That’s drenched with Powerade, not sweat. Rather than run the AT&T Marathon/Half-Marathon this past Sunday, I volunteered at a water stop. It was fun but it wasn’t a picnic either. We had to show up at 5:30 AM to start setting up. We setup tables, set out cups, and started filling them a little less than half full. Lots of cups! We had about 3 tables of water and 3 tables of blue Powerade sports drink, each stacked 3 levels high on sheets of cardboard. It was nice running weather at about 38 degrees F, but it left our hands pretty cold especially while handing out the cups when our hands got wet.
We were stationed at mile 4, so most of the participants were ready for a little hydration by that point. It was also an interesting vantage point. The leaders were running faster than I can even run 1 mile let alone 26. At first it was all business as the runners came by grabbing the cups out of our hands with excellent form. Yeah there is a technique to it. The volunteer has to hold the cup loosely from the top and let the runner take it. Most of the advanced runners will make eye contact to so that you are their guy, then they grab it and pinch the cup so that they don’t spill all of it. All the skill and planning quickly broke down as the pack quickly became more than we could handle. As runners clogged the rest of the tables, many ended up forming a mob at the end of the stop desperate for some hydration. That’s where I was stationed and I did my best. If the mob got to the table itself, then things really broke down for everyone. So I found that I could grab 4 cups from the top with one hand and 3 with the other. I’d start with the hand with three and use my extra fingers to tip one cup out so a runner could take it and repeat. Then I’d take one cup from the other hand and repeat. Being an engineer, I was pretty proud of my efficiency. Most of the runners were just thankful to get something. As the largest packs cleared out we had a new problem. We had gone through all of the cups we had filled! So half of us started filling more cups as we continued to hand them out. Not too long after that, we ran out of water. We had plenty of blue Powerade, but unfortunately as the runners turned into walkers, they were only interested in water.
Overall, everyone was thankful for the little bit of help we could provide and I’m guessing that they only got more thankful to those at the later stops. I’ll probably end up running the half one of these years, but I don’t feel any urge to run the full marathon. Even if you don’t ever feel like running; I definitely recommend volunteering. But don’t be surprised if your shoes end up blue and sticky.
