Participating in a Race while Standing Still: I volunteered at the Snohomish River Run

Have you ever wanted to participate in a race and thought: "I just can't do that"?

Or, "Yeah that would be cool, but":

 And yet, you look at races and you want to DO SOMETHING!

Well stop wanting, and start doing!

How, you ask? I will tell you:

You probably already figured out this was where I was going based on the post's title, but seriously, it can be really fun.

Last weekend, our Girls on the Run chapter volunteered at the Snohomish River Run. The run also had us as their charity partner. We're a brand new chapter, I'm on the board, and it is all incredibly cool.

We needed a couple of dozen volunteers, so I got to work on recruiting. I managed to convince three coworkers to join me:

Kelly,

Diana, who spearheaded my cheering squad at my Oly tri,

and Patty.

Those of you who were around in the early days will remember Patty as my bike instructor and triathlon teammate.

The hardest part of volunteering is that you still have to get up really early, but once we arrived I saw that Kerry, our GOTR board chair, had things under control.

We were the first and last water stop for both the 10k AND the half marathon! We had 14 adults and half as many kids and we were busy! For about 2 hours it was pretty much a non-stop stream of racers! My table was in charge of the sports drink, Nuun, while the other table had water.

I struggled with what to tell slightly delirious runners after initially shouting out that I had Nuun. When they asked if I had Gatorade I wasn't sure if they were just asking if it was a sports drink or if they wanted specifics.

Personally, I always want the specifics.

As incredibly useful as that was to the people rushing by, the majority of the time I just yelled louder:

The other thing I shouted often was:

For most of the race we had some good tunes blasting from Kerry's car, and as the racers spread out to a trickle, we danced, chatted, and started guessing when the last person would come by. I made the executive decision for those I had driven that we were staying until the very end.

Yeah, it was a pretty creepy thing to say.

But listen, there is nothing more disheartening than getting to a water table when they are packing up, and it is JUST WRONG to eliminate a station before the last person has passed by.

I also did not want to recreate the situation Christy and I were in at last year's Beat the Blerch marathon: Two hours in, our head volunteer announced she was going home with her music and took two volunteers away with her, leaving me suddenly in charge with no idea what my responsibilities were.

Talk about poor volunteer etiquette.

Since we were staying, Kelly decided to skip up the road a bit and encourage people midpoint.

After we were certain the last racer had come by, Diana texted her to head back. She ran back at an impressive speed!

She had been busy in that field.

All in all, it was a fun day that was successful for our Girls on the Run chapter and it seemed like the racers enjoyed themselves too! Ya know, for pushing your body through 13.1 miles on your feet nonstop.

So remember, you don't have to run/walk/wheelchair your way through a race to be part of it. In the immortal words of Rydell High's Principal McGee:

Questions:

1. Do you like to volunteer? If so, where?
2. Have you ever been part of Girls on the Run? What do you think about it?
3. Are your coworkers people you don't mind seeing outside of work?
4. Most importantly, do you know what movie I borrowed that last saying from? (If you don't, I'm afraid we might not be able to be friends, so maybe you should Google it.)

UPCOMING POSTS:
WORKING ON SPEED, MY NEXT RACE

Someone is Getting a Big Thumbs Up!! (Is it you?)

Hi everyone!

It's time for another installment of the Thumbs Up award!!

This month's recipient is Erika from This Spartan Will!!

There are a number of reasons I'm giving Erika a big ol' Thumbs Up:

1.  I met her online, but when she moved out here we became friends immediately.  She is a real person from the moment you meet her.  I love her openness and was pulled into her vortex from the start.

2.  She is the athlete I want to be...I will never be that person, because she has been an athlete since she was a zygote.  She did her first Ironman in Arizona in 2012, and finished it in 12:19:04.   She crushed it!

3.  She's also "wicked-smaht".  She has a very important job at Stryker and does fancy things like teach doctors how to use their equipment.

