With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, you may have hearts, flowers and chocolate on your mind, whether you are the potential giver or the hopeful recipient. Today’s post will include some hearts and flowers, but sorry … no chocolate.
This post is about the Running to Honor 5K Run/Walk. The actual event was held Saturday, July 29, 2023 at Heritage Park, but I did the 5K walk virtually the following day at the same venue.
The Running to Honor event was organized by Aaron Bartal, a veteran from Lincoln Park, who spent six years in the Army. The inaugural event in 2019 was created to memorialize his comrades lost on his tour in Iraq. Aaron Bartal lost nine fellow soldiers on the battlefield and even more after returning home.
You may be surprised to learn that in the U.S., there are 22 veterans per day that die from suicide or PTSD, some many years after they return from the battlefield. So Aaron Bartal has made it his mission to use the event’s registration fees to raise funds for resources so veterans may get help, plus honor and keep the memory of our fallen soldiers alive, while reminding all of us that freedom is never free.
How I learned about Aaron Bartal’s mission.
You may recall my heartfelt post last Memorial Day about Army Specialist Craig S. Frank, 24, of Lincoln Park, Michigan, who died on July 17, 2004 in Baghdad, Iraq from injuries from a rocket-propelled grenade that struck him from behind. He was assigned to the Army National Guard’s 1775th Military Police Company from Pontiac, Michigan and just days from returning home from that tour. He was posthumously promoted to Sergeant on July 21, 2004. There is a Fallen Heroes statue in Sergeant Craig’s honor at Memorial Park. If you want to see the photos of Sergeant Craig and his memorial from my prior post, you can click here.
In 2022, a portion of M-85 (Fort Street), a busy thoroughfare in Lincoln Park, Michigan,was renamed Craig S. Frank Memorial Highway. I read about our Governor signing the highway dedication legislation into law in the local paper and assumed (incorrectly) that our City had sponsored this highway dedication. But after the renaming ceremony I learned funds were raised from Aaron Bartal’s event Running to Honor so I knew I would sign up in 2023 (and I have also registered for the July 27, 2024 event as well).
A morning walk to reflect on the loss of these fallen soldiers.
It was a beautiful Summer morning, albeit hot and humid, when I visited Heritage Park in association with the Running to Honor 5K. That event focused on the number 22. As mentioned above, 22 is the number of service men and women in the U.S. daily who did not perish due to war, but from taking their own lives as a result of their time spent in the service. Yes, you may be as surprised as I was to read this statistic.
I decided that due to the solemnity of this charitable event, I would wend my way through the historical area of Heritage Park, then meander over to the Botanical Gardens which is located on the fringes of the park’s campus. I intended to seek serene scenes, so instead of fun and frivolous shots of turtles plopping off their ramp, a Canada goose giving me a side-eye or a group of Mallards splashing happily under the cascading fountain, I focused on pretty reflections at Coan Lake …
… then took the long way to visit the Taylor Conservatory and Botanical Gardens to photograph some flowers.
I promised you hearts and flowers.
There was Francesca’s Heart, a sculpture dedicated to Francesca Weatherhead, (nee Vitale), a 25-year-old newlywed who was tragically killed by a parolee who was fleeing police and broadsided her car in 2014. The artist of the sculpture is a friend of the family.
At the Conservatory I found another heart, which you see below and enlarged as the header image.
On that moist morning, there were hot pink petals with dewdrops.
I saw red and white flower combos.
But was there some blue as well for a patriotic theme? Why yes … there were twin contrails high above the Conservatory.
There was even some red-white-and-blue patriotic décor mixed in with those flowers, presumably from the event.
I took these photos to show how the humid air and dew drops shimmered on spider webs in the Knot Gardens.
After my long walk I was ready to get to the car, enjoy the A/C and cool off before driving home.
The race swag was mailed a few weeks before the event. You can see the stats displayed on the back of the finishing medal regarding veteran deaths by day/week/month and year (enlarged in the last photo).
I am including this photo from the Running to Honor Facebook page of some of the fallen heroes honored at the event. The photos and flags were placed here the night before with one honor guard respectfully watching over them through the night. There will be over 100 fallen soldiers and fallen veterans to be honored at the 2024 Running To Honor 5K Run/Walk.
I had 22 photos in this post to honor the 22 military lives lost from suicide/PTSD in a solitary day.
I thought I’d share this quote:
“It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.” ~ Antoine de Saint-Exupéry from The Little Prince.
I want to mention that today is also my 11th blogging anniversary.
