What to expect

I just got an e-mail with the subject line:  "What to expect for tomorrow."
I signed up for the Race for the Cure.  Selma, my daughter-in-law, said we should so I did.  It's a 5K and I have done this particular run at least 8 or 9 times dating back as far as when there were only 4 to 5000 participants.  According to the e-mail I just got they are expecting 30,000 this year.  That's a lot of people crammed together toe-ing the edge of a starting line. 
It also takes place in the heart of downtown so you need to arrive early enough to park and walk a portion of the way.  Streets close at 6:30am so you need to maneuver around the already confusing one-way streets to find your way through the traffic (of 30,000 or so).  After you park you need to walk and wait with the gathering crowds since you had to arrive early.  When it is finally time to line up for the race it takes at least 10 to 20 minutes since the participants span an entire street length.  It doesn't sound like a very good way to start a Saturday.
Ah - but it is a good way.  This is one charity run that captures the feel of the people that are there.  The people you see with banners and posters and pictures of those close to them that have survived or not surround you.  You can't help but get swept up into the feelings of love and hope and pressing on in the faces of the relatives that are so easily recognizable in the faces on their posters.  They are all family and this one race has always been at the top of being able to accept everyone as part of that family.  The entire 30,000 or more all get up early, drive down into massive traffic, hope for a parking spot and make their way to that starting line.  Not a one of them does it for themselves.  They all do it for someone, for family, for friends.  And whether you are related or not, you become part of that family.  This is one 5K that isn't about the race.
Who said it wasn't sounding like a good way to start a Saturday? 
TT