Race Volunteering

Yesterday, I volunteered at the Iron Girl Columbia Half Marathon.  This race was definitely touch and go for a long time, with the downfall of TriColumbia.  But as of a few weeks ago, the race was back on, thanks to WTC.

Unfortunately, this meant a HUGE scramble for volunteers very last minute.  And it is one of the times I’m so proud to live in an area with so many active running and triathlon groups.  A number of the water stops for this race were manned by the local triathlon clubs.  A few clubs took on two water stops.  We only had one, but we were passed twice and we also provided all of the pacers for the race.  Which meant that we had to cheer each time a pace group passed us.

Volunteering was so much fun.  This wasn’t a huge race – apparently only 2000 runners, though it seemed like fewer.  But we had a great time cheering on the runners as they passed, giving out water, Gatorade, high fives, and hugs.  I love being able to give back, and since we were a well staffed water stop, it never felt super hectic.  Just a lot of fun.

I’d like to say that the water stops were a huge success.  Because we are all awesome.  I’m looking forward to hearing from the participants of the race though.  The race started about an hour late.  The rumor was that they were clearing the course for safety, some people said something about an accident, others said the course was mismarked.  I’m not sure what ultimately happened there.  And apparently, there wasn’t any real information at the start either.  Not really a good sign, and it does make me a little worried for all of the other former TriColumbia races coming this summer.

I do hope the runners had a good time though!  We volunteers definitely did our best to make their day great!