Volunteering at a Race

On Saturday I finally crossed something off my 19 in 2019 list as well as my Bucket List: volunteer at a race. After 6 years of running races {close to 50 races total!}, I have always wanted to volunteer at a race for two reasons. 1. Running and races have done a lot for me so giving back just makes sense and 2. I wanted to know what it was like to be on the volunteering side of race day. I chose the Philadelphia Hot Chocolate 5K/15K as my first because I had been a runner at it a few times before and I knew it was a fun race. Somehow I even managed to get John and my friend, Rachel, to volunteer with me! Today I am sharing with you some details of my experience and what I learned!

With a report time of 5:45 am, an early wake up call was necessary. Since we weren't actually running the race, not much preparation time was needed in the morning. We literally woke up, threw together some bagel sandwiches, and hit the road to Philly. Our informational email had warned us that we should eat a good breakfast beforehand as our shift was 5:45-11 am and only light snacks would be provided. We decided to eat our breakfast on the way so that it was the latest time possible. 

Just like every Philly race, we parked in our usual spot and made the walk over to Eakins Oval {right in front of the Art Museum}. We all commented on how weird it felt not to be running the race but yet it was a good feeling. It was pretty chilly at such an early hour, but we didn't want to layer up too much because we were told we would be given volunteer gear that would be worn on the outermost layer. When checking in, we weren't given anything but overheard a check-in person telling another volunteer that they didn't get enough volunteer jackets so we'd get them mailed to us later. We actually received an email today reiterating this information on Monday so now I'm eagerly awaiting the arrival of my volunteer jacket! Anyway, back to the cold. Luckily they had big thermoses of hot chocolate for us to drink while we waited for our assignments. That definitely helped warm me up!

Eventually someone walked us over to our assignment which was at the finish line. We were instructed to set up tables with cups filled with Nuun. John, Rachel, and I worked well as a team. John and Rachel set out cups while I went by and filled them half way with a pitcher full of Nuun. The Nuun was mixed in large coolers in which we dipped the pitcher in to fill it. Time flew by and we filled tons of cups. We all agreed we had to of filled over 500 cups! As we finished up this job, the 5K began. At this point, we were told to stand by the table and hand out cups to the finishers. For once I was able to witness the first finishers break tape. So exciting! Not many 5K finishers seemed interested in the Nuun we were handing out. I'm not sure if they just weren't really thirsty or if they weren't sure what Nuun was.

As the 5K finishers started to thin out, the 15K had already began so we were told to take any bathroom breaks at this point before the rush of 15K finishers came in. We decided to just hang around and luckily we stayed by because we found out there were hand warmers for us to use. Such a lifesaver at this point! The 15K finishers started pouring in soon enough and we were handing out Nuun cups left and right. The sun had finally come out so runners were hot and dying for a cool drink. It felt great to be able to help everyone out and see that we were making a difference. As this crowded thinned out, we started cleaning up. There were still a lot of filled cups left so those needed to be dumped back into the cooler which was then taken to be dumped out. It blew my mind how much was wasted. I told Rachel that I will always take water/sports drink from a volunteer because now I know how much work they put into filling all those cups!

That was the extent of our clean up. Once we finished that, we asked the head guy we kept reporting to if there was anything else we needed to do. He said we were good to leave so we headed towards the volunteer tent to see if there was anything we had to do to check out. Thank goodness we did because there was CHOCOLATE at the volunteer tent! As in, all the goodies the finishers received after completing both races. Not that I was looking to be "rewarded" for my good deed, but man was I happy to get some yummy chocolate in my belly after keeping busy for 5 hours.

John, Rachel, and I all have an enjoyable time volunteering! We agreed that we have a while new appreciation for race volunteers. I will continuing to thank as many as I can throughout each race I run. For anyone who has thought about volunteering at a race, I highly recommend that you do! Running is a huge part of my life so being given the opportunity to give back to the running community was such a great feeling!