Volunteering Rocks

Yesterday, I volunteered at the Half Full Triathlon.  I had a number of friends running, including many Team Fight team members, and this race supports the Ulman Cancer Fund, so I had to be out there.

It was a long, exhausting day, and I’m surprisingly sore this morning, but it was worth every minute.

I started my morning at the swim start, helping corral swimmers into the proper area so they started in the proper waves.  The race was an olympic and a half distance, and for both races, there was a Cancer Survivor wave, which was pretty awesome and a reminder of why I’m part of Team Fight – to help ensure that there are more smiling cancer survivors out there.

After the swim start, I headed to what is affectionately known as Gatorade Hill.  Anyone who has run in Centennial Park knows this hill.  We hate this hill.  In races, there is always a water stop here (which is what I think gave it the name, but I could be very wrong).  Even a few collegiate racers commented about how horrid the hill was.  Plenty of people ran up the hill, but many trudged up.  It’s a tough hill, especially late in a triathlon.  And the poor half runners had to run it twice, since it was a looped course!

While I loved supporting all of the strong runners, helping out the people struggling (which, in the unexpected heat, was a lot of them) was awesome.  I really felt like I was helping out, and it was so cool to see them continue on, pushing through pain and other struggles.  I poured ice down shirts and even down one guy’s pants (that was awkward).   It was amazing to see people on their first loop look really rough and then see them looking better on their second loop.  I was just so impressed with all the mental determination.  No one could have expected this race would get so hot – it’s often cold and miserable.  But these racers just kept going.

I have been saying for a while that I wanted to do this race next year, but now I’m definitely in.  And I think I’m going to make it my Team Fight race.  This year, my Team Fight race was something that scared me, and I’m going to continue that trend for next year.