Special Olympics Training Event

The Adventures of Flat Jenny at a Special Olympics Training Event

by Juanita

Both Flat Jenny and the real Jenny are fortunate in that both have a plethora of friends who love to run. One of Jenny’s real life acquaintances, Juanita (hereafter Nita, her online nickname) is not yet a runner. Just so those who read blog know, Nita doesn’t actually know Jenny too well. Nita has met Jenny at some singles events such as the local institute, a religion class for those who are single. And last year both Nita and Jenny were fortunate to attend a small group class in Thai cooking, thanks to a kind soul who invited a few people to attend the class! Other than that, Nita mostly knows Jenny via her blog which she discovered after Jenny’s diagnosis.

Last week, when Nita learned about the Flat Jenny project, she thought Flat Jenny might enjoy going on a Saturday morning outing to a Special Olympics training session for some local athletes. Nita had already signed up to attend and she thought Flat Jenny might enjoy attending as well! Thus on Friday, April 8, Nita downloaded the Flat Jenny Template and another Flat Jenny was created!

Since the event was to be Saturday morning, April 9^th Flat Jenny would be quite busy! You see, Flat Jenny was already joining her amazingly extraordinary California friend Laurie in a 20 mile early AM run! On that day, in sunny California, Laurie and Flat Jenny got up at 4:30AM PST to RUN 20 miles to church to attend a baptism! Such a feat is truly fantabulous to the nth degree!!!

Flat Jenny realized there would be a time conflict, for the time Nita and Flat Jenny were going to need to leave was at the very same time! Remember, at 4:30 AM PST, Laurie would begin running 20 miles to a baptism! And that would be 7:30 AM EST when Nita needed to leave her place in Woodbridge, VA in order to arrive at the gathering location in Fairfax by 8:15AM.

Luckily Flat Jenny takes after real Jenny in multitasking. And due to her special powers she can add speed of light travel. So Flat Jenny had no worries, she knew it was totally possible for to accompany both Laurie and Nita on their respective daily adventure. Just like the Little Engine That Could, Flat Jenny knew she could do both! For remember, she is Flat Jenny, representing the real wonderful Jenny!

Flat Jenny wanted to know a little about the meeting place. Nita explained she used to work at the Northern Virginia Training Center (NVTC), a state residential facility for some of the most wonderful people in the world. They happen to have intellectual disabilities and most have severe physical challenges as well. The motto of that facility is helping people with intellectual disabilities to live life. Nita said she no longer works there but occasionally helps out at their events. NVTC is located in Fairfax, near GMU where Jenny is a PhD student.

In the training event, they would meet at NVTC and then get on the bus to drive to Flint Hill School, in Oakton, VA. Here it would be sort of a trial event for an upcoming Special Olympics, the objective was for the athletes to qualify for another event in a few weeks. The winners at that event get to go to the State Special Olympics event! At least that is Nita’s understanding.

So on with the Saturday AM adventure! Nita is absolutely not an early riser, this fact is one of her major lifetime weaknesses, and they had to be at the meeting place at NVTC at 8:15AM . However, having been up until 4AM, doing various night owl things such as coloring her Flat Jenny template and making a baked item for a potluck dinner at her church, Nita didn’t wake up until 7:28 AM. And she’d planned to leave at 7:30AM! Oops!

Nita wanted to do something "running related" for the Flat Jenny project. Thus, for her contribution, Nita jumped out of her bed and dashed to get ready. Luckily Nita had showered late in the night, thus she just had to hurry to dress and brush her teeth. Luckily, Flat Jenny was already to go!

They jumped in the car and headed north up 123, then turned right on Braddock Rd. During some of the traveling time, Flat Jenny actually hopped over to California to run with Laurie, but Flat Jenny did arrive back in Nita’s car as they passed GMU. Nita and Flat Jenny thought of Jenny as they passed GMU, for they know how much Jenny hopes to be back there, continuing her PhD studies. Nita and Flat Jenny hope that very soon Jenny will be able to resume her dream.

Soon they arrived at NVTC which is off of Braddock Rd. They were delighted to realize they had arrived on time! Notice the picture of Flat Jenny smiling as she displays the proof that they had indeed arrived EXACTLY on time!

Once in the parking lot, Flat Jenny was ready to go inside. However, Nita needed a moment to finish brushing her hair and donning her belt, as she had rushed to just get out the door. Nita shared that she sometimes didn’t like her hair and wished that it looked nicer, so often her hair made her feel like a Monster Woman. In saying this, Nita immediately felt bad for complaining. She felt sad for Jenny due to her struggles with chemo-induced hair loss. Flat Jenny joked Nita could borrow one of Jenny’s wigs. She said Jenny is generous and won’t mind! Nita would have taken her up on that offer but remember Flat Jenny was also running in California, so there was no time to borrow a wig. But Nita did say if given a choice, she would want to borrow Jenny’s awesome hot pink wig!

