Sunday morning I had a fantastic experience- I got to run on the field at Fenway Park!!!!!

Even though I’m a die-hard Yankees fan, the opportunity and more importantly the cause was too good to pass up. The Run to Home Base is a fundraising event to support the Home Base Program, which is sponsored by the Red Sox Foundation and Massachusetts General Hospital.  From the programs website:

The Home Base Program is a new philanthropic partnership between the Red Sox Foundation and Massachusetts General Hospital dedicated to improving the lives of New England servicemen and women returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with combat stress disorders and/or traumatic brain injury through clinical care, innovative research, education, family support and community outreach.

The start of the run was outside the ballpark, on Yawkey Way.  I had to go to there on Saturday to pick up my registration stuff and took this picture then.  It was a bit more crowded on Sunday! [Click any picture to see it full-sized]:

Veronica and the kids came with me on Sunday and once we got there, we wandered up a ramp to look out over the field.  DB hadn’t been there since we took him to a game in 2002 and PP has never been there.  One of the nice things about the event was that the ballpark was open to anyone and everyone who wanted to come watch, free of charge.  What did we see near the top of the ramp? See for yourself!!

We moved a little further towards center field so I could point out the finish line to my family.  Look at the image above and you’ll see a big garage door in straightaway center field- we would enter the ballbark from Lansdowne St, through that garage door then turn right and head for the finish line right in front of the green monster.  See the orange cones? That’s the finish line.

Once we crossed the finish line, we would all head down the 3rd base line and get the chance to walk across home plate.  Of course, with ~3000 runners they had to take steps to protect the grass, so they laid down this protective covering.  Now that I think about it, no one ever actually stepped on the turf- we only ran or walked on the dirt or on this covering.

Veronica went kinda picture crazy with my camera [which is a good thing!] and while she swears that I’m in this picture, I don’t see me.  That’s okay though, you get the idea.  There are other pictures that it’s obvious I’m in, but a little too obvious to share here…

I have to say, I underestimated what a big deal this event was.  Among those in attendance, besides numerous veterans groups, wounded warriors and their families were Massachusetts Lt Governor Tim Murray, Red Sox CEO Tom Werner and Army Chief of Staff General George Casey.  I paid to participate, but at the end of the day, it was an honor to participate in this event, an experience I won’t soon forget.

And I was good- I didn’t wear one of my Yankees t-shirts when I crossed the Red Sox home plate