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.
No comments:
Post a Comment