Finally, Flat Jenny and Nita went into the building. Luckily for Flat Jenny and Nita, sometimes things run late at NVTC, and that morning was no exception. There is so much for the dedicated staff to do on behalf of these amazing human beings who require so much care and attention. So after waiting a few moments, they were ready to go. They enjoyed meeting the staff, another volunteer and most importantly the athlete-clients that they would accompany! Their mode of transportation would be a Fast Tran.

Along with Carol, another volunteer, they helped load the Fast Tran. This meant that they had to use a little muscle power to pull wheelchair with its occupant onto the wheelchair lift that would elevate the athlete from the ground up to the Fast Tran. They discovered that some of the wheelchairs and their occupant were a tad hard to guide onto the wheelchair lift! But with Flat Jenny’s can do spirit, they did it! One of the fun parts was pushing the lift control button up/down. Such cool technology! Once the person was on the Fast Tran, the staff secured their wheelchair into a safe position for the trip to the training meet.

Here is a picture of Flat Jenn helping operate the control for the wheelchair lift. Please note that the black gloved fingers are those of Carol, one of the volunteers who was interested in the Flat Jenny project. She was supportive and enjoyed seeing the pictures Nita took of Flat Jenny!

On this event, there was a 1:1 ratio of assistant to athlete. Flat Jenny and Nita were privileged to hang out with a lovely gregarious friendly young woman, for purposes of this blog, Nita will call her “A” . Her name doesn’t even begin with an A but that is what they decided to call her.

They liked “A” a lot and know real Jenny would too. “A” was very excited to be in a wheelchair race. On ride over she said, “Here we go! It’s going to be fun!” She looked forward to her race. Her awesome attitude made Nita think she’d like to be that excited about the things she does in life!

En route to Flint Hill, one of the kind but busy harried staff shared that she had accidentally forgotten to bring a camera! Oops! This staff member had charged the camera but ended up forgetting it, something totally understandable as things can get so crazy busy in direct care work. Nita was hopeful to lend her camera, in fact the only reason it was there was due to the Flat Jenny project. Thus Flat Jenny and Nita were eager to share the camera they had brought. For a moment they were happy as they thought the camera could be used at the event. But they soon found out that unfortunately, the State of Virginia rules prevented using the camera that was not the property of the State of Virginia. In addition, they were unable to take pictures of any of the athlete-clients due to the rules of privacy. But they could take a few pictures with only Flat Jenny visible!

Within a short time, everyone arrived at Flint School in Oakton, VA. Upon their arrival at the school, they helped unload the Fast Tran. They were warmly greeted and directed to the track and field area. To get to the track, it was necessary to either go down a staircase or go down a somewhat intimidating hill for people either using a wheelchair or pushing one. Oh well! So to go down the hill, they worked in twos, sometimes in threes- one or two people in front of the wheelchair and one person behind the wheelchair. Everyone made it safely down the hill! Anything can be overcome w/teamwork! This experience made Nita and Flat Jenny happy that Jenny has so many people on her support team!

As several events were occurring simultaneously, they spent much of the time waiting while watching other events from the far side of the track. There were running races, walking races, racing via manual and electric wheelchair and throwing events (such as a tennis ball toss).

While waiting, Flat Jenny decided to explore the grassy area surrounding the track! There were a few trees in that area, and Flat Jenny decided it would be fun to climb one! So in a fascinating feat that elite gymnasts would envy, she hopped up the tree in a quick move and balanced perfectly as she posed for this picture:

While they waited some more, “A” again voiced her excitement to participate in her upcoming race!

Meanwhile, Nita and Flat Jenny decided it would be good to Flat Jenny’s picture taken near that steep hill mentioned earlier:

After taking that picture, while walking alongside the track en route to the waiting area, another group of runners sprinted past Nita and Flat Jenny. Nita thinks the runners may have been in the 800. Flat Jenny was eager to cheer for the runners, so Flat Jenny smiled her heartfelt well wishes as Nita waved Flat Jenny back and forth, side to side, sort of like a flag! It truly seemed like Flat Jenny was right there cheering for those runners! During this time of cheering and waving, one special moment occurred. While cheering a young teenage runner, who was passing Flat Jenny and Nita, the young runner turned and looked towards them and said “thank you” to them, he then continued on in his race.

Here is a picture of Flat Jenny cheering for that young man as he raced by:

Soon Nita and Flat Jenny were back at home base with the others they had accompanied. Flat Jenny was excited to know and cheer for everyone! Of course it was cold since Nita had not brought a coat for Flat Jenny, so Flat Jenny spent most of the time in Nita’s cloth bag as well as jumping back and forth to California to keep up with Laurie.

