The Weekend Workouts That Weren't

Source

Where did my weekend go???

Well, I know where most of it went. So let's just say I'm super glad I got in a killer strength training workout during the day on Friday.

Source: sweettoothsweetlife.com via Erin on Pinterest

I made a few changes to this workout. Instead of split jumps we did regular lunges with bicep curls and we skipped burpees entirely. The room we workout in is about 80 degrees and we were dripping sweat. In the middle of the day. At work. Not a good look. Anyway, I did add 15 roll-ups, 15 3-2-1 crunches, and 2 sets of 10 bird dogs to the end. Trust me, this workout will shred your muscles even without the burpees and split jumps!

Then on Friday night I walked a little over a mile while I hung No Parking signs for my running club's 5K race.

On Saturday I spent a good chunk of the day working on a post for my fashion blog (that post was super fun, by the way) and then helping set-up for the 5K race some more. Our landlord also texted us to say the realtor would be taking photos of our house on Monday or Tuesday so Jason and I spent most of the weekend cleaning and decluttering.

Sunday morning was the 5K race and I was on my feet from 7:00 AM until 11:45 AM doing various tasks. My main jobs included helping to set up the finish line water station, doing a bit of course marshaling, and then ferrying results from the timing table to the results board. After a volunteer appreciation lunch it was back home for more cleaning and some errands.

So, no other workouts but I didn't mind. It didn't even feel that weird to not be running the 5K even though I've run it past two years. I think I'm finally reaching the stage where I'm working out because I want to instead of stressing out about fitting something into my schedule.

I'm not perfect. I still worry about losing fitness or gaining weight or losing muscle or not being able to race again. I'm still in this weird limbo spot where I don't know if I should sign up for races or have hip surgery. But I'm getting a bit more comfortable with taking a weekend off because I'm busy doing other things I enjoy.

Weekly Workout Wround Up

October 3rd - October 9th

Oct 3

Rest day! I actually went to running group to show off my medal and enter the raffle for a pair of Saucony shoes. I guess my good luck from Sunday didn't stick around, though. No free shoes for me.


Oct 4

Another rest day! I mean, my legs felt pretty good but why push it. Plus, I had a running club meeting to attend. We heard a presentation about fueling during endurance events. Basically, drink more water and Gatorade.


Oct 5

Return to the track! However, I just did the warm-up and then ran easy miles while everyone else did 400s and 800s. Kind of lonely to be running around the track by myself, but oh well.


Oct 6

4 miles run at lunch.

I was exhausted when I got home from work but thought maybe a quick strength training workout video would perk me up. So I put in Denise Austin's "Shrink Your Female Fat Zones". 40 minutes of dumbbells and Pilates.

Okay, I know it's been awhile since I lifted weights but this felt HARD. Which makes me sad.


Oct 7

Rest day. My parents, my husband, my brother and I all went out to dinner to celebrate my brother's birthday. Jason and I got home WAY past my bedtime I was so thankful I could sleep in on Saturday morning.


Oct 8

And sleep in I did! But in order not to be too lazy of a slug, I went on a leisurely 20 mile bike ride in the afternoon. The day was just too gorgeous to not do something outside.

About mile 12, though, my bike started making a weird noise. It sounded like something was caught in the wheel so I slowed down to check it out. I didn't see anything but the noise was driving me crazy. As I stood on the side of the path trying to figure out what was going on two cyclists stopped to help. Turns out I did have a leaf stuck in the front brake caliper but it was jammed up there so far it was nearly impossible to see. The hazards of riding in the fall I guess.

Oct 9

Up at 4:00 AM, I think I was up earlier than many of the people actually running the Chicago Marathon! Instead of running I was in charge of the Gatorade stations on the north side of the street near mile 18.

The sun was brutal and although the elites managed to finish before the temperatures rose, I really felt for everyone else. Still, my running club had a lot of PRs and quite a few first-time marathon finishers so it was great to be out there supporting the runners.

By the time we finished cleaning up and headed home around 1:00 PM my legs and feet felt worse than they did after Milwaukee! I scarfed some pizza at our volunteer thank you event and then collapsed into bed around 4:00 PM. Where I proceeded to stay until I had to get up for work this morning. 14 hours of sleep? Don't mind if I do.

