A different perspective...

I volunteered at the SOMA triathlon this weekend. I was the Run Course Coordinator, which means that I oversaw the run course from set up to tear down and everything in between. I made sure the volunteers were doing what they were supposed to. I kept the stations stocked (or tried to). And let me tell you, I have a whole new respect for what it takes to put on a race. It was overwhelming! I started my day at 4:30 am when the alarm went off. We left the house at 5 am, arrived in Tempe by 5:30 am. I kissed Dan good-bye and went to check in at the volunteer tent. I received my swag bag (some goodies collected for me by the Volunteer Coordinator) and my portable radio. I was told to check back in at 7 am to collect my run pointers. So at 6 am I started my run around the course which I was counting as my RP run for the week. I ran the course making sure that the supplies were dropped off at the Aid Station locations and to look for any potentially confusing areas where pointers might be needed. The whole time I was running, I was listening to the chaos going on over the radio. Some boat wasn't working... they were debating on delaying the start. The bike course set-up wasn't complete. The cones still needed to be dropped and the aid stations set up. It made it really easy for me to run my target pace cause the adrenaline was flowing! When I got back to the volunteer tent, I encountered my first problem. Volunteers came to check in. Looks like we've got you down for 15 people, I say, as I'm looking at the 2 folks in front of me. Well, they reply, we were asked if we wanted to be part of a group of 15 pointers... but we didn't bring people with us. So instead of 15 pointers.... I had 2. Hmmm. Not really going to work. VC rounded up a few more people so I started with 8. Placed them, went back for my bike and swept the course. No major problems. Got back to transition and was given another pointer to put on the course so as I was taking her (OMG I had to drive this huge golf cart thing on the course! I so thought I was going to roll it on multiple occasions!) to her spot, we drive past this aid station that is in utter chaos! Everything was completely out of control! So instead of dropping her off, she and I spent a better part of two hours getting this station under control. Setting up barricades on the course to direct traffic and helping to get trash pick up started. It was a nightmare. Once that was under control things went pretty smoothly till it got toward the end of the day. Stations began to run out of supplies. And though a majority of athletes were done, we still had some out on the course who needed water and Gatorade. We ran out of cups so we had to distribute bottles of water to the stations to hand out. (Note: I was not in charge of ordering supplies!!) Overall it was a good day. I only saw Dan once for about 2 seconds during the run when I was trying to clean up the disaster at the aid station. He had a good race and is ready for Ironman in less than 4 weeks. After the race was over, we went home, unpacked, showered, ordered pizza (mmmmm), and went to bed. I think I was asleep before 7.

On another note: Training is going good. Last week was recovery week, so my long run on Saturday was only 10 miles. I ran each mile progressively faster with my last 4 miles at race pace. Sunday- race pace was 6 miles at 7:55 pace. OK, that was slightly faster than race pace, but I blame the adrenaline. Monday- 5 mile easy recovery run, followed by core program, followed by swim. Today- 8 mile tempo run as follows: 2 mile warm-up, 4 miles tempo, 2 miles cool-down. My first tempo mile was 7:38 (there was a reason but it's a long explanation), 2nd- 7:12, 3rd- 7:19, 4th- 7:19. So not too shabby. Tomorrow I've got another recovery run and then it's track workout Thursday!