I am joining Terri Webster Schrandt’s “Sunday Stills Monthly Color Challenge: Pink and/or Red”.
Linda Schaub
WALKIN', WRITIN', WIT & WHIMSY 
It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.” ~ Antoine de. Very nice quote 💯!
Wonderful ❤️ flowers photography.
Beautiful you post heart & flowers but you miss the chocolate 🍫🫕. These are Valentine’s gifts.
Thanks,Linda 🙂
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Thanks Raj – glad you liked the post.
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The water drops and webs are fab Linda 🙂
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Glad you liked them Brian – they sure did sparkle in the sun and are about as close to any “spidery things” as I’ll ever get. 🙂
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Happy blogging anniversary! And this is a very appropriate post for Valentines Day. The photos and the cause are both to be praised.
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Thank you JP – I am glad you liked the photos and I wonder where the years go zipping by like that? Running to Honor is such a worthy cause and I am glad that I found out about it and can participate in it.
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I’ve heard that soldier suicide statistic before and yet it shocks me every time I see it again. Focusing on reflections in the water to inspire reflections on the sacrifices that have been made by our veterans was so apt. Congratulations on completing your run for such a worthy cause! I love all the creative hearts you found. Happy 11th blogging anniversary, too!
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Thank you Barbara and 11 years – my goodness, where did the time go? Yes, it was chilling to read those statistics – I had no idea. I am glad you like the pictures I chose. I thought they were subdued and yes, I liked the ideas of the reflections to reflect.
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Happy blogaversary! It’s quite an accomplishment. Veteran statistics are sad. We don’t do enough when they come home. Beautiful flowers. Now I’m “hungry” for spring!
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Thank you Kate – 11 years; time is flying by. I had no idea about those veteran statistics and was surprised to read about that many deaths. No we don’t do enough for those servicemen which is very sad. The beauty of Summer flowers everywhere seems hard to imagine when we look around now with everything drab and bare, or covered in snow as you soon will be.
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A heartfelt post to share about the plight of our Vets, Linda. That’s a sad statistic indeed, that 22 die every day from mental health issues and other physical issues as a result of giving their service to our country. Sometimes I’m ashamed of our US medical system and it’s ridiculous roadblocks for proper medical treatment.
My dad is a Korean war vet and struggles with COPD he was diagnosed with as a result of working for 2 years in the asbestos-laden boilerrooms of Navy AC carriers. He is NOW receiving VA benefits at age 87, once we found a VA advocate in Payson, AZ.
What a great cause to support, Linda. Your red and pink images are lovely and your motivation to help this cause is wonderful!
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It was amazing to read those statistics Terri. It is so disappointing that these service personnel do not get the help needed. I’m glad that finally your dad is receiving the proper care for his COPD. We used to do asbestos-related injuries at the firm my boss and I left in 2003. Many, many men working for years in boiler rooms ended up with asbestosis in later years.
I am glad I found this cause and quite by accident with the street naming. Thank you – I am glad you like the pink and red images and I am happy to help out Aaron Bartal in his mission.
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I can’t think of a more worthy focus for a 5K, Linda. Many of these run/walks are for big, unspecific charities so it’s refreshing to read about this one and its ability to fund projects like the honorary highway segment. “22” is utterly sobering in this case but normally my lucky number (my January birthday).
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I agree with you Dave – I like these smaller charities because they don’t lose sight of the nature of the cause by paying for TV or print ads about the event or having committees. Here Aaron does all aspects of the event organizing, even the mailings. This charity event had no sponsors except our registration funds. The stats sure are sobering – I had no idea. Happy belated birthday – 14 is my lucky number in that regard.
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An important cause and beautiful photos. Hugs to you!
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Thank you Zazzy – I am glad you liked the photos. I am happy that I literally stumbled upon Aaron Bartal’s cause as he doesn’t advertise. He does the entire event organization himself. Such an important cause. Thanks for the hugs too!
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Great post, Linda. Such a wonderful (and heartbreaking) cause. Well done with the 22 photos in the post. The dew on the spiderwebs are my favorite.
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Thanks Linda – yes, I was amazed to find out how many deaths from suicide and/or PTSD happen every day with our service men and women. Glad you liked the photos. I liked those dew on the spiderwebs photos too and believe me, that’s the closest I would normally get to spiderwebs.
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Happy Blogiversary, Linda!
You did a race in a beautiful location that benefitted a very worthwhile cause. Thank you for publicizing the heartbreaking statistics about veteran suicide.