Total running mileage: 7.24
Total biking mileage: 20
Total strength training sessions: 1

A Wellapalooza of Running

It's only Wednesday and it's already been a week full of running-related events!

On Monday night I did the "8" mile loop with the running club (we cut off a bit so it's really more like 7.8). The run was fine (and even a tiny bit faster than last week) but my shin was a little achy afterward. Today the PT told me I should definitely ice it after runs when it feels achy so I'll have to start doing that.

Monday Night OPRC 8 Mile Route by snmnstrz21 at Garmin Connect - Details

After Monday night's run a group of us went out to dinner. Of course, we talked about running but we also talk about other things. It's always a good time and I got to gorge myself on sweet potato fries. Win win.

On Tuesday night I coordinated a booth for my running club at a local health fair. The Parent-Teacher Organization for one of the local elementary schools put together an event they called "Wellapalooza" and invited health, nutrition, fitness, and environmental organizations in the area to promote their wares. I believe the idea was that it would expose people to the different resources available to them if they wanted to make changes to their lifestyle.

We brought fliers for our 5K race, our youth mile race, our 5K fitness walk as well as a brochure I made about the club itself. I also printed out copies of the Couch to 5K program which caused some controversy among my other booth-manners. Did I mention I was the youngest person at the booth by at least 35 years?

I figured that since this was a fair designed to encourage people to exercise or eat healthily or just start paying attention to their carbon footprint a handout on learning to run would be a great thing to have. Apparently the old school of thought on running is just to get out there and do it. Run til you can't run anymore, then walk, then run again until you hit 30 minutes. I'm sure that works for people who aren't particular fans of structure or who have a certain level of self confidence. For other people, I think the Couch to 5K plan has been instrumental when beginning running.

I know when I started I couldn't go for more than 15-20 minutes on the treadmill. I'd run for as long as I could and then I'd stop and feel defeated. Outside I couldn't even go that far. It wasn't until I joined the Beginning Women's Running Group and learned about building up using a method similar to Couch to 5K that I made any progress.

Unfortunately not many people were interested in our booth on Tuesday night. The set up for the fair was odd so not many people made it where we were located. And those that did stared as us warily as they walked by. Some laughed and said "I don't run!" Most people were not interested in hearing more about our fitness walk (I could practically see them thinking 'why should I pay money to walk around the neighborhood?') and even the kids seemed skeptical that they could run a mile. Which means we didn't give away much information. Still, I'm hopeful that perhaps just seeing us in our red shirts may have planted a seed in someone's mind. And someday one of those people will decide to try that Couch to 5K plan. And someday that person will find themselves running almost 8 miles as a regular run.

You know, like me.

The Race That's Good for Life 5K

It's just another manic Monday
I wish it was Sunday
'Cause that's my funday
My I don't have to runday
-The Bangles

Well, The Bangles might not run on Sundays, but I sure did! And oh boy did I run.

But running is just part of what I did for The Run That's Good for Life. You see, this 5K is the one and only race put on by my running club. And as a club member I felt it was my duty to volunteer to help out as much as I could. Which means I:

-Hung posters and distributed fliers promoting the race
-Stuffed goody bags for packet pick up
-Hung "No Parking" signs along the race course
-Staffed packet pick-up the day before the race
-Assisted as a course marshal after I finished

I wasn't planning to go into this race with any major expectations. But, you hang around other runners enough talking about a race many of them are also doing and you start to get caught up in the talk of PRs and paces and times. I mean, I just amazed myself at a 5K in February. I wasn't really thinking I could do it again. But, I admit, once I was lined up at the start line I started thinking "What if I could do this in under 25 minutes?"

But let me back up.

Bright and early yesterday morning, Kim arrived at my house so that we could drive to the race together. She'd offered to be a course marshal which meant she would make sure cars didn't enter or cross the course while the race was going on. We got to the race site early to check in. Everything looked to be under control so we hung out and chatted before she headed to her assigned intersection. That's when she gave me these:



I put them in right away as my very own good luck charm!

