Saturday, May 7, 2011

Cap City Half: Race Volunteering!

Just got home from volunteering at Cap City Half!  I got moved from doing a water stop to being a road marshal... which basically meant I got to wear a "race crew" sweatshirt and direct traffic.  And cheer for people of course!  Here's my hoodie (yay free hoodie!)

So basically all I had to do was make cars turn around and go back in the direction they came from--they couldn't continue going straight because they'd have to pass through the race twice.  As you might imagine, drivers were not keen on being told they had to turn around.  One guy cursed me out, and 2 others yelled at me.  It makes me mad how much ire drivers always have toward runners.  Like, which is more important lady, your need for a Starbucks fix NOW, or 14,000 runners participating in a city-endorsed event with official street closings?  Turn around and go north 4 blocks, park and walk 2 blocks.  Not that big of a deal.

Anyway it was really fun... I saw one person running it who I didn't know was a runner at all, and one of our Thursday group run regulars was a pacer, and then I saw a couple others from the running group.  Toward the end of the race it was fun to cheer for people... I feel for the back o'the packers after most of the crowd takes off and they're still out there gutting it out so I tried to have some energy.  After the sag wagon went by and the course was officially closed, there was this one guy on the sidewalk still trying to finish the race... I cheered him on a little and told him to keep going and he was all "Oh, I'm going, don't worry."  If I hadn't been carrying a chair with me I would've seen if he wanted some company and finished the rest with him to try to help him stay cheery and on the right streets... he only had like 3 miles to go.  I really wish I could've done that, or at least made the offer.  Blah.

Anyway overall it was a really great experience... hopefully i'll get a chance to volunteer for another big race soon!

4 comments:

  1. Nice job volunteering! It's good to give back to the sport. I volunteered today, too, at a much smaller race (much, much--about 200 people!). So small that we did the finish line results by hand (using a basic chronometer), which I was in charge of. Volunteering is fun but exhausting.

    The haters always amaze me. They're even worse with cyclists. Like their day is ruined if they are held up by a few minutes.

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  2. Yaay free hoodie! That is also a really cute picture of you :)

    I'm loving your attitude with the cars too. What a-holes. I hope you gave them a bit of stick back. Though I guess with the free hoodie n all you had to behave.

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  3. @Debbie: Wow--your volunteering sounds like it was fun! And I've definitely seen some of the cyclist hate... I don't know what it is about drivers. Road rage, I guess.

    @Alison: Thanks ;) And I hope you're feeling better!

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  4. thanks for volunteering! It's hard to thank all the volunteers, but without them the race would be chaos! good luck at the marathon coming up!!!

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