January 8, 2007
the trashman
you really never know the amount of work that goes into organizing and putting on a race until you volunteer. like manning a water station or cutting chips off shoes at the finish line. even then, you never really know the amount of work that goes into organizing and putting on a race, until you actually organize and put on a race.
back when i started volunteering w/ the fit & fun group for olive crest, i met up with a guy named jonathon and found out that he runs a race organization company. i ended up volunteering at a couple races that he organized and went from just showing up and helping out where i could to being part of his 'crew'. this past sunday was the most involved i've ever been in a large scale race.
jonathon was the course director for the oc marathon this year and i ended up being on his race crew. i was up at 2:30 and at the start at 3:30 to help put up signage for the parking, shuttle volunteers out onto the course, put up tables and the like. once the race started, i headed to the finish and picked up a big diesel flatbed truck and a crew of high school kids and we began driving the course, collecting the trash from the water stations.
we finished cleaning the half marathon route at about 12:00 and as we rolled into the finish to dump the collected trash in the dumpsters, i saw an ambulance at the final turn of the full marathon route. turns out we lost one runner during the race to a heart attack, right at the 26 mile marker. still searching the news for details.
i dropped off my crew and picked up another set of guys to finish up what had been started on the full marathon course. unfortunately lots of water station volunteers had left when there were only a handful of walkers still on the course, so i had my crew clean the stations and then we'd hang around for a bit and cheer before heading to the next station. the cool thing about this was that we got to cheer the same dozen or so walkers all the way to the finish from about mile 19. we'd cheer at the station and give them fun, personal attention and then honk and cheer wildly as we drove past them on our way to the next station.
we finally finished up the route at about 3:00, got all the trash offloaded and i let the crew go. i hung around for a bit and helped out with a couple other things, but finally decided to head home around 4pm.
it was really amazing to see all of the individuals organizing the volunteers, the course, the police, emergency services, etc. it's crazy when you think about just how much each one of these people has to coordinate and how much they rely on the people they've assigned to be autonomous. i, for one, was already hooked on volunteering, but now that i've had a taste of the chaos (i mean organization) of the race, i think i'm doubly hooked.
Posted by jeff at January 8, 2007 6:27 PMComments
Very cool - except for the part about the guy with the heart attack. That is never cool. Especially when it happens close to the finish. Or the start. Or the middle.
I have always figured that running a big event like that is a major undertaking.
Glad you enjoyed your day!
good job on cheering on the walkers. just think of the massive difference it must have made to them; a personal cheer leader group for 7 miles, rather than a lonely walk for 2 hours. That's one hell of a different experience.
Posted by: Thomas at January 9, 2007 3:47 AMGreat job. You rock for doing this.
Posted by: Flatman at January 9, 2007 6:05 AMI've been wanting to volunteer at a race for a while now. Guess I'll be signing up to help out at the SF Marathon this year! Thanks for the inspiration!
Posted by: Nic at January 9, 2007 8:15 AMAwesome. Volunteering is a ton of work but it is so very rewarding and fun.
Posted by: Laurie at January 9, 2007 9:44 AMYou ARE "amazing" and "hip" - but then again we all knew that.
To you, and all of the volunteers, Thanks. I have not volunteered in that magnatide as of yet. WOW!
I am so sorry about the loss at mile 26.
*sniff, with tears in my eyes*
It is awesome how all these big races ever happen. You put it well...it depends on a gazillion volunteers being "autonomous" and making good decisions.
Would love to have a picture of you behind the wheel of that big rig...oh my! 10-4, good buddy!!
Posted by: Joe Ely at January 9, 2007 6:54 PMI love volunteering for the races, and have recently been put on a short list to be one of the crew for Boston!
sounds like you had a great time!
I volunteered as a water stop captain for the Cap 10k in Austin. Had a guy go down at my water stop, called 911 because my walkie talkie person went missing, and the 911 operator had NO IDEA there was even a large race event in downtown Austin that day. She argued with me. I watched the runner get up and walk away, and then I politely explained to the operator that I was about to hang up on her. And I did. Our post-race meeting was interesting!
Sounds like a great race, Jeff! Did you have fun driving the big truck?
Posted by: tracy at January 10, 2007 2:04 PMHe lives.
Posted by: Soozan at January 10, 2007 6:03 PMAh yes. Thank you for enlightening those who take so much convenience and accommodation for granted. I remember fondly the days when I ran our local half marathon. It's a full day but very rewarding when you can interact with the runners.
....and ditto, he lives.
Posted by: david at January 10, 2007 7:19 PMi've always thought about what a ton of work it must be to organize a race and have even thought about volunteering. it will happen someday.
where have you been? happy new year.
Posted by: massoman at January 11, 2007 5:51 AMvolunteers ROCK!!
your posts haven't been showing in bloglines. I thought you were on a break!
Posted by: jeanne at January 12, 2007 9:25 AMIt is amazing, we put on a small run for the local teen club (coming up in february) and at best we have ad 60 runners, still coordinating anything is amazing. You're just such a well rounded guy!
Posted by: brit at January 14, 2007 8:13 PMI love volunteering. I do so at a variety of levels. I'm the volunteer coordinator for our big marathon here in town and I'm a race director for a small race (50-90 participants). I've also done my share of marshalling and such. Its a lot of fun and I think every runner should give back to the sport by volunteering.
Volunteers Rock and so do you!
Posted by: Dawn - Pink Chick at January 17, 2007 11:12 AMPost a comment