About 30 minutes before the women's 5K start time (the women and men run separately at this event) Kim headed off to her post and I started doing some warm-up jogging and stretching. Jason arrived about 5 minutes before the start and we talked strategy. Sadly, this race doesn't have many good intercept points for spectators so he only got to cheer for me at the start and the finish.

As I lined up next to one of the women in the running club she told me to start off slow and then pick it up in the final mile. I'm really, really bad at starting slow but I thought I'd try. Really, though, I was just going to run as hard as I could and see where that got me.

I passed Jason a few hundred yards after the start line and, as always, waved and looked like a fool.



A fool who ran that first mile in 7:54. Um, okay, I think that's the fastest I've ever run anything.

I didn't want to crash and burn at the end so I decided to slow it down a little bit. I passed the water station and knew I was at the halfway point. Shortly after that we approached what passes for a substantial hill in our area. I groaned inwardly and felt my pace drop. I was glancing at my Garmin to check out my average pace. I was trying to remember what my overall pace was when I PRed last time and I *thought* it was 8:16. So as long as I could keep it under that I figured I'd be golden.

It was tough, though. I kept checking the Garmin to see how much longer I had left. When I realized I had half a mile I tried my hardest to speed up. When I passed the mile 3 clock and it read 24:something I really, really wanted to get to the finish. I could see the banner in the distance and I dug deep. But that pesky going-to-puke feeling showed up and I had to back down slightly.

I was grunting and my teeth were clenched. I had my iPod playing with my "power song" but the music didn't even register. I passed Jason and gave him a dismissive wave as I powered to the finish line.



I didn't even look at the clock at the end. I just hit STOP on my Garmin, took my finisher's rose, and lurched toward the Gatorade table while looking around for my husband. When I finally looked at my Garmin I saw that it said 25:23. A new PR! I think my new good luck charms definitely worked!

My dear, sweet husband immediately took a photo and posted my results to his Twitter feed.



I sent Jason home with my rose, grabbed my warm-up pants and sweatshirt and joined Kim at her intersection to direct traffic for the men's race. Afterward we stuffed our faces with Chipotle (my race bib was good for buy-one-get-one-free burritos). I managed to stay upright long enough to go to the grocery store but afterward I conked out for a two hour nap. Who knew that 25 minutes of all-out activity could wear a person out so much?

Overall it was a great race for me. Not only was it another personal best, but I loved being involved in so many aspects of it and I love that other people were too.

Official stats:

Time: 25:23.7
Average Pace: 8:11
Overall Place: 121/483
Age Group Place: 16/71

*******************************************

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 624 ft Location: Oak Park, IL Elev. Gain: +0 ft Date: 04/11/10 Up/Downhill: [+22/-22] Time: 09:00 AM Difficulty: 1.9 / 5.0   Weather: Mostly Cloudy   53 F temp; 61% humidity   53 F heat index; winds E 10 Performance Distance: 3.09 miles Time: 0:25:23 Speed: 7.3 mph Pace: 8' 13 /mi Calories: 365 Map   Elevation (ft)   Pace (min/mile)   Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 7' 54 -0' 19 7.6 +0.3 0 ft 2 8' 20 +0' 07 7.2 -0.1 +13 ft 3 8' 22 +0' 09 7.2 -0.1 -9 ft end 7' 55 -0' 18 7.6 +0.3 -3 ft Versus average of 8' 13 min/mile

Posted from bimactive.com

Weekly Workout Wround Up

May Days Training Week 7: March 15th - March 21st


Mar 15

Managed a 5+ mile tempo run without the aid of the Oak Park Runners Club. And even made it book club before anyone else arrived!

Mar 16

I struggled through a 3+ mile run at lunch. Thank goodness the sun was shining or I really would have questioned why I was out there. Oh, who am I kidding, I was asking myself that anyway.

After work I went to the gym. It's also been a month since I lifted on a Tuesday night. Oh man, I was definitely tired. Normally I bump up the weights on the leg press machine but on Tuesday my knees were creaky and I could tell that using a higher weight would really kill me.