As runners participated in the various races, everyone would clap for them. As people went by, Flat Jenny and Nita both felt bad they didn’t know everyone’s names! Nita has heard marathoners find it helpful to hear named called out even from strangers. But today no one wore bib numbers or name tags! Flat Jenny emphasized it important to cheer anyway! Nita felt happy that in Jenny’s current race, Jenny’s friends know her and cheer, care, encourage and support her by name and in so many ways!

As the waiting continued, “A” practiced for her event with the help of her recreation therapist! For “A”, she has a unique method to pedal her wheelchair. The strategy that works best for her to propel her wheelchair is to use her feet and pedal backwards! An exciting moment occurred when “A” was practicing diligently: everyone who was practicing on the track suddenly had to hurry off the track because some more racers were just about to rush by.

Soon it would be “A”s race. It was touching to watch the assisted walker race, where the athletes participated in their race with the assistance of someone else. It made Nita think of how we all walk independently in life. But in reality, we all need “assisted walking”, in that we all must walk with the Savior. And as scripture and the Flat Jenny blog proclaims, we must walk and NOT be weary. Jesus Christ can walk with each of us; He wants to help us in our daily lives. We all need His help! The Savior loves Jenny and will help her in every step in her life as she battles this current challenge.

Finally it was “A’s” turn to race! There would be two others racing against her. As the race started, there was lots of enthusiastic cheering for each athlete. “A” raced exceedingly well; she was totally persistent and stayed her course while backwards pedaling! “A” actually ended up winning her race!!! One of the staff even dubbed her “SPEEDRACER A”! As this was a time trial event, there were actually no medals issued at this race- “A” had seemed excited in anticipating receiving a medal. But she understood. And Nita hoped that even more than a medal, “ A” knew she had good staff that supported her and cheered her. As she shared that sentiment with Flat Jenny, Nita didn’t wish to sound overly dorky, but she told Flat Jenny that Jenny deserved a medal for how she has endured her challenges.

Overall, what fun times!

Now it was time for everyone to return home! We learned there was an easier flatter path back to the Fast Tran in the parking lot. They would not have to push wheelchairs up the steep hill! Yeah! They wondered why their greeters hadn’t told them about the flatter path when they first arrived at the school. Oh well!

Nita and Flat Jenny began to push “A” back to the parking lot. While doing so, a young lady who also resides at the facility where “A” does, joined them in helping push “A’s” wheelchair. This new friend helped push “A’s” wheelchair with her left hand while using her right hand to hold onto Nita’s left forearm/upper arm. But in so doing, sometimes this young lady tried to hold onto Nita near her armpit, essentially poking Nita in her armpit. This was sort of tickly, not a fun feeling! So Nita gently encouraged the young lady to hold her on the forearm or upper arm, so as not poking in the arm pit. When Nita did this, Flat Jenny shook her head and smiled and said that is no reason to complain! She reminded Nita that Jenny has to be poked w/NEEDLES and suggested she should be grateful for gentle pokes!

Soon they departed and arrived back at NVTC. They helped unload folks off of the Fast Tran. They said good bye to “A” and thanked her for being so kind in allowing them to hang out with her. Nita left to go do some errands. And Flat Jenny needed to hurry back to check in with Laurie and all the happenings in California.

Flat Jenny did drop in for one final moment later that afternoon. Nita was going to spend part of the afternoon watching the daughter “C” of her friend. But first they stopped to get lunch, as due to the morning rush, Nita had not had a chance to eat.

While getting lunch in drive thru, Nita told “C” a little about Jenny and the Flat Jenny project. And “C” shared that she had been in a one mile fun run at her school for a terrible disease. “C” couldn’t remember the name of the disease- turns out it was for diabetes. “C” also shared that her school teacher had run in a running race and had told the class about the race. “C” shared some of the experiences of her teacher’s race with Nita.

They took this picture to remind Jenny and her friends of the many kids out there who care to help prevent- cancer and all horrible diseases.

In a moment Nita wishes she could have captured, “C” held Flat Jenny with both hands and looked at her. But as they were waiting in the drive through, Nita didn’t think it would be safe to snap a picture at that moment. So after picking up the food, they paused in the parking lot to snap a picture of Flat Jenny with “C”.

Figure 7 "C" & Flat Jenny

After taking the picture, “C” and Nita left to go watch the hilarious movie from Redbox, Beezus and Ramona. Flat Jenny was invited to stay and watch, but she kindly declined as Flat Jenny wanted to get back to her California friend Laurie and all those adventures such as attending the baptism and crashing a wedding!.

“C” and Nita said good bye to Flat Jenny and thanked her for the fun times!

The End

Nita’s life is not too overly exciting but said she does have a couple other adventures to plan for Flat Jenny. In particular, there is a statue at her workplace that she thinks Flat Jenny will really like! Stay tuned! Special thanks to “C’s Mother for allowing this picture to be posted!