Support your local race by volunteering

Sunday morning I volunteered at the Charlotte 10 miler. My task was rather easy. I just had to hand out water at the 4 mile point in the race.

Andrew, Beth, Mo, and Jennifer joined me to work our water stop. They were already very busy setting up when I arrived.

I quickly got out my boombox and put on some of my favorite up temo songs. Music is such a great motivator for runners. Getting some inspiring music at the four mile point would hopefully spur them along.

Philip and Ben come through first. Jason wasn’t far behind. Megan, Alice, Dalena, Michelle were all running together at four miles. I wondered if they were talking more than they were racing. Butch and Chad were not far back. I was beginning to feel like I knew half the field.

Moving on with the story, why I didn’t start doing this, I don’t know. I brought my megaphone to help shout out encouragement while I was handing out water. About a third of the field passed before I started using.

There is nothing like having someone who is yelling specifically for you.

Being at four miles, the entire race field was through pretty quickly. We cleaned up and went our separate ways. Me, I headed over to the 9 mile point.

Stephanie was leading our Charlotte Running Club effort, and I promised to come by once our efforts were finished at four miles.

Stephanie and Julie had their water stop well in hand. At nine miles, runners were coming through one or two at a time. They were easily handling it.

Thus, I grabbed my megaphone and headed to the top of the hill about 20 yards from the water stop. The 10 mile course has a huge hill which finishes up right at 9 miles. I have run on it so I knew it well.

Jennifer joined me and we yelled for the runners as they come up the hill. Many showed the signs of burning quads and lungs as they made their way to the top.

Having a cheering section at the top would hopefully help get them rolling to the finish.

We stayed until the very last runner came through.

Every runner deserves our support, and we couldn’t just leave them hanging.

There are many ways to spend the precise moments that make up our lives. Spending time volunteering is a great way to spend a few of them. The reward for my effort was seeing those runners smile back at me.

 

Sharing one thought at time

The Cool Down Runner