45 minutes of strength training with Back focus

One Arm Row (Stability Ball): 15 @ 7.5 lbs x2 each arm
Close Grip Pulldown: 20 @ 20 lbs; 14 @ 22.5 lbs (Aside: I hate these so much)
Sit Down Row: 12 @ 40 lbs; 10 @ 25 lbs (Not a fan of this either. I think my form is horrible)
Seated Back Extension: 15 @ 70 lbs; 20 @ 70 lbs
Seated Chest Press: 20 @ 20 lbs x2
Seated Shoulder Press: 14 @ 15 lbs (my shoulders are WEAK)
Low-Pulley Straight Bar Curl: 15 @ 12.5 lbs (much more difficult than using either of the seated curl machines)
Straight Bar Pushdown: 20 @ 15 lbs
Seated Leg Press: 20 @ 55 lbs x2
Seated Leg Curl: 20 @ 35 lbs
Horizontal Calf Raise: 20 @ 35 lbs x2
Crunches: 20
Reverse Crunch: 20 x2
Side Oblique Crunch: 20
Crunch with Legs Elevated: 20

I decided to go ahead and manually tell the computer program to reenable the automatic weight progression. I figure I've done enough strength training in my life to know if something is too heavy. Hopefully this doesn't bite me in the butt.

Also, the program only had me doing 95 crunches of various kinds. I add an extra 5 to make it an even 100. Woo! 100 crunches!

Mar 17

Normally on Wednesdays I go to the gym and take my Hi/Lo aerobics class and do a little bit of strength training. But this particular Wednesday I just wasn't feeling it. Some if may have had to do with the fact that last Wednesday I discovered that I don't like taking aerobics while wearing my glasses. Part of it may have been that I was tired. I don't know.

So, instead, I decided to be a good dog owner and actually take the dogs for a walk. I convinced my husband to come with so that I could run into the library and grab the next book for book club (One Hundred Years of Solitude. Anyone read it?) at the same time. Which means we got in a 1.5 mile walk. I suppose that's something.

Mar 18

Got in a 4.5+ mile run with the running group and Kim! The weather was PERFECT. Oh, how I wish it could stay like that forever.

After work I went to the gym to do strength training. My knees were still feeling creaky and I wasn't thrilled that it was a Legs day. Thankfully everything felt a-okay.

45 minutes strength training with Legs focus

Wide Stance Squat (1 Dumbbell): 15 @ 10lbs x2
Seated Leg Extension: 20 @ 20 lbs
Free Motion Squat: 12 @ 30 lbs; 20 @ 20 lbs
Wide Grip Pulldown: 20 @ 10 lbs x2
Push Up: 2 sets of 14
Seated Back Extension: 20 @ 65 lbs; 15 @ 70 lbs
Seated Rear Deltoid: 20 @ 15 lbs
Seated Arm Curl: 15 @ 15 lbs
V-Bar Pushdown: 20 @ 20 lbs
Adductor: 20 @ 50 lbs; 20 @ 110 lbs x2
Horizontal Calf Raise: 20 @ 30 lbs x2
90 Degree Crunch: 20
Side Oblique Crunch with Legs Elevated: 20
Bicycle Maneuver: 2 sets of 15
Decline Crunch: 15
Hamstring Curls (Stability Ball): 2 sets of 10

Mar 19

Rest Day!

Mar 20

Ran 9 miles in the wind and the snow flurries. Almost as badass as running the rain.

Also, I happened to be out on my run when it hit 2:00 PM Eastern Time. Once I realized that I'd be on the bike path somewhere when the time came to take a photo I hoped I'd be or see something cool at the exact moment. I totally didn't plan it this way, but just as the alarm on my phone went off I came to this:



And the view directly behind me?



So those are the photos I sent to A Minute in the Life taken at 2PM Eastern Time on Saturday, March 20th.

Mar 21

No running or gymming today but that doesn't mean I didn't help out the running community in some way. No, Kim and I headed down to the Chicago Shamrock Shuffle to volunteer at Gear Check. However, due to no fault of our group's organizer, we were only there for about an hour and most of that involved standing around. Not nearly the craziness of last year. Ah well. At least we managed to have an enjoyable lunch together afterward!