4.  Erika is always up for a good time (in a grown-up sort of way...not in a Girls Gone Wild kind of way).  She and her husband are so fun to be around, and even though she might argue it, she amazes me with how she juggles work, marriage, a fun and high-spirited 3-year-old, and exercise!
 
Aside from all those things, there is one more reason Erika gets a Thumbs Up:

If you read my last post, you saw that she ran with me and paced me to a half marathon PR.  After that race said that I *might* sign up for a marathon...and then I did.

When Erika found out, she said that if I wanted her to come out and run it with me she would!!  (Did I mention that she just moved back to Michigan?)  So now, I will be running my first marathon with my trusty pacer and unofficial coach by my side!!

Erika, this is for you.  You rock.

The Edmonds Half. I Had a Crappy Run.

I cringe every time I think about writing this post.  But, this blog is all about describing my athletic misadventures, so it needs to be done.  Without divulging too many details (I am no SUAR), let's just say that this was my new best friend before the race and for the first 7 miles.

The night before the race, I managed to sleep a solid 5 and a half hours, and woke up feeling good.  I got up and while making breakfast I thought to myself,

As soon as I was about to take my first bite of food, it suddenly hit me that I no longer felt "great".

I delayed leaving for the race as long as possible, then TriGuy and I headed down to the start.

I hit up the first portapotty I saw then met Rachelle from Livin the Fit Life.  We chatted briefly but unfortunately my conversation was less than stellar in an effort to not heave during our first meeting.

I'm so sorry Rachelle.  I'm shy but not usually so incredibly lame.

I made another pit stop right before they played the rousing "Is it Live or is it Memorex?" version of Whitney Houston's Star Spangled Banner, and I then ambled over to the race start.  It was a small group of us (229 to be exact), and there were no timing chips.  Apparently it was a good thing I took TriGuy with me because he once again had to inform me that I was--in fact--racing as people started rushing across the starting line.

What would I ever do without him?

I started the race knowing that a PR was not in the cards, and I was wondering if finishing it would be a possibility.  I ran soooooo slowly.  Seriously.  I was back with the walkers.  And thank goodness for them, because they kept me from being in last place. Selfish, I know.

The first part of the course took us through a tree-lined neighbourhood of mansions.  At Mile 2 I took a quick break for water and other amenities, then headed back out onto the course.  Once I made it to around Mile 5, I came across my cheering squad (TriGuy, Ann Marie, Erika and her daughter)!

Best sign ever.

I chatted with them for a minute and they assured me there were still lots of people behind me.  That would change quickly as I veered off-course to the park to visit more "amenities".  I then began  5 miles of almost exclusive uphill running.  Normally hills would have made me happy, but not that day.

I texted TriGuy around Mile 7 that I was walking.  I tried running a couple of times but my body quickly shut that idea down.  It was so annoying, but I knew that my awesome fans were waiting for me at the top of the next hill.  I then took another 'break', and really thought about a DNF (did not finish).  But since I had less than half the race to go, and only 3 more uphill miles, I decided to keep on truckin'.  Why, you ask?  Because I'm stubborn

I blasted the next mile, then shuffled from one hill to the next, steeper one.  I stopped at each water station for H20 and Gatorade.  Most of the time I was completely alone on the course and had the undivided attention of the volunteers while I savoured my drinks.  I even had a couple of nice little chats.

There were some very steep downhills to lead us back to the finish,  and once again, I passed my cheering squad with about 2 miles to go.  This time, I had a smile on my face because I knew I would finish.  They yelled some encouragement to me, and I soaked it in, oblivious to my peril.

I ran through a crowd of day trippers (the course was clearly not being manned anymore), through some light construction, and haphazardly found my way to the finish line...to a staggering 3 hour finish.

I honestly feel that having my friends cheering me on kept me in the race and I'm so grateful to them for being there!  The one mistake I made was my wardrobe choice.  On the day of my smashing PW (personal worst) by a full 30 minutes, I would say this was the wrong t-shirt to wear.

UPCOMING POSTS:  PT, BLOGGER MEETUP

Hey bloggers, link up at Yeah Write with me this week, and readers go on over for some great posts to read!