So of course I was 30 minutes late for my 7am call time in Central Park. I mean, I was arriving to the Park with the runners, not a good sign when you've volunteered to work the race. I was supposed to be doing bag check.
The Park, however, was beautiful. The scene could have been a painting, except this was real. The snow covering was real And that fancy lighting trick called the sun took significantly more of my breath. I was rushing, hustling, fighting my way up a cement footpath, which was covered with black ice. This body of mine, I'm a klutz and an athlete all rolled into one. I was able to remain vertical long enough to find the Volunteer Coordinator. "Hi. I'm Karen. Sorry I'm late. I don't suppose you want to hear about the man who fell on the tracks." He sent me up a hill to speak to the Curly Haired Woman, who was organizing the bag check area, which was in full swing. I reintroduced myself to Curly. I met her volunteering to hand out bib numbers a few months ago for a race in Prospect Park. She gave me a crash course, "thenumbersaresetuponethroughzerowelineupbagsaccordingtothelastdigitonthebib. Okay?"
And that was it. I dropped my things and dug in. Now the roped off section of grass was completely covered by snow. None of us were prepared for this. I was in my Merrells, not boots and within ten minutes my socks were drenched and there were puddles in my shoes. Why was I doing this again? Really, was it for the race credit? It costs money to do my 5Ks so of course I don't mind working for race money. And of course I want to contribute as much of my time as I can to athletes, who rarely compete with trainers, sponsors or contracts. We all take time out of our lives to participate in a sport more for the love than returns, since it returns so much more than a payoff. And I really enjoyed getting to know my co-bag checkers. We had lots of time to get to know each other. They were all runners. One of them had done a 60K (that's over 37 miles) in Central Park last year.
As the sun rose higher and stronger, the snow got wetter and even disappeared. This meant we were running around in slush. I tried to stay positive but my feet were wet and cold and I was miserable. Not even 10 5Ks were worth it. I came close to leaving, several times. But as I watched the runners swallow their 13.1 and 26.2 miles and I knew I could stick it out, for them at least. As the runners crossed the finish line and came to us to claim their belongings, we . . . okay . . . I created this game out of who could get to their bags first. The runners seemed to get a kick out of watching us and in the end, I believe we all made each other healthier.
Scratch that, the following day I woke up with a horrible cold, followed by a day of calling out sick at job B. So now we're talking about actual money that I lost over this venture, and I didn't get to cross the finish line.
So of course, I have signed up to volunteer for:
- NYC Half Marathon Expo, 3/14
- NYC Half Marathon, 3/16
- New York City Marathon, 11/2.
Since I live just over the Verrazano Bridge, I am volunteering to work the start of the NYC Marathon. My Staten Island call time is 4am. Why am I doing this? I'll have to let you know in eight months.
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