Yesterday was the local 15K, a race I've run the last 2 years. Since I wasn't going to run it this year, I decided to volunteer instead because, weather aside, I really like this race.
I had a pretty good time, and actually felt like a member of the track club. I guess this is something I should've done a long time ago! I got there about an hour before the race started, and helped with race day registration. Then I got to be a course marshal with 2 other women - our job was to keep the (often angry) golfers from driving out onto the road the runners use for the first 1/2 mile or so. After both the 15K and the 5K went off, I tried to help with cleaning up the registration area before moving to the finish line. There, I got to help with tearing the tags off bibs. Most of the time, this wasn't a hard job, but when a big group would come in it was tough to keep everyone in order. Luckily, the tags were the backup to the backup. (The race was chip timed, and they also had someone writing down the bib #s as they came across).
There was kind of a scary incident with the 15K. The 3rd finisher was dehydrated, I guess. As he came over the bridge, he was kind of weaving and his arms and legs were kind of bent and he was just running really weird. People starting shouting for him to just walk it in. He went down right around/on the finish line. He was carried off to side, and eventually was taken away in an ambulance. I hope he's okay ... one of the other guys suggested that maybe he had a cold or something, because yesterday wasn't the kind of day you think about people being dehydrated.
Because I'm socially challenged, I didn't get the names of everyone that I was helping with. But everyone was really nice and it was really a fun experience. After I got home, I e-mailed the track club president about helping out with the 12/14 mile water stop at Med-City. We're not going anywhere that weekend, and I won't be able to race so I might as well be helpful and maybe meet some more people!