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Thank you Laurie – 11 years seems hard to believe, but here I am! I was amazed to learn the amount of service personnel lose their lives daily to suicide or PTSD – very sad and staggering statistics. Heritage Park is such a pretty park and they have many 5K events here throughout the year, so I have this and Fish & Loaves Happy Soles for Hunger as well in 2024.
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Linda, thanks for sharing facts making us aware of this worthy cause. Your description of the heat and humidity makes me appreciate the cooler days we’re having. I enjoyed all the photos of your walk.
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The statistics of veteran suicides were staggering and very sad Rebecca. This was a horribly humid day and on those days I usually try to get done with my walks earlier so it’s usually still cool enough to enjoy the walk, but not so on this day. I am glad you enjoyed the photos as well. I wanted to reflect the sadness of the subject.
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A sobering post about our veterans, Linda. Glad you participated and shared your photos and story about the event.
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Thank you Eilene – it was amazing and sad to hear those statistics. I was happy to participate and will again this year for this worthwhile event. I am glad you liked the photos as well.
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11 years, how does it go by so fast? Congratulations on a blog well done! I had to show my hubby the water droplets picture, awesome! I love how you walk for a good cause.
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Thank you Diane! The time has gone by pretty quickly since blogging got so busy. The first four years I only had a few friends subscribing by e-mail. This is such a good cause and I found out about it just by accident. I’m glad you both liked the water droplet pictures – that’s about as close as I’ll usually get to anything spider related! 🙂
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Hahaha I hear that!
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Happy 11th Blogiversary! 🎉 I enjoyed your beautiful photos, especially the dewdrops on the bright pink petals. What an important cause you’re involved in! My father was career army and had PTSD. One of my army friends’ brothers also had it and committed suicide. Thank you for caring! 💖
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Thank you Debbie D for the warm wishes on my Blogiversary and also about my involvement in this important cause. I am glad I learned of Aaron Bartal’s mission and I like that he does it all on his own so all the funds raised go to help these veterans and/or help to keep their memory alive. The stats sure opened my eyes – how sad to hear about the incidents of suicide and PTSD for our brave service members. I am sorry to hear about your father and friend’s brother who took his life as a result of his service experience. I only participate in a few 5K charity events each year, but I will make this worthy 5K a regular event for me going forward.
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Happy Blogiversary, Linda! Excellent job combining 11s to feature 22s. Your post is true to you and your blogging style – you educate, you entertain, you touch our hearts, and you make us smile. The stats about veterans are so sad. My dad served too and our family is thankful for the Veteran’s clinic that has found a way to help him and his hearing loss due to his service. Thank you so much for your kind heart and for highlighting the support for our veterans – despite what is available, we all could do more. 💘💕💞💝💌
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Thank you Shelley – I could have included my WP Blogiversary pic, but decided I’d have to remove one of my 22 pics to do so, so I didn’t. I finally posted the photos I mentioned to you about the dewdrops in spider webs on top of the bushes. Thank you also for the nice comment about this post. I was really impressed with what Aaron Bartal is doing here, all on his own, no big corporate sponsors, even does the mailing part himself with the tracking info for the packages – I liked that and I liked his mission as well. This is a good cause and I’m glad I could do my part, albeit a small part, to contribute to his cause.
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You’re welcome! You have a whole year to share your Blogiversary pic 😉
Yes, the dewdrops were spectacular – way to notice them and be there to capture them.
That’s very impressive that Aaron is doing all of that himself. What an undertaking and I hope he has a following of other kind people like you to help him spread the word and contribute to the cause!
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This is true and I used to put it as a widget – maybe I should do that again. I haven’t edited my photo gallery on my home page in forever. My first time doing the dewdrops on the spider webs – wasn’t going any closer to those webs in case a spider ran out on the web. :●)
I found it impressive as well … he has created a fundraising page for all participants to use on social media and did that last year too, but I am not going to fundraise even though I think it is a wonderful charity. They did that with March of Dimes too.
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Another thing to add to your to-do-list after you retire. LOL – I’m the same way with spider webs, I’m on high alert watching to make sure the spiders don’t jump out at me. 😉
Whatever you contribute is appreciated!
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Yes, blog maintenance. I told Terri last week when she was troubleshooting our WP issues, my theme is 2010 and one day I’m sure I’ll get a message that they are putting blog theme 2010 out to pasture. 🙂 I only didn’t keep my distance with spiders one time and that was when I visited the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History and they had Tarantulas in terrariums with lids and I tapped on the glass – probably not supposed to do that, but I couldn’t resist.
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Yes, I think you’re right about the theme possibly going away. I hope they send a notice before they do that!
