Days 281 & 292: Non-Running Activities; Cycling and Volunteering

As you may have noticed in one of my earlier entries, I am once again, on the mend from an injury. In an attempt to keep my spirits up and my training in a forward progression, I have continued to exercise by cycling, using the elliptical, and climbing the 10 flights of stairs to my work at least twice a day. None of these activities are as fun for me as running, but sometimes you need to just make do.

I was going to write an in-depth lengthy post about my bike ride to work experience on Day 281, but have decided to fore-go it. Let’s just say that it was about 12 miles, mostly in the dark, on

Rock Creek Parkway

, doing my best to not get hit by any vehicles, very cold, and included a nasty spill and an arm injury. But it was also great fun, and I have ridden to work a few times since as well. However, as the snow starts coming down, I’ll likely put my bike onto the indoor trainer for the winter and not take any more outdoor road-bike adventures. So Day 281 was a bike ride that was productive and fun, but also cold and painful.

Day 292 was an awesome day. Last year when I ran the Marine Corps Marathon (MCM) and this year when I did the Marine Corps Half-Marathon, I thought to myself that I really should volunteer with these people, because they do such a good job and it would probably be fun to be in a supportive role for other runners. A lot of the articles I have read in Runner’s World and elsewhere have stated that volunteering can be as rewarding as running a race, and that it helps give back to your community. So I decided to give it a go. Volunteering for the MCM seemed like a logical choice due to its proximity to where I live and that I enjoyed it so much the year before, so I decided that the MCM was the way to go. A few months back I signed up to be a volunteer in one of the medical tents for the 2010 Marine Corps Marathon. I have zero medical experience, not even a CPR certification, but I figured that there had to be someway I could help out. Also the MCM and all of the other Marine Corps running/race events are fully staffed with US Marines at all of the water and food stations, so I wouldn’t be able to assist there but still wanted to be on the “front lines” of sorts, helping runners. Mostly I just wanted to be able to cheer them on.

The only thing I didn’t really think about was that the MCM this year fell on Halloween and the night before would be when all of my friends were out partying and carrying on. So Sunday morning was going to be rough. But at 5 am, I was dragging myself out of bed and preparing for a long, chilly day out on the National Mall. My Aid Station (AS) was AS6, located at mile 18.5 right after runners pass the Washington monument and are heading up toward the US Capitol building. I consider myself really lucky that I got that station, because we had the sun warming us (even got a bit sunburned on one cheek!) and we had the beautiful view of the mall to look at all day. When I got to my AS at around 7 am (there were problems with the trains), it turned out that I was the only volunteer that showed up and they weren’t entirely sure what to do with me. The rest of the team at AS6 was mostly comprised of Navy medical professionals: doctors, nurses, medical students in training, etc. and two Marines. Like I said earlier, there are Marines stationed throughout the course, however, all of the medical AS are staffed with Navy personnel. With that said every few feet of the course there was a Marine standing on the side lines cheering on runners.
*I am going to take a brief moment to say a big thank you to all of the Marines and Navy personnel who staff the Marine Corps Marathon. I know that most of them were “volun-told” to be there at the crack of dawn (seriously, the Marines from Quantico are up at 2:45 am to be at their MCM stations by 5am), but they were all in good spirits, great at motivating everyone else, and they really make the race for the runners. You guys all rock big time so thank you.*
After discovering my lack of medical skills, they decided that I would be handing out Vaseline to the runners who were experiencing chafing. The race started at 8 am, but we wouldn’t see our first runner till after 9:30 am. While we were passing the time, I chatted with various people at my station; a couple of older nurses who worked at the Navy Yard in DC, one of the AS chiefs who was a fellow marathoner, and some of the 2^nd Lieutenants (Lts)/ensigns about topics ranging from the Marine Corps Birthday Ball (that I’d be going to the following week) to barefoot running. I really enjoyed all of my conversations and was glad I got placed into such a friendly and outgoing group.

One of the super cool things about volunteering at an AS is watching the elites come through. I know I will NEVER ever be fast enough to join the high ranks of the elite runners in the world, but being able to watch them run is still a treat. The first set of elite runners to come through came by quickly and with the determined look of winning in their eyes. They all looked straight ahead and ran their asses off. At the MCM (also known as “The People’s Marathon”) they have team competitions, the first of which is called the Armed Forces Marathon Championship. This one is competition where Army, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Navy are pitted against each other for “bragging rights and the title of the fastest service.” In this competition, each team member’s finish time is added together and the branch with the shortest total running time wins. The second is called the Challenge Cup Competition, and is between the US Marine Corps team and the British Royal Navy & Marines team. This year (2010) the Air Force team beat the US Marine Corps team by a few minutes, but the US Marine Corps team kicked the crap out of their Royal Marine counterparts. Oorah! The guy who won the 25^th MCM (Air Force team) was a year younger than me and ran the course in 2 hours and 23 minutes and 30 seconds. Like I said, I will never be that fast, but it was great to watch these elites come through my AS.

The only thing I love more than watching the elites come through, is watching (and cheering very loudly for) all of the other runners that come through. Only 1% of people ever run a marathon, so for those of you who have, FANTASTIC JOB! It takes a hell of a lot of guts and hard work to run 26.2 miles and I loved being able to cheer on runners as they gutted it out. I loved seeing all the happy tired faces run past, all the smiles when I cheered for names written on t-shirts, all the hysterical comments: “You got any Valium/ codeine/ crack/ Percocet?” “What is that? Vaseline? Oh gross” I don’t think I have ever said the words “Looking great,” “keep pushing,” and “gut it out” more in my life. However, the best and most defining moment of the race (for me) was relatively early on, in between the 2:50 pace group and the 3:10 pace groups. While we were handing out Vaseline, we ran out of sticks and one guy ran up trying to get some Vaseline but was out of luck. He made an annoyed face and turned to head off. Now, I am the kind of person who when I sign up for something, I am in it. All the way. 100%, nothing less. So I grabbed a stick out of my back pocket, grabbed a heap of Vaseline, and sprinted (remember 2:50-3:10 pace group runners) up to the guy and gave him the stick of Vaseline. He was so surprised, but said, “Awesome, thank you!” I felt really good that I was able to get him what he needed in the moment when he needed it. And as if that wasn’t enough, while I was walking back to my Vaseline distribution spot, one of the 2^nd Lts said, “Well played ma’am, well played.”

I was at AS6 for about 6+ hours that day and loved every minute of it. I felt in tune with the vibrancy of the runners around me and the supporters cheering one the side lines. I felt a strong sense of camaraderie and enjoyed that I was able to help others when they needed it the most. I walked away that afternoon with a slightly sun-burned left cheek, a MCM Medical volunteer T-shirt, and a sense of pride for having contributed (even if it was only in a small way) to a race that I love. I really enjoyed the experience and strongly recommend that if you are a runner, or even if you are interested in running, that you go a volunteer for a race. It’s a great experience and will be well worth your time.