Volunteer Report

A view from the water table.

Do you know about race reports? Where people have been training and training and training and finally it was the big day. So they write a report to document for memory and to share with everyone exactly how their race went. Or at least how they think it went.

This morning, I volunteered at the Martian Marathon as the Captain of Aid Station #2. This is my third year as Captain of #2. I am getting pretty good at it if I do say so myself. At least I have to assume since they keep letting me do it. I wore my SuperGirl undies to make sure the day went well. They worked!

So, here is my race report from a volunteer perspective.

Night before - Confession: did not pack up and lay stuff out like I should have!
5:15 am - Alarm goes off. Snooze it - a few times. There was a cat depending on me for warmth.
5:45 am - Swap cat over to Mark. Get up, fastest shower in the world, start getting dressed. Mom is volunteering with me this year and she will be here very soon.
6 am - Hear something. Oops, mom at the glass sliding door and I am only half dressed, in the living room, trying to find my tank top to make good layers. Let mom in and get dressed. Look everywhere for box cutter, give up and grab scissors, out to car, stuff in snow shovel and rake for cleaning up cups, back in house for pitchers, scratch little hole in the frost in the windshield and we are off. Mom is following cuz she needs to leave before me.
6:30-ish - What, Hines doesn't connect to Middlebelt? Didn't it before? Head to Inkster.
6:50 am - Whew, made it! A few other volunteers pull up as we do, then talk another guy there by phone. Some of the aid stations are staffed by church groups or similar. I head mine up and they send me volunteers who signed up on the Web, so I have a bunch of strangers - but always super cool. Waiting by the side of the road is a pile of tables, supplies and about a million boxes containing gallons of water. We introduce ourselves and get down to business. (Not like that.) I forget everyone's names that they just told me. Yeah, I'm terrible.
7 am - Tables in the street, start filling cups. How it works: there are two separate table areas, one for water and the other for sports drink. We put the tables in the middle of Hines (which is closed for the event, but not usually in time for the set up - Rule #1: Do NOT get hit by a car!) The runners go out on one side, then come back on the other. We are at about mile 3/23 so we get all the traffic both ways. And we get hit hard with the majority of the runners at first when they are still all bunched up and running out. We have to have the cups ready to go. We cover the tables with a layer of cups, fill them half-full, make a layer of cardboard from the cut up boxes and start another layer. We need 5 layers of water and about 3 of sports drink ready and waiting by the time the runners come. The first year, I thought the volunteer organizer was calling for overkill with all these layers but did it since he said I should. He wins! This time I just told everyone, trust me, you will be glad you have them.
A note on sports drink: If you are picky, bring your own in those little bottles in a belt. We have a big drink cooler, bags of powder and jugs of water. We put in the powder, pour in a bit of water, try to stir it up like the recipe says before adding the rest of the water. Inevitably, there is a gloppy ooze that ends up clumped on the bottom of the cooler and no quality control on the strength of the drinks. I mixed them all myself this time and, well, some were yellow and some were clear as we ran low on powder and stretched it until we got more. But the clear still smelled like lemon-lime... (I can't say more as I would violate Rule #2: Never talk about the sports drink again.)
7:30 am - One of the course marshals drove by just after and said the race started on time so make sure we were ready. I do a quick demo on holding the cup, making a good hand-off and not getting in the way of the runners. I realize I have a total of 8 people including myself. I was supposed to have about 14. Hmmm...
7:50-ish (?) - First guy comes speeding by. Then two more. Then a big group of four or so. Volunteers are thinking, Hey, this is not so bad. Then about a million people appear on the horizon, trailing out in a line as far as the eye can see. Suddenly, 5 layers makes sense. This guy and three kids come strolling up the opposite side of Hines and linger behind the table. I say, joking, Hey, any chance you want to help hand out some water? Guy says, Oh yeah, we are supposed to be helping, we are just late. Stick them in place and we are in action. I never even had a chance to get/forget their names.
8:30 (?) - The stream of people has slowed a bit so a few people can start filling more cups, but it had by no means died off. And remember, we are getting them on their way back too. At some point, the first half marathon guy comes blazing back by, followed in a bit by a group of two, then a group of four, then - you got it - a big crowd of people again, just on the other side.
