Chapter 2 page 376 - race volunteers

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A week ago, I was asked to find 10 volunteers to help manage traffic at intersections during the 4H 5K race today.  Hmmmm, 10, huh?  That's a lot!  Last November, I was asked to find 4 people to "man" the water stations of the W.O.O.F. and after digging DEEP into my resources, I could only come up with 2 people (big FAIL).  I had a LOT of concern about finding 10 people.  Do you know 10 people who would say YES to being at a race on a Saturday morning at 6:45 a.m.?  Yeah, I didn't either.  After tapping 2 big pools of people - both which are connected to my job, I was able to recruit 12 volunteers.

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We all had a great time.  Most of the volunteers were assigned to intersections along the route and when they were done they all came to my intersection which was at the end of the race.  By the time the last 75 runners were coming into the "home stretch", they had a lot of the volunteers cheering them on - it was a LOT of fun!!!

This is the second race I've volunteered for this year and getting to see a race from a different perspective is certainly eye opening!  Having to actually help find the volunteers and realizing that a racer's safety rests on your shoulders to find the volunteer and ensure he/she actually shows up .  . . on time, makes me so appreciative of all the volunteers it has taken to do the 29 races I've been a part of over the past 2 years.  It's a lot of fun to help with a race and I'll definitely do it again.

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Thanks to all of you who came out to help make today's race a huge success (from "my crew":  MG, EG, YM, JW, DW, BH, MG, LH, LR, GR, NS, SS, & SB, and the 50 or so other volunteers who helped with everything from timing, to water distribution, to registration, to check in, to setting up and tore down the route by placing/removing all the signs, to the police who blocked the big intersections, to the t-shirt & awards designers and presenters, bike patrol,  and the dozens of other "behind the scenes" helpers)!!!  Also, great job "A" & "T", "SD", "ML", "RS", "MS" - it was a BLAST getting to cheer for you during the race.

Next weekend, I'm the starter for the 5th (maybe 6th) annual Kid's Triathlon.   There will be a couple hundred kids aged 5-12 just swimming, biking, and running their hearts out.  I've been the starter each year and it's always so much fun!!!!

What's next on your race schedule?