This past Sunday the whole Red Dirt Lovers clan participated in the Birch Bay Marathon. Chad ran the marathon, all 26.2 miles. He did so without ever walking, although, he did stop to talk to us for a minute or two as the rest of us manned an aid station.
Our volunteering for the marathon actually started on Saturday. Joel put on the Birch Bay marathon and half marathon race (for those of you who have short term memory loss Joel is Jessica's running coach). Joel was a bit stressed, and we, being the good people that we are, decided to help Joel out. So Saturday morning we drove to Birch Bay and helped Joel with the packet pick up. Then drove back out the next morning for the race. Since Joel was stressed we headed right on out to the Sandcastle Hotel to meet up with him. No one was there. Come to find out everyone was meeting at two to get things ready. Joel forgot to mention that so we had to fill up two hours with eating and sight seeing.
Saturday night while handing out packets a man came up to Chad and asked him if he had run the race for the shirt he was wearing. Chad looked down and saw that he was wearing his Mother Road 100 race shirt. Chad told him yes and come to find out that the man had run the race as well. We found his name on the the back of the shirt and Chad had him sign and date his shirt. Mr. Shaw is marathoning his way through all 50 states. Jess took a picture of the two of them.
Sunday morning Chad helped us set up our aid station which supported both the marathon and half marathon runners. Then I drove him to the starting line three miles away, with five minutes to spare, before the gun went off.
Saturday it rained all day and Chad was really hoping that it would quit before Sunday. It did and the weather was perfect for the runners. Not so much for the volunteers. It was in the low 40's that day and we froze. It didn't help that the wind was blowing either. Hats, gloves, layers of clothes, coats...it didn't matter we froze! It was our job to fill the cups with water or Gatorade and have them ready for the runners. We also picked up the trash, handed out the GU and held on to the clothing that the runners were throwing off from being too hot. If only the kids and I had that problem. The kids kept asking to go sit in the truck and I kept telling them no. I finally relented and sat in there myself. We would trade off every 15 minutes or so.
Our aid station was located at an intersection where the marathoners would pass us three times and the half marathoners would pass us twice. We were considered the first and last aid station. Anyway, since we were at an intersection we had people directing traffic. Hopper was the guy on our intersection directing traffic. If you don't know who Hopper is check out my previous post. Hopper took his job seriously and stood out there the whole time along with a sheriff. They had to be freezing. The sheriff didn't even wear a hat. Anyway, towards the middle to the end of race when there was a space between runners, Hopper would come over and visit. We had a good time talking to him and it made the time go by faster. He is very open about his past issues. He doesn't hide it and was willing to answer all of our questions about his injury and drug use. He loves wrestling, which you could see on his face as he put Noah into a Full Nelson. He got a kick out of how the kids pronounced "wrast-ling" and would laugh when they would say it. We also got to meet Paige who is Hopper and Joel's sister. Jess teamed up with her Saturday evening to hand out the men's marathon packets. I think they did more talking and laughing then anything else.
Saturday, while waiting for Joel to show up, we met Joe Gray, who was running the half marathon. We found out Joe attended Oklahoma State University and ran for them a bit so I liked him instantly. We were able to see him fly by us early on and got to see him towards the end of his run as well. I swear his legs were longer then Jessica. Joe set a course record with a time of 1:09:41. That is a 5:19 mile pace, which, for 13.1 miles is just amazing to me. I could totally do it!
Then we met 78 year old, Mel Preedy. He has been running the Birch Bay Marathon for the past 20 years, not the half marathon but the full 26.2 miles. His first year he ran Birch Bay he won the race. Not so these days. His body not being what it used to be he more waddled then ran the 26.2. He took the early start and by the time he finished the other runners had already left and the finish line and timer were gone. But, he completed the race none the less, 7:43:50. We chose to stay at our aid station until he passed us then went to cheer him on as he finished. Mel already had other marathons lined up for the coming months.
Ryan wants to run the half marathon next year. I told her I would run it with her. The thing is I love volunteering for things like this. The different people that you meet are inspiring and make you want to get out and run. But, if I just showed up to the race and ran I wouldn't get all the fun and inspiring stories that I hear when I do volunteer.
Oh, I forgot to mention. Chad's time was four minutes off of his qualifying time for Boston. He shouldn't have stopped to talk!
PS. when Jess gets the pictures all spruced up I will post them.
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