2AM is no joke,
people. And it wasn't even for a runDisney event. As I was rolling out
of bed, B was just rolling in. No kidding. Who goes to bed at 10PM on a Friday anyway?
I
had stalked the subway schedule all Friday to figure out the best way
to get to Prospect Park by 4AM. The 2:47AM L train was full of people
still out. I'm used to getting on the train pre-long run with people
still out, but those people are usually sleeping and done for the night.
You could tell these people were just bar hopping. Wowsers. It was strange.
I
made it to the volunteer setup at McNair
Park. We started by setting
up the corrals for the second wave. This year the race was so big there
were 2 waves, black bibs (1st) and white bibs (2nd). Have you ever
tried to carry a barricade from one side of the street to the other?
Spoiler: It's hard. At least for me. . .and at 4AM. Once we got that
done, we headed back to the volunteer tent to get instructions on what
we would be doing. Each volunteer was going to be stationed
at a corral making sure the correct runners got into the correct
corrals.
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| Good Morning, Brooklyn Museum |
Before
any of that happened, I got pulled to make sure the runners were
walking on the sidewalk instead of through the corrals- which little did
I know, was harder than expected. Runners are stubborn and don't like
to listen
to direction. The
portapotties were set up inside the corrals and it was hard to convince
people that they needed to go to their
specific corral to use them. It was also fun trying to convince people
they needed to stay on the crowded sidewalk because the empty one lead
to nowhere. Still confused as to why they'd think I
was lying to them.
At this point, people were filing into their
corrals, so I was assigned to one. Luckily, they put a security guard
with me which was nice. There were only a handful of runners who hated
me for not letting them in, so I consider that a win. Here's a tip,
runners: If you want to break the rules, don't ask me if you can. If I
catch you, just walk away like you're supposed to. You know better. I'm
sure people got past me, but I
tried. I'll admit it, I've tried to get into corrals I don't belong in-
will I be doing it again? Probably not.
It
was pretty cool getting to see the end of the pack, if you will. A
couple of runners were taking advantage of all the space to warm up some
more. Others were jumping in the now empty portapotties. Once the last
runner left, we
started picking up the trash
and moving the clothes to the side so that Goodwill could take them.
Sadly, we never got gloves and I refused to use my bare hands, so I
figured out a system of picking up the trash with the side of the bag
and then putting it in. By the time we were done, the start line was
being broken down and all the excitement of the race was officially on
it's way to Coney Island.
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| Who's been up since 2AM and wearing an orange vest?! |
|
Working
the start line was fun, but I don't think anything will compare to
working the finish line. Originally, I wanted to volunteer at the
finish, but the logistics of getting to Prospect Park from my part of
Brooklyn was enough to scare me away from going all the way to Coney
Island. It looked like a lot of fun though. Can't wait to enjoy it next
year. Thanks to volunteering, I'll get automatic entry to next year's
race and I'll finally get to run through my favorite
borough!!
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| My Volunteer Bling |
As
always, if you're a runner, you really should volunteer at a races
often. I think everyone needs to do it to understand what actually goes
on before, during and after a race in order for you to run it. You'll
definitely have a new appreciation for it and hopefully thank a
volunteer or two during your next race (if you don't already).
What do you think would be your favorite part of volunteering?