OC Marathon Section Commander#1 Volunteer Report

The Plan
Just a quick recap concerning my injuries. Back in October when I first hurt my Achilles, that was when I halted my out-of-control race sign-ups. Too bad I was signed up for races clear out to June of this year. But luckily, I have a breaks in May and July. This year has been rough having to get the ailing body to the finishing line without causing additional damage. There has been more rest than actual training. Every time I've felt better, I've had to fight the urge to fill those months. What I've been doing to prevent myself from signing up for races was to volunteer at these races. Thus I was section commander#1 for the OC Marathon. I was in charge of the first 3 aid stations, approximately the first 4 miles of the course.

Getting ready for the action
I got to the starting line at Fashion Island at around 4:30am. Hopped on the cart and drove through the course. It was really dark and I missed the turn at Narcissus Ave. Oops! I eventually got to first aid station at mile 2 and watched them setup. I'm definitely not used to being a commander. All I wanted to do was get out of my cart and help setup. After I checked up on the 3 aid stations, I parked myself near the first aid station. I radioed in that section 1 was ready to go. Shortly thereafter, the race began.

Mile 2 Aid Station

Early Race Action
I got out my camera and took a video of the first runner. Then I tried to find my friends in the sea of humanity. I saw Sam and Jeff running strong. I got pictures of them but really didn't have time to zoom in since they were moving pretty fast.

The half marathon leader approaching the aid station at mile 2.

Later I spotted James, Howard, and Marcia. But I could not get clear pictures of them. It was rather hilarious to see Bert and Ernie out there. Most of the people I spotted were Marathon Maniacs since they really stood out in the crowd with those super bright yellow singlets.

Marathon Maniacs: Silver and another dude

Bert and Ernie!

Mile 4 Aid Station

Impromptu Rescue Missions
There was pretty much no problems except for a few things. Before the race, we had to go pickup keys from a course marshal since her car alarm was going off and they were threatening to tow her car. Then a runner was feeling really nauseous and wanted to drop out of the race. I called it in and a van came rather quickly to pick her up. There was an angry homeowner whose house got trampled on because the portapotty lines were pushing the runners' path onto his lawn. Looks like they will need to put those portapotties somewhere else next time. After my section was cleared, I was told to take the cart to the finish area. No problem! But here was where the fun began!

I drove the course and headed for the finish. This was very very slow since the course was pretty narrow when I got to the bike trails. Sometimes I would have to follow walkers that couldn't hear my loud cart because they were listening to their music. I was fine with that because it's their race. I wanted to hurry up to the finish to watch my friends, but at the same time I didn't want to disturb their race experience. I ended up giving rides to runners that wanted to drop out. I picked up 1 runner while in the Back Bay section and drove her to the medical tent at mile 9. From there I picked up 2 people that wanted to go to the finish area. It took forever to cover those 4 miles. Plus when the roads were finally wide enough for me to drive faster, I got yelled at by a cop that jumped in front of my cart saying that I couldn't do what I was doing since I was driving against oncoming traffic. I told him I was transporting injured runners so he let me go and told me to be careful. Thank you officer, I was.

Once I dropped them off, I had a hard time getting the cart to the return spot near lot F. I finally just drove out of the parking lot at Newport where the half marathoners were entering and went all the way around to the other side using Arlington.

As I was going to checkout at the volunteer area, Sam spotted me. He was with Lori. I took a picture with them and agreed to hang out with them later. Luckily I was able to see some of my friends finish. I'm glad I saw Howard almost break 3:54. I also saw James, Dennis, Rocco, and Deo finish. Dang it, I hate being on the sideline!

James approaching the finish

Dennis approaching the finish, who just ran Boston and Big Sur

Lori and Sam

Dude, Where's My Car?
I met up with Lori and then we went out to find her car. That took us awhile to find it since all she remembered was that it was near some trees, grass, and the shuttle pickup spot. She thought it was in parking lot 1. She was in D1. That was actually fun since I was sitting in a cart for most of the day. We met up with Billy and drove to the Costa Mesa Omelette Parlor. Rachel, Alan, and Sam met us there. It was about a 15 minute wait before we were seated. I had a ribeye steak and eggs... my favorite breakfast food and I didn't even run today. Afterward Lori drove me to Fashion Island to pick up my car. Thus ended a long but fun day with the OC Marathon.

Ribeye, 3 eggs, and potatoes

Other Thoughts
I really really want to sign up for Palos Verdes, but I also really really want to heal up so that I can start working on a BQ. My anterior tibial tendon has been bothering me lately as well as the hip and weak butt muscles. I'm pretty sure that I don't want to volunteer again so soon because it killed me to sit in the cart. As fun as it was, I just wanted to ditch the cart and run a few miles.