once he had them also recite the Athlete’s Oath which goes like this:<\/p>\n Let Me Win. That’s lovely in many, many ways.<\/p>\n As the pulling commenced, it became apparent to even our untrained plane pulling eyes and hands that our odds of pulling were slim to none… and it was a horse race.\u00a0 Slim hadn’t left town but he was definitely gazing longingly at the stage coach schedule and fingering the coins in his pocket.<\/p>\n Each team could only have a maximum of 25 team members… and let’s be honest, if you went to the trouble to field a team, you probably went to the trouble to get 25 people at work, from your club, from friends and family, to join up.\u00a0 You weren’t like me two days before saying, “SAY!\u00a0 I should just show up and do that!”<\/p>\n Recognizing this was something of a fool’s errand, we wandered back to the check-in tent around 10:45 to see what was what.\u00a0 The 10:55 slot was filled by another team member so that one shot at pulling was already gone.\u00a0 Steve and I were still at the top of the stand-by list, which had now grown to 10 people.\u00a0 The very nice volunteers said they were waiting to see if they could just field another pulling team with the individuals… but that meant we needed another 15 people to show up… and our pull time wouldn’t be until all 54 other teams had gone… which seemed like a long, long time to wait for only the possibility of participating.<\/p>\n Still, Steve and I felt we’d come this far, we’d give it a bit and decide from there.\u00a0\u00a0 We didn’t NOT want to pull a plane… but we also didn’t want to stand around for several more hours to pull a plane for less than 13 seconds.<\/p>\n As we plotted a lunch detour to Steve’s favorite mexican restaurant, we looked at each other.\u00a0 It was nearing 11 o’clock and as teams were called and there was no text in sight, nor any empty slots amongst the enthused teams, we unanimously voted to call it a day…<\/p>\n Not wanting to be rude, we walked up to the check in tent to let them know to scratch us from the list… only before we could say anything they said they were just about to text us to say we’d be pulling with the Special Olympics Athlete Team at noon.<\/p>\n Truly there was no better team to be a part of.\u00a0 Silently, Steve and I voted and we unanimously agreed to pull the plane.<\/p>\n Let me win.\u00a0 But if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt.<\/em><\/p>\n We killed an hour watching the festivities, scrolling through emails, taking a few more photos to document the day.\u00a0 Times were called out by the announcer and everybody was putting up some amazing figures — 6.01 seconds, 5.91 seconds.\u00a0 Heck, when one team “floundered” and only put up an 8.78 second time the emcee said at least their first pull was good.\u00a0 At least their first pull was good?\u00a0 Dude, they just dragged a plane 12 feet with their bare hands.\u00a0 I don’t care if it took them 8 minutes — They.\u00a0 Pulled.\u00a0 A.\u00a0 Plane.\u00a0 With.\u00a0 Their.\u00a0 Bare.\u00a0 Hands.\u00a0 (okay, okay… they didn’t have “bare” hands… complimentary gloves were available from volunteers, but still — c’mon!).<\/p>\n As the sun rose to its zenith and the hour of pulling approached, we joined the athlete’s team.\u00a0 Clearly an audible had been called and all the individuals were allowed to join up with this squad, the 25 member count waived for special circumstances.\u00a0 So be it.\u00a0 I was just glad to be pulling.\u00a0 (And I keep mentioning the 25 person limit because [spoiler alert] our times were pretty good; our team was awesome but I don’t want to take anything away from those folks who were able to pull the plane with 25 folks — astonishing!).<\/p>\n Matthew, a Special Olympic Volleyball player, chatted with us while we waited.\u00a0 He had never pulled a plane either. We donned our borrowed gloves and we walked out onto the tarmac.<\/p>\n Again, a lot more than 25 people so the rope was a bit crowded — we headed toward the back albeit I had no desire to the be the anchor.\u00a0 I’ve seen Battle of the Network Stars<\/em>.\u00a0 I’m DEFINITELY not anchor material!\u00a0 But the spirit of camaraderie and the sense of adventure at pulling a plane together outweighed any feelings of trepidation that I might have had at the magnitude of the task that lay ahead.<\/p>\n Steve was boxing ready.<\/p>\n “Airplane ready?” the emcee intoned.\u00a0 I guess that’s necessary because the plane’s sensors for the timing of the pull needed to be set but still it felt odd to hear that question being asked.\u00a0 Steve and I wondered if there was just a crew inside the plane playing drinking games wherein every pull they’d take a shot.\u00a0 We couldn’t see inside but I want to believe that’s true so ya know what?\u00a0 It is.\u00a0 It just is.<\/p>\n The countdown was on… and for clarity’s sake, it was “1…2…3…” then pull.\u00a0 It wasn’t “1…2…THREE” and pull on three.<\/p>\n We pulled the plane.\u00a0 It was surprisingly difficult even amongst a sea of pullers.\u00a0 I didn’t know how long it took.\u00a0 But there was a distinct moment when our force overcame inertia and I could feel the plane rolling. And then I heard the “BUZZZZZZZZ” of crossing the 12 foot marker for the pull.\u00a0 But as all teams had two chances to pull, there was no time to celebrate as a quick reset meant we pulled it again.<\/p>\n A tug, and a pull, and a digging in.\u00a0 And then once again the feeling of overwhelming Newtonian physics.\u00a0 Twelve more feet and a BUZZ.<\/p>\n High fives and victory hugs ensued.\u00a0 And then we were hustled over for a group photo.\u00a0 I don’t know if we’ll ever see those pics but it was nice to be in that crowd.<\/p>\n Before heading off to lunch and leaving the plane behind, we quickly checked our exhibition only times (as let’s be fair, we were over the team member limits).<\/p>\n We pulled the plane twelve feet in 5.98 seconds and then another twelve feet in 5.87 seconds.\u00a0 Yeah, we crushed it.<\/p>\n It felt a lot longer to me and the results kinda felt like the points awarded on Who’s Line Is It Anyway?… <\/em>but we’ll take it.\u00a0 Besides, my sense of time is not to be trusted.\u00a0 When I did the polar plunge in Antarctica<\/a> it felt like I was under that water for hours and maybe even a lifetime as everything that had happened to me up to and including plunging into the water flashed before my eyes.\u00a0 But I digress.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n
\nBut If I Cannot Win,
\nLet Me Be Brave In the Attempt.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/a> <\/a><\/p>\n<\/a> <\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a> <\/a><\/p>\n<\/a> <\/a><\/p>\n
\nArmand… or Roland?\u00a0 I’m so bad with names… another team member said he’d pulled before.\u00a0 Veterans!\u00a0 That’s certainly what we needed.<\/p>\n<\/a> <\/a><\/p>\n<\/a> <\/a> <\/a> <\/a><\/p>\n<\/a> <\/a> <\/a> <\/a><\/p>\n<\/a> <\/a> <\/a> <\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n