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I Feel Like I Ran a Marathon!!!

But I didn't...

This is what I did instead!!!
Our stack of cups!
This post is not to diminish what marathoners do... If anyone knows what it takes to run a marathon, I can
tell you I am an expert. Well sort of. Being a slow marathoner, I can tell you the six plus hours I spent on my feet running my first marathon (I'm still saying first, meaning there must be another in me) was no easy feat. Two years ago I ran Columbus and I still felt the need to be part of another race even though I am in no shape to run one these days, nor do I want to. What I did instead is got suckered into about 14 hours of volunteering at the Chicago Marathon Expo and at a water station during the race.

My good friend Ericc (who volunteered over 30 hours this weekend in support of the Chicago Marathon) called me up and asked me if I was going to be in town this weekend. I didn't have plans of it but when he told me he was volunteering and told me I should too, I quickly signed up. Janell and my mom jumped on the band wagon as well and next thing I knew I was signed up to hand out t-shirts and work at the water station.

I was impressed by the operation of putting on such an event. There were over 40,000 runners and about 14,000 volunteers, not to mention all the staff and police, US marshals, security and spectators flooding the streets of Chicago this weekend. I got to be one of the over 1,500,000 people hanging out in Chicago for this amazing event.

Me and Janell in front of our cup art.
I do have to give a huge shout out to all the volunteers. Wow, they put all of their energy into trying to create the most positive experience for every runner on the course...

Anyway, Ericc and I got back to my parents' house after volunteering today and promptly sat down in the family room to visit with my dad. Both of us had been up for several hours, likely earlier than many marathoners, and volunteered for endless hours to ensure the runners had the event of their lives. We were on our feet for over 8 hours each. When my mom came to the family room to tell us dinner was ready, we both got out of our chairs and started hobbling up the stairs and I promptly turned to Ericc and said, I feel like I ran a marathon today. He agreed.

The effort every person put into today's event, including the endless hours of training the marathoners did to complete 26.2 miles in one day, is to be celebrated. What better way to celebrate than to congratulate each and every person who took part in this event.

I knew I was an expert slow runner and an expert spectator... Now I can add expert water station volunteer to the resume.

And at the end of the day, regardless of what I did, I will probably always be able to say: I feel like I ran a Marathon!!!

Congratulations to all of you who ran your hearts out today! You got me excited to try a marathon again, but not for a couple of years...


Comments

  1. Nita SweeneyOctober 14, 2013 at 11:23 AM

    Congratulations on your Vola-thon! And thank you for your service.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Angie BradyOctober 21, 2013 at 10:25 AM

    Yes, it was a great day in downtown Chicago.

    ReplyDelete

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