No. This has nothing to do with a wedding. HA!
Yesterday was something old and new all at the same time. I was a volunteer again. At a race again. That’s the old. The new was it was a Triathlon!
I’ve volunteered at road races before. Those are so much fun!!! Encouraging the runners…telling them that hill isn’t as awful as it looks (It isn’t! It’s worse!). I NEVER tell the runners that they’re “almost there.” I hate it when people tell me that when I’m racing.
Road races are fun, though. Having done my fair share of racing, I can commiserate with them. I have a pretty good idea how they are feeling at that part of the race. As I rule, I really feel sorry for them at that point because I KNOW they feel like they’re about ready to die by that point. Kinda. Not really. But kinda. 😉
A Tri, though. This was the new part. Volunteering at a Tri when I’d never even been to a Tri before. I really didn’t have much of an idea what I was in for.
I started my “job” Friday at 4:00 pm. I was scheduled to do packet pickup. It was fun meeting the people who would be participating. Seeing them with the pre-race jitters asking all sorts of questions. The #1 Question being, How many porta potties will there be in the morning. Funny, but a very. important. question.
I worked packet pick up that evening and got home around 8:00-8:30 pm. Late.
Saturday morning, I was up early. I had to be back to do packet pickup for the people who didn’t make it there Fri. I needed to be there by 5:00 am.
How many of you get your packets before race day? I ALWAYS get my stuff before race day. I was amazed at the number of people who waited until Saturday morning to get their stuff! They were frantic and running around like crazy people. They needed their bib numbers. They needed to get their bikes ready. The needed to get body markings. They needed to get their timing chips….They were running late. *They should have picked up the packets the night before is what they should have done!*
The race got started and people splashed into the lake and started swimming. I packed away all the registration stuff. Packed up all the extra race shirts, bibs…..Then it was off to the food people.
I was supposed to check on the food people to make sure they were getting all their stuff set up okay. Helped them with questions and headed off to the awards area.
All the awards were stashed away in an RV parked on the far side of the race area. I had a golf cart to use. Loaded up the golf cart with the awards and drove it over to the table next to the podiums. Made all the awards look pretty on the table and headed over to the finish line.
They had given me two other adults and a bunch of little kids to work the finish line. I had to get the sprouts (little kids) organized. They were to hand out water/Gatorade and cold/wet towels to runners as they came across the finish line.
The two adults and myself had to stop racers as they finished and take off their timing chips (the chips were on a velcro strap around their ankle) and put them in a storage tub. Some of the runners had used a safety pin to made sure the chip/velcro wouldn’t come off, so we were fighting with safety pins. A little bit of a pain but peace of mind for the person racing. That timing chip wasn’t going to come off while they were racing! Smart in the long run.
Things at the finish line were going great until the sprouts got a little enthusiastic in their work. They wanted to be the first one to give the runner his/her water/Gatorade, etc. They made a road block of little bodies in front of the finish line. Nope. That wasn’t going to work.
Off I went to break up the road block and encourage them to let the runners through and THEN give them their stuff. Funny, really. They were having fun.
After we had that all straightened out. The kids decided to a trade sides, etc. The would dip their cold towels in the ice and cross the finish line area dropping ice cubes all along in front of the finish line.
Nope. That wasn’t going to work either.
I picked up ice cubes before a racer slipped and fell on the ice and gave the kids a little more instruction.
Nobody slipped and fell. We got all the timing chips off the racers. The kids had fun! It was great!
We took off for awards next. I had to help present awards then pack up the race.
Got home in time for lunch. Then I took a 2.5 hr nap.
I was super tired and paid for it on my run this morning. Hahaha!!! Got my 6 miles in today but they weren’t much fun.
What a great experience, though! Basically, the RD (race director) said to me, “I know you can do this. Do it.” and took off to do administrative stuff. It was fun!
Knew tons of people there! Some of the racers were people I hadn’t seen since my last race in May. Some of them were people who have been coming to my house on Saturday mornings for our new running group. Some of them were friends (IRL) who were there to volunteer, too. It was like a huge family reunion! Such a fun, fun time!
So, yes. It was something old AND something new all at once. Am I going to go out and learn how to swim so I can do a Tri? I’m thinking, NO. I’ll stick to the volunteering end of this sport. Running I know I can do. I tip over on a bike and I don’t know how to swim. I’m thinking I should pass on this one. I do have a great deal of respect for the people who can do this. It’s tough stuff!
That was my weekend. Trust yours has been good as well!!! New week tomorrow! Let’s make it great!!!