Total Mileage: Approximately 22.20 (give or take a quarter of a mile here and there due to the Garmin being flaky)

Yay for being back over 20 miles!

This upcoming week will have a few new things. I'm going to try and run TO running group tonight. Then my long run will be done in the town where my parents live. I've already got a route mapped out. It will also be my first double-digit run since July 2009. Right now the weather looks like it will be perfect. Let's hope it stays that way!

Chicago Marathon Volunteer Report

Welcome to aid station 13 located at mile 18 of the Chicago Marathon! This was just one of many tables full of water we set up. For at least half a mile along the street there were water tables, Gatorade tables, and energy packet tables. Over 250 volunteers in our blue jackets manned these tables. We had a forklift, boxes and boxes of supplies, signs, rakes, trashcans, and shovels. What we didn't have? Food or bathrooms. Or heat.

The past two years the weather on race day has been dangerously hot. This year? Not so much. I arrived at the aid station shortly after 6:30 AM. After I got my volunteer gear I was wearing a fleece earband, a baseball cap, a short-sleeved t-shirt, a long-sleeved t-shirt, a long-sleeved fleece jacket, the polyester volunteer jacket, jeans, wool socks, mittens and rain boots. I wore the rain boots to keep my feet dry. They did not, however, keep my feet warm. At the end of my 6 hour shift my toes were so numb I could barely walk.

Sadly, I didn't bring my camera and my hands were so cold that I didn't bother to pull out my phone to take pictures. Besides, when you're handing out water to over 40+ thousand people, it's hard to take pictures!

Forty-plus thousand people. That's larger than some towns. I don't know if they all made it to mile 18, but, starting with the elites, we had runners non-stop from approximately 8:45 AM to noon.

At first you hold out your hand with a cup of water in it. Your arm starts to die from holding it out at your side. You cheer when people take water from you and not the person next to you. But as the race goes on more and more people want water. You get to the point where you are grabbing two or three or four cups of water at a time just to keep up with the demand. You trade raking responsibilities and try to clean up dropped cups while staying out of the way of the runners. And then, as your table empties of water, you break it down and move onto the next table. You watch in awe as the world championship male runners blow past. You crane your neck looking for the elite female runners. You cheer for all the other runners. You shout out the names that people have written on their shirts.

It's exhilarating. It's fun. It's awe-inspiring. For the first few hours. And then, when it's cold, you start to worry if your toes will ever be warm. You start to get hungry. You start to get tired. You talk yourself out of needing to pee. But you don't want to complain because the people running past you are also thinking all those things...except they're running 26.2 miles. Something you haven't done.

So, instead, you jump up and down. You joke with the other people at your table. You dance to the music on the loudspeaker. You rake up discarded cups. You fill up more cups with water. And when the "course closed" vehicle drives by, you look at the stragglers walking behind it, shake your head, and begin to clean up.

I made it home shortly after 1 PM. I made myself lunch and sat on the couch to warm up and watch tv. I didn't mean to nap. But, I fell asleep for about 45 minutes. I'm sure handing out water at the Chicago Marathon is nothing like actually running the marathon, but it wore me out just the same.

If you do want to see some photos, Kim has some good ones. She even got photos of the elites! And some of the people in costume. I saw one guy dressed as Minnie Mouse. I saw several Wonder Womans. I saw a few nuns. I saw people of every shape, size and color. It truly is as if an entire city decided they'd all get up and go for a run. Amazing.

******************************

Speaking of runs, I did 8 miles on the bike path on Saturday morning. The air temperature was chilly and the sun hitting the creek created a low-hanging steam rising off the water. There were fewer runners than usual out and about I'm assuming because many of them were doing Sunday's big race. But I did see one guy running barefoot on the asphalt path. I, on the other hand, was wearing my newest pair of Brooks Adrenalines.



It was a good run. Goal? 10:00 minute miles across the board. Managed that with no problems. And I got lucky and barely had to stop for traffic.

After my run I "recovered" with hot chocolate. Chocolate milk is the perfect post-run recovery drink. I figured on a chilly fall day that hot chocolate would be even better. Yum!