9:06 am, according to my phone - A girl comes up to me. She says she may need medical, that she is ok, but has done a full and a half before and just doesn't feel right. She is sure she cannot finish. Her face is really flushed and she says she is feeling kind of cold or something. I ask if she needs to sit, but she says not yet. We decide she should drink some sports drink and walk around to cool down since she thinks that sounds good and I'm inclined to agree. I call the volunteer coordinator and let him know that it is not an emergency, but she has requested medical and says she just doesn't feel right. I let her know that I called and she says not to worry and she will just sit in the grass and wait. We keep an eye on her, but she seems ok aside from coughing. Not immediately, but soon enough, we see flashing lights. She asks, embarrassed, Is all that for me? I say it's fine. A police car arrives followed by the Red Cross response vehicle that is working the event. The girl gets up and walks toward the vehicle and I join her. She says she is sorry to make a big deal and looks tired but not near death. The EMS guys take over with her. Now, I know there are good cops out there, we encountered one on Hines when a friend crashed her bike on a training ride, but this didn't seem to be one. He comes right up to me and tells me, pretty angrily, that we need to get our communication straight and that the Red Cross vehicle was flying down Ford Rd for no reason. I told him, calmly - go me, that she was extremely flushed and specifically requested medical, which is what I relayed to my contact, and that I am not messing around when someone tells me they have experience with marathons and knows they don't feel right. He left and one of the medical guys came over. I said I was sorry if it was not appropriate to call and told him what the cop said. He said we did exactly the right thing and did the cops really want a repeat of the Detroit Marathon. They spent a good 15-20 minutes with the girl and ended up putting her on this mobile stretcher on a golf cart vehicle that came and giving her some oxygen since she was wheezing. Poor thing - she was really embarrassed to have such a fuss made (but Rule #3: Better to be safe). While they were there, one of the volunteers brought up a young girl who was trying not to cry and said she was in pain all down the side of her leg but wanted to finish. Someone she knew ran up too - I think a coach. They iced her and she ended up deciding to keep going. Seriously, a trooper! I found out later she was only 15 years old. Would you have pushed through pain at 15? Before they left, the EMS guy left me two volunteers to hang out if we had more people needing assistance. And he thanked me for doing the right thing and said he was going to call the cop's boss and let him know how he acted. Unfortunately, I was more worried about the girl and didn't bother to look at the name or city of Mr. Meany-Pants so it will remain a mystery.
A bit after 10 - I remember that it had slowed to just a steady and manageable flow on the return side by this time, as Mom and two of the volunteers (super nice couple who were runners themselves and, last minute, had some plans canceled so they could come for the morning - so glad they did!) had to leave for other appointments. One of the volunteers (VERY helpful guy!) went out and swept up the cups all over the street (being mindful of Rule #4: Do not get in the way of the runners! Trust me, they would rather avoid a squashed cup than a guy and a broom.)
Maybe 11:30 - Did a bunch more cleaning up. Sent two more volunteers home. Extremely helpful couple, awesomely jumping in wherever needed. She was getting really tired. Found out she was pregnant and had to stop running for a bit so decided to volunteer. Told you they were fabulous.
Noon - It's really slow now and the kids are doing a lot of complaining about being cold, so the guy and kids trek off down Hines. There are three of us left, but that is just right for the occasional runner or group passing now.
12:30 - Truck comes by to take most of the stuff. We leave out a table with some cups of drink and water for the few people coming by and I'm out of there just before they open the road at 1pm.
I went home and took a nap.

In summary: Fabulous. From my perspective: a well-run event, super nice runners (following the Runners' Rule: Thank the volunteers!), great volunteers - one slightly grouchy kid, but as long as he grouched with a water cup in his hand... It is amazing to see all these runners and know they have been training in the cold - or worse, on a treadmill - for months to get to this point. Yeah runners!

If you have ever thought you might want to volunteer at an event, go for it. I would absolutely recommend the Running Fit events - they are organized so you don't stand around wondering why you bothered to volunteer if no one knew what to do with you (I've been there too). It is a great way to enjoy the excitement of race day, even if you are not a runner or a racer yourself.