See, perhaps you have a inquisitive gene for spiders after all. 🕷🕸
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I hope they say something in advance (and not for a while yet). I picked this theme as it was the easiest one IMHO. I se a lot of bloggers using the 2010 theme still, so at least I know I am not the only one hanging on to it! As to spiders, only if they are not in my personal space. 🙂
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I wonder how they notify people about a theme no longer working? 🤔 I have a free one too now. Oy. Another thing to add to the to-do-list!
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In Reader, every so often they have a post by WordPress and they will tell what new themes just came out or other features. Then they show thumbnails of how the new themes look, their name, or what they are geared for (like for a business). I always look, not that I want to change, but I don’t recall them saying they retired any themes. Too much to do already, so I hope mine is “safe” for awhile longer.
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You know so much more than I do about Reader. Hopefully with so many users using your theme, they’ll keep it alive!
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I hope that is true Shelley – since you don’t use Readr, then you don’t see the posts about new features – are you interested to see them as I will give you the post link if you’d like.
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Yes, please send the link!
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OK, will send it in a separate comment; I don’t know if it will go to SPAM or not. I know your blog won’t allow links without approval.
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Here you go – if you want them all the time, let me know okay?
https://wordpress.com/read/feeds/25823/posts/5126157368
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Thank you, I’m going to spend some time reading it!
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Before I came to Comments, I looked to see how behind I was in Reader. There is another WordPress news … this is on new themes. I can pass them all along to you … new theme for you? I didn’t look (until forced to).
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Is that a different link than the one you shared?
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It is, so I’ll send it in a different comment – just themes as I recall. I don’t think they send them out on a set schedule – if so, I’ve never noticed then. I read a few of them, but a lot have to d with corporate websites, so I just skip over those.
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OK, here you are Shelley – I fetched it out of Reader.
https://wordpress.com/read/feeds/25823/posts/5129208461
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Thank you for the link!
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Hmm – if you don’t do Reader, than that might not work …. so here is their actual blog site on WP and that post:
https://wordpress.com/blog/2024/02/20/site-editor-updates/
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Thank you, that’s very helpful!
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11 years, huh? What a milestone! Well done, Linda. I really like the photos in this post, the American flags juxtaposed against nature are pretty and inspiring to me. You walked for a good cause.
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Thank you Ally and I’m glad you liked the photos in this post. I also was pleased to see the flags in the potted flowers at the Botanical Gardens. It did look inspiring. I am glad I found out about this charity and Aaron Bartal’s mission.
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Miss Linda………………………………………….I’m in awe of your blog…………………………………the number 22 will haunt me forever now……………………………….thank you for putting together this very nice blog…………………………..Congrats on your 11th year Blog writing……………………and it was nice and refreshing to see some beautiful colorful flowers this time of the year
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Thank you Ann Marie – I am glad you are enjoying the posts and the photos of the flowers – it will be a while before we are lucky enough to see these colors blooming around town. You have been following my posts for a long time now, April of 2015. That number 22 was a staggering statistic wasn’t it?
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Great shots, Linda! I especially love the reflections in the water and from your mind.
I wish i could eat more chocolate… but i get acne pimples from it all too easily. 😆
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Thank you Tom – it was a very still morning and peaceful to be taking this stroll to reflect and remember the many young men and women fighting demons when they are back in their homeland from what they witnessed during war times.
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I could cry if I let myself. Too many of our veterans are losing the battle against PTSD. Your community is to be commended for their effort to help.
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It is very sad Nancy. I had never heard statistics like these before discovering Aaron Bartal’s website and his mission. It is very sad that service personnel who gave their all for their country cannot shake the trauma they saw while in war and suffer from PTSD or end up taking their own life.
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I’m so thankful for organizations like Tunnels to Towers and Wounded Warriors who are serving our veterans at their points of need.
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We have a lot of radio commercials for Wounded Warriors here Nancy and all are thoughtfully done. There is a young man who walks around the states of Michigan and Wisconsin every Memorial Day and he raises money to combat veteran suicide. He is not associated with Aaron Bartal, but his fundraising is in conjunction with his efforts to help other service personnel due to his own suicidal thoughts after he returned from his tour of duty. I think Tunnels to Towers is a very good organization – so many lives were lost on 9/11 by first responders and even today sadly there are still first responders who pass away after the air they breathed in their rescue efforts.
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Beautiful post and a well chosen and emotional quote. Lovely.
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Thank you very much Barbara. I wanted to end this post with a heartfelt quote to accompany the sad story of these vets. The statistics were quite surprising to me.
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