Volunteering for the WDW Half Marathon 2014

As soon as I decided I was going to run the inaugural WDW 10k, I knew I wanted to volunteer for the half marathon. I wasn't really interested in running an UNofficial 19.3, but didn't know if I could justify another trip to Disney for just a 10k. I would be back to run the Princess Half the next month (which is pretty much the same exact course and the 19.3 is the official Glass Slipper Challenge), so why not have a new experience and give back to the runDisney/ running community? So, that settled it.

I did a little research about volunteering at runDisney and waited for sign up to open. From what I found, if you think runDisney races fill up fast, try signing up for a volunteer slot! Word on the street was registration would open about 5 months out. I was sitting in the airport waiting for my delayed flight home from The Tower of Terror weekend, when I saw signup opened and I was on it! My main goal was to try to get medal distribution, but that wasn't available so I signed up for Finish line runner direction- it was close enough to the action for me! 

This year the volunteer headquarters was at the Blizzard Beach parking lot. I was hoping that was a typo and it was still at Downtown Disney, that way I could walk there from our hotel. No such luck. So, I scheduled a cab to pick me up for 4:30AM. From Saratoga Springs Resort, it was only $15.

I checked in, got my awesome orange volunteer jacket and a ziploc bag of snacks. (Tip: They give you a bigger bag when you pick up your credentials: bring it. This would've come in handy. Normally the volunteers use the pouch that the previous year's half zips come in, but this year it was a full zip jacket. Another veteran volunteer showed me that the pocket cut outs could be used as snack storage as well. I looked like the Michelin man all day, but crisis averted.) Then we boarded the bus to shuttle us to the finish line. We sat there for about 45 minutes- we had to wait for the race to start so the roads would be clear. I accidentally fell asleep on the ride over (It was dark and warm and 5AM- what do you want from me?!) but woke up when the bus stopped a couple of times- apparently the state troopers weren't given the memo the volunteer buses were allowed to go through. 

Once we got to the finish line area, I followed a group of volunteers and we went in the wrong direction. We missed the first part of the responsibilities speech (like, keep the runners moving, don't take pictures for them. opps) but I guess we figured it out. Biggest word of advice: if a runner is bent over, do NOT stick your head under there to see if they're ok :) If we saw someone limping or had bloody nipples (which was way more often than I thought), we would point them in the direction of the medical tent. Of course, if we saw someone in real trouble, we'd just call for medical but they were always close by. The medical volunteers were really good about spotting the runners who needed help and would escort them over to the med tent. Luckily, we had good weather, so we didn't see too many runners needing serious attention (at least not where I was). 

I'd say my main job was to answer where the Dopey/ Goofy tent was. There were a couple of volunteers who had the "medical on the right, water and Powerade straight ahead" spiel down, so I did a lot of smiling and congratulating. We were standing along the barracades where finishers could see their family, so we had a lot of people stop to say hello/ have a quick photo taken, which we could allow, but they had to keep moving. We took finisher photos for runners, but then stopped because it started to get crowded.

The only issue I saw was in the beginning of our shift. 2 runners ran up to us from the other side of the barricades demanding we give them a medal because they missed the start of the race. Because WE, the finish area runner direction volunteers, didn't clearly tell them about how transportation worked, it was all our fault. If they flew home without a medal, their husbands were going to divorce them. YIKES! Granted, I don't know the whole story and I also don't know what ended up happening, but I can't imagine the feeling of not getting to the start line of your race. I hope everything worked out.

Ready for the runners!

The Team Leads were super nice and you could tell they really enjoyed their jobs. They made a point to tell us to hydrate and move around. They checked on us throughout the day. The medical lead even came around and brought us more water. There were a couple of times I started getting dizzy from watching the runners come in, and I had to stop trying to focus on them. I was very grateful for the trail mix I had stashed in my pocket as well. It really helped when I started to feel lightheaded. I wish I would've walked around more, but I didn't know where to walk to!

Every time I saw a friend finish, I would use that time to walk them down the finisher's chute as my time to move around. It was working really well! I only missed a couple of people's finish. But walking back upstream through a wall of sweaty/ tired runners was challenging!

 Fred made it!

As did Karen!

(everyone else did as well, I just didn't get photos)

When it started to get towards the end, I walked closer to the finish line to cheer on the last bunch of runners. I got pretty emotional at how ridiculously inspiring and overwhelming it was. I totally cried when Katy Perry's Roar came on (it was the song I finished the NYCM to) and when the massive group of TNT coaches ran the last finisher in. 

Fun fact: The Balloon Ladies are NOT the last to cross the finish line. They crossed the finish about 10-15 minutes before the official last finisher. This was very surprising to me, from all I've heard about being swept during the runDisney races. (I also saw them in Epcot during the full and there were TONS of people behind them. I guess as long as you're in front of them before the last sweeper spot, you're ok) 

Once the last finisher crossed, we headed to the buses to go back to Blizzard Beach to check out. They punched out credentials and handed us a park ticket- that will come in handy for GSC!

Luckily I made a friend with one of the volunteers who was sweet enough to give me a ride back to my hotel, otherwise I had no idea how I was going to get out of the Blizzard Beach parking lot! I understand that most volunteers are local, but making it a tad easier for those of us who want to help on our vacation would've been nice. Again, at least at the old Downtown Disney meetup, you had guest buses. I heard there was lots of problems with Blizzard Beach's parking lot not having enough parking space, so maybe next year it'll go back to how it was.

It was a great experience and I would highly suggest giving back to the running community if you ever get the chance- runDisney or local.