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 621 ft Location: Brookfield, IL Elev. Gain: +0 ft Date: 10/10/09 Up/Downhill: [+223/-223] Time: 08:15 AM Difficulty: 3.1 / 5.0   Weather: Partly Cloudy   40 F temp; 72% humidity   40 F heat index; winds SW 6 Performance Distance: 8.05 miles Time: 1:19:12 Speed: 6.1 mph Pace: 9' 50 /mi Calories: 962 Map   Elevation (ft)   Pace (min/mile)   Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 10' 05 +0' 15 6.0 -0.2 -4 ft 2 9' 47 -0' 03 6.1 +0.0 +7 ft 3 9' 58 +0' 08 6.0 -0.1 +10 ft 4 9' 45 -0' 05 6.2 +0.0 -6 ft 5 9' 36 -0' 14 6.2 +0.1 +4 ft 6 9' 36 -0' 14 6.2 +0.1 -7 ft 7 9' 52 +0' 02 6.1 -0.0 -7 ft 8 9' 53 +0' 03 6.1 -0.0 +3 ft end 9' 10 -0' 40 6.5 +0.4 0 ft Versus average of 9' 50 min/mile

Posted from bimactive.com

A Runner's World

So, I'm a runner. I think this means that I have to subscribe to Runner's World. At least, it does when I was able to get a one-year subscription for like $6.00. I signed up last November. I've been getting renewal notices with each new magazine for the past few months. I'm still debating whether or not to renew my subscription. Then, last night, I took a closer look at the renewal form. And at the little subscription card that fell out of the magazine.

Can you see the problem here?


Click to see full-sized. You may need to click the image again after it opens in a new window.


Jason and I had a good laugh about that last night. Guess I won't be renewing my subscription! I'll just get a new one.

******************

This weekend, for those of you that don't know already, is the Chicago Marathon. I'll be at mile 18 handing out water. You may recall that two years ago the Chicago Marathon made the news for it's record-breaking temperatures and lack of water. Last year they had more than enough water and it was hot yet again. This year, temperatures at the start line are supposed to hover around freezing. Much better weather for those of you that are running. Not so great news for those of us volunteering. I plan to wear my rain boots. Gotta keep those feet dry lest they freeze off!

Normally I don't follow the names of the elite runners. But, after hearing the Chicago Marathon director speak at the running club meeting in September I'm intrigued. Every one talks up volunteering at the aid station by saying that we get to see the elites up close. Looks like I'll get to see a blur of Beijing Olympic Gold Medalist Marathoner Sammy Wanjiru. He's hoping to set a world record.

For anyone else running on Sunday I'll be cheering for you just as hard. With water or Gatordae in my hand.

Elvis is Alive 5K Volunteer Report

Last night Kim and I volunteered to hand out water for PAWS at the Elvis is Alive 5K in downtown Chicago. The race started at 6:45 but, as volunteers, we were supposed to check in at 5PM.

We walked about a mile from our offices to the check in point. It took us awhile to find it because the race organizers didn't really communicate the volunteer tent's location to our volunteer coordinator. After we checked in, we then walked another mile to the actual water station.

We stood around for what felt like a LONG time before the aid station coordinator had us start setting up our tables of water. I'm so glad Kim was there so that I had someone to talk to. The view wasn't bad, either, as we were right on the lake looking out over one of the harbors.



Kim and I took our time and chatted while we poured water and lined up cups on our table. We had the choice to staff a water table or a Gatorade table. I chose water. I had a feeling we'd get kind of wet and while wet was okay with me, sticky was not. And, as Kim said at the end, I chose wisely.

After our cups were filled and lined up, we waited around some more before runners started coming through. While we were waiting, a group of guys came up and started chatting with one of the volunteers. They were all tourists from Australia and London. And they wanted to help out. They provided some great comic relief for us. Probably not so much for the runners, though. But I thought it was cute and hilarious that they were so earnest about it!



Now, with a race name like "Elvis is Alive", you have to expect some running Elvises, right? Well, the race certainly didn't disappoint. Kim and I took turns handing out water and taking photos. Here's a little slideshow of some of the costumed runners we saw:

(If that doesn't work for some reason, hopefully you can view it here.)

