and the crowd that had already gathered about 2 hours before race time:

People are pretty excited!

Then the publicity caravan started in earnest. A few things about the publicity caravan: it is like a long parade, but it moves at high speed (probably 20 mph or so). As they pass by in their odd vehicles of all shapes and sizes, they hand out samples to the people lining the street. Well, maybe hand is a little gentle, it's more like fling or throw. Some of the flingers realize they are throwing potentially unsafe objects at people from a 20 mph vehicle and aim their trinkets low. Others just fling them willy nilly, and let the chips (or key chains as the case may be) fall where they may. IfAfter rehabbing from a biceps rupture, a firefighter’s passion burns on.

For all the risks you might associate with decades as a firefighter, it was a seemingly innocuous incident at shift change in his Arlington, Va., fire house that put Ralph Parsons’ career in jeopardy.

Two days after Christmas in 2016, Parsons was performing his normal morning checks. As he attempted to climb into a parked fire truck, his foot missed a step. He caught himself by grabbing a hand rail.

He immediately felt pain but dismissed it as just a pulled muscle. Returning from a call that came in right after his accident, Parsons was hurting so badly that he couldn’t get his coat off without assistance. He rolled up his shirt sleeve to discover that his arm from the