Saturday, September 24, 2011

Chills & sweats

This morning I experienced chills and sweats. No, I'm not sick. I was volunteering at a 5K race. Ann came along, and we had to be there at 5:45 a.m.

The chills came into play because we've finally gotten to the point that our evenings and early mornings here are (sometimes) cool. This morning it was in the high 50s, and for an Arizona girl, that's cold, especially since I was wearing sandals and the grass was dewy!

Once the sun came up, I quickly went from four layers on top (sports bra, tank top, light jacket, and race shirt) to two layers (sports bra, race shirt.) And by the time we were finishing up at 10:30 or so, it was downright warm outside, warm enough that when I got home I really needed a shower.

Volunteering at a race was a great experience. It gave me so much more appreciation for what goes into the races I've run (all of which were staffed by volunteers!) This was a smaller race, so we got to do lots of different jobs.

We assembled big flags. We helped set up the registration tent. I climbed scaffolding to put banners on the start/finish chute. (That part was fun!) We stood on the race course to direct runners. And we helped tear down afterward.

We didn't get paid, but we did get swag bags (with some nifty free stuff), food samples, bagels and coffee for breakfast, and raffle tickets. (Ann won a book!) We also got tech tees that are really nice considering it was a 5K event. And more than that, I realized how important race volunteers are, and I know I want to volunteer at future races. It seems that if I'm going to be part of the running community, it's a good idea to help that community "run" smoothly!

Today I volunteered because my troublesome leg isn't yet ready to run a 5K again; in the future, I'll volunteer because I know it's not only a good thing to do--it's also kind of fun.

Even with the chills and the sweats.

Ann and me at the finish line. Hey, we may not have run the race, but honestly, we worked harder than a lot of the runners!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

That was a great idea to help out with the race! I so often take the race volunteers for granted, but I will be sure to appreciate them even more now!

SurvivorBlessing said...

It was lots of fun to volunteer with you. And it was kind of cold in the early morning.
It totally tired me out and I got to take a three-hour nap afterwards. I also got a huge headache, more like a migraine, after that.
But it was all worse it.

Call Me Cate said...

I'm so glad you were able to volunteer and enjoy the experience. I have never volunteered at a race (I should look into it) but I've pitched in at other events and it's so amazing the amount of work that goes into it. It will just make you appreciate the other side of things when that leg's ready for running!