There were all kinds of other funny t-shirts, wigs, and people wearing glasses with sideburns attached. Some of the runners even thanked us with a "Thank you. Thank you very much."

Kim and I were at one of the later water tables so by the time most runners got to us they had either grabbed water or had decided they didn't want any. As you can see, we had a LOT of volunteers.





And what do you do with all the water that people don't take at the aid station? You dump it. No, not cup by cup. You dump it table by table.


Cue Hermione Granger: "Is that what my hair looks like from the back??"

The Fleet Feet volunteers took care of all the heavy lifting and the rest of the clean-up leaving us to walk the mile back to the volunteer station and attempt to claim our promised dinners. Sadly, the food was at the back of the beer tent and it appeared they only had ham and turkey sandwiches. For one vegan and one person who wasn't in the mood to fight through a large crowd of sweaty post-race runners, it wasn't the best set up. But, I don't volunteer at races for the perks. I volunteer because I like to give back to the sport that I love. And last night was a great night to do so. Perfect weather, a good friend to chat with, and a nice, laid back race.

Chicago Shamrock Shuffle 8K: Volunteer Report

Nice view, huh? That's what it looked like yesterday morning in Grant Park about an hour before the start of the Shamrock Shuffle 8K race. I woke up Sunday morning around 6 AM to what was practically a blizzard. I've never been more glad that I decided to run the day before instead of after I was done volunteering.

I wasn't running in this race. Instead, I was volunteering to help man gear check. When a race is expecting 30,000+ participants, lots of gear check volunteers is a necessity. All those runners need somewhere to put their bags while they're running. And yesterday, even though apparently less than half the registered runners showed up, plenty of people had bags full of stuff to check. As the runners arrived and stripped down out of their outerwear, they handed it over. My job was to take their bag check number (that matched their bib number), zip-tie or safety-pin it to their bag, and put it in the appropriate box. After the race the runners just had to show us their bib and we would retrieve their bag.



When I first arrived at the tent, the boxes were in chaos. Apparently they had been set up the night before but then the tent had been pummeled with rain and snow and wind. Some boxes were soaked and had to be discarded. Others had been blown from one end of the tent to the other. Our first task was to put them in order by bib number range. When we were finished, there were probably 600 cardboard boxes lined up. We had a short period of down time before runners started arriving and during that time we laughed about how the race organizers were still classifying the race conditions as "Moderate".



Does that look moderate to you? If so, we said, we'd hate to see extreme!

As we got closer to race start time, runners started arriving in droves. Some runners already had their check number attached to their bag. I wanted to hug those runners. Others needed my help figuring out what to do. After an hour of taking my gloves on and off to pin, tie, tear, label, and sort, my hands were officially numb. I'll be honest, I think they were on the verge of frostbite. No one was quite prepared for this weather and although the race organizers gave us food, there was no coffee or hot chocolate in the tent nor were there any heaters. We were COLD.

The stream of runners slowed down as the race started. However, we all stayed in the tent to stay out of the still-falling snow and to eat our "lunch." I guess technically it was brunch since we ate around 9:45 AM. About 20 minutes later runners started straggling back to the gear check to get their warm clothes. Most were soaked, red-faced, and glad to be done. Some stopped by the beer tent first and showed up beer in hand. I watched runners walk by in shorts and tanktops. I watched runners hobbling in the cold. I heard more than one wish for warm socks and dry shoes. I saw runners with cold and tired legs try to navigate the foot tall berm of snow that had accumulated in front of the gear check after falling off the roof of the tent. And yet I still heard lots and lots of thank yous. I've run several races and I have to say that one of the things I'm bad at is thanking the volunteers. However, after yesterday, I'll try my hardest to do so.

There was a steady stream of runners until around 11:15. Afterward I stayed for another 45 minutes helping break down empty boxes. We went from those 600 to probably 10.



When I left to head back home around noon, I noticed an unusual sight:



I hope there's not a runner under there!

Finally, I want to leave you with this video that one of the runners made yesterday while running. It captures the day from a runner's point of view perfectly. Yes, runners and those who come out to support them are a little crazy. But, in the end, it's so much fun.