The Dave’s 10 Miler and 5k was on January 21st this year. I’m a little late publishing this! As you may guess, weather in Ohio is kind of a crap shoot in the winter. This race has had freezing conditions, and last year the temperatures were in the 60’s I think. A crazy warm day for January! This year was no exception – not warm, not cold, but super foggy!! Which was perfect for the theme this year – Yetis!
I did not run this race, but I did volunteer. Alan ran it as a training run, and I was a course marshal. I was very happy with my volunteer assignment. I was at the first intersection, which was also the last intersection. I got to cheer everyone on at the start of the race, and as they headed for the finish chute.
Actually I got to cheer people on twice at the start because they also have an early start at this race, which is really nice if you’re going to take a little longer on the course. I saw so many friends at this race. Especially all of the MIT (Dave’s Marathon in Training) groups.
I have to give a shout out to my friend Rich, who is the volunteer coordinator for the Run Toledo races. If you want to sign up to volunteer at any of the Run Toledo races you go online, just like you are registering for the race, and select the volunteer job you’d like. The number of people needed, requirements and hours of volunteering are clearly indicated so you know what’s going on. AND, when I got at the race I received a really detailed flyer of phone numbers, times and other important information, including a course map! I referred to the map several times during that afternoon because I’ll be honest, I never read course maps for a race!! (my bad!) That information makes volunteering a much easier job.
As I mentioned, the day was really foggy, and quite eerie! Here’s Alan at the start…
And Alan at the finish.
One of my favorite parts of my job was when I was cheering and waving my flag for a runner headed to the finish. She looked a bit tired. She smiled and proudly told me “This is my first 5K!”. You go girl!!
I’m guessing one of the best parts of this race for the runners was the hot soup at the end. Chicken noodle soup. Yummmm!
Oh, and those yeti shirts 🙂
If you’d like to volunteer at a race in the future, or just take a look at what positions are available, go to Run Toledo and select a race. You’ll see there are a lot of jobs which range from packet picket (days before the race or race day), to on-course support, or even some jobs after the race. You can even sign up to volunteer at the Glass City Marathon this year. Maybe you’ll join me in the Road Crew??? I’d love to have you as part of my team 🙂
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Q: Do you study a course map before the race?
I think I used to when I first started running, but nowadays I pretty much just show up!
Q: What is your ideal volunteer job?
Q: Have you ever volunteered at a water stop?
Hmm… if it’s a goal race I like to know the course so I can run the tangents. For a fun race I really do not care… there is always someone ahead of me, plenty of people! BUT if it’s a super small town race I usually look at the map because I’ve run a few where I couldn’t really see people ahead of me and would like to know that I’m not getting lost.
Congrats to Alan on running and you for volunteering! I love the Yeti shirt and how organized this whole race seems to be. Also may I ask who Dave is? It seems like a lot of things where you are are named after him… this race… the training group…
Great question! It’s Dave Mason who started “Dave’s Running Shop” in 1973 in our town. If I remember correctly, he started by selling running shoes out of his van! Still family owned today. They sponsor a lot of races and have the Dave’s MIT (Marathon in Training) programs, which I help coach for.
Last year I ran great at that race and did horrible at Boston. I’m hoping that since I did horrible at this year’s race that means Boston will go good! ha
I’m hoping that’s the case too!! 🙂
I love the yeti shirts! And DAMN Alan’s legs in that first pic! I have volunteered at a water stop before but I honestly haven’t volunteered much. 🙁 When I go to a race to cheer on friends though. I cheer for EVERYONE and I cheer HARD.
I have really volunteered a lot more this past year. I really like being able to see what options are available, because I don’t always want to be out on a race course from 2-hours-pre-race-setup until course cleanup! I think every little bit helps. That’s great that you cheer everyone on – it’s so silly when I see people standing around near the finish and they are just waiting for their runner. Everyone likes to hear it, so give it up people! 🙂