Volunteering at Crossroads 15k / Belleau Woods 8k

Today was the day that I was volunteering with the Marines at these races.Woke up at 3:30am -- ugh! It's my weekend, what the heck am I doing?! I got out the door and on the road at 4am, and arrived at Marine Corps Base Quantico a few minutes before 5am -- when we had been told to arrive by. Trouble was, the entrance was closed. A Marine finally came out and opened up one of the lanes right at 5am. A few minutes later, unclear for a bit whether I had missed a turn since many of the streets on base were unnamed, I was parking in the right area. Checked in and was eventually pointed to the van that would transport us to the water point -- a few miles away and about ¼ mile into the woods from one of the roadways. Oy, I didn't quite appreciate the course being a full trail race in the woods. I was wearing shorts and singlet (since I was planning on doing my run at the gym after finishing up at the race), and the insects were quite happy to have the exposed skin. Thankfully they had some Off on-hand. I wound up spraying lots of it about three times throughout the morning. While the bugs were annoying, now, several hourse later, it doesn't seem like I was eaten up, so it worked well.

There were 4 of us, excluding the two course marshalls who went in either direction away from our position, and the ham operator and medical staff who eventually arrived. Setting up only took a few minutes. We started out setting out 7 cases of water (490 8oz bottles) on 3 folding tables, and 5 garbage pails. More than enough for the maybe 400 people who were expecting to run the race, but we had lots more cases in case it was necessary. We were done setting up by about 6:15am or so. The race didn't start until 7am.

Finally, at about 7:15am, the lead runner zipped by us at high speed, declining the water. The bicyclist who was the "lead vehicle" to keep up with him was basically left in the dust, given the mud and hills were much harder for him on two wheels than it was for the runner. Slowly but sure, we then had every else passing by in fits and spurts. Twice for those running the 15k, and once for those running the 8k (who, apparently, had a later start than the 15k). 

Many people took the water, one woman yelling loudly in advance of her arriving at the table "open it!" so that she could simply pour once she got the bottle. (It's not always easy to open these things when you're running and sweaty, so I totally appreciated the request.) Everyone we handed a bottle to, and even many who declined, thanked us. Cheering them on, sometimes sincerely and sometimes with sarcastic wit (depending on what the runner was saying) definitely helped the runners and helped us pass the time.

Slowly, as the time went by, enough bottles were handed out that we condensed down to two tables, and then to one. We had about ½ of a table left when the last person (walking the 8k) came by. After she departed, we took a few minutes to pack up what remained and load back into the U-Haul, at which point the ham operator heard a report from the central operations that we shouldn't leave -- apparently there were 70 people who were still on course (though unclear where), including the lead runner and 6 others from that pack who made a wrong turn at the end and rather than going towards the finish line, they got back on course for a third lap. (Oops!) Turns out that report seemed to be in error though. After waiting an extra 15 minutes, and one of the sweepers backtracking the course to find any runners - to no avail - we were finally released. Where we had been told that we would be going to 11 or 11:30am, we were done by 9am.

Interesting time, and a good group of people to work with. It's definitely worth your time to volunteer at a race at some point (or often). The races really can't be run without sufficient on-course volunteers.

Switch it up - volunteer at a race

I've volunteered once at a marathon -- my first Chicago Marathon, where I spent several hours at the expo in the area arranging for and handing out t-shirts to the registered runners. And while I've paced multiple races officially previously, I've not taken on one of the on-course volunteer roles before. 

Recently, I saw a notice on the MCM Facebook page seeking volunteers for their upcoming Crossroads 15k / Belleau Woods 8k in < 2 weeks from now. What the heck? It's reasonably close, so I can drive down, volunteer, and be back -- no need to get a room down there. It should be interesting to see just what it's like from the other side of the table -- setting up the cups, pouring some of the water / Gatorade, handing out cups of water / Gatorade, raking up the dropped/thrown cups -- whatever they have me doing at Water Stop #2. While I always carry my own water for drink, and only ever avail myself of the water stations' water when I need to douse myself on hot days, I always make it a point to thank the volunteers for coming out (despite not taking the water, typically).

The race starts at 7am, and we need to be at the water station at 5:30am to begin the set-up. Which means I need to wake up at oh-dark-thirty so that I can drive down to Quantico (about 45 minutes at that hour) and find my way to the meet-up location. Yes, it'll be a long morning (the shift ends at 11:30am), but it'll be worth it to help the runners get across the finish line, both by providing the water as well as the moral support cheering them on, on an otherwise quiet course.

Regardless of what your running (or other fitness) goals are, consider volunteering at a local race.

Another training cycle begins

The seemingly endless "interim" period between my last marathon (Big Sur, in April) and the beginning of my training for my sub-3 attempt in October has finally come to an end. While I was doing plenty of running, I was doing it all simply to comfort -- just keep the legs going, no worries about pace.

I'm generally copying the same training cycle as I did the last time I had a full cycle. Which means that I kicked things off with a 10k time trial today. While the first 5k -- in fact, the first 4 miles -- went swimmingly well, I just wasn't able to keep the pace up to finish this distance in 40 minutes. No shame in that; it's a good benchmark to see where I am. So, after 4 miles, my heart rate was just far too high, 9.3mph was too much of an effort for that long. So, I dropped down to 8mph -- in itself not too shabby a pace -- to finish out the remainder of the 10k. While the effort was certainly better from a breathing/heart rate POV, my legs were not happy with me by the end of the run and cooldown walk. So much so that I spent the majority of the day sitting at my desk, rather than using the standing desk elevated. Currently, as I sit typing this, my legs are ok and I think I should be able to run tomorrow's 5k time trial in under 20 minutes.

While I am generally copying my prior cycle, I am going to start out attempting to up the mileage. I have read many things lately talking about more mileage (even at slower speeds) being important to hitting time goals, and my friend Laura keeps on hitting PRs at various distance races with all the extra mileage she puts in (thanks to her kids being interested in running, so she joins them on their afternoon runs, in addition to her morning workouts). So, I'm going to give a shot at adding mileage. Granted, I won't be increasing the mileage done at the high speeds -- it will be at a comfortable "easy" pace (aka "sexypace" as Laura is wont to call it) -- but getting the additional mileage just might help. We'll see if it increases the fatigue too much and hampers my "SOS" ("something of substance") runs. If it seems to have a negative effect, I'll revert back and not include that extra mileage. Time will tell.

What to write about?

My next full training cycle starts up next week for my early October marathon where I attempt another sub-3. There's only so much I can write about what happened during any particular workout, and until I'm in the immediate lead-up to or days following a given race, there isn't much else that seems terribly pertinent to opine about here. Any requests for what to talk about?

Today I finally got in to my primary doctor to tell him about what happened to me after the Boston Marathon this year. Take a gander at those posts if you haven't already. One thing I neglected to mention in the prior posts was the fact that right around the time we got to lunch, my hearing got muffled. This was not unique to this specific race. In fact, this seems to happen after almost every single marathon and most of the longer long training runs. My doc is rather stumped by the muffled hearing. And while he did an EKG and will do an echocardiogram as far as the collapse is concerned, he's leaning towards the simpler explanation of simple hypoglycemia.