What I learned today.....

I was contacted by Joe O'Connor, one of the CMS's race directors, to see if I was interested in helping out at a local race. The race was only 15mins from my house, so of course I said yes. All I had to basically do was keep track of the time of the runners as they came across the finish line.

Real easy to do since we had timers to do so :)

Joe is a 27 time marathon runner. He has run Boston multiple times. And has run a marathon in about 11 different states. Joe, to me, is a god. I admire him like a football fan would admire Tom Brady or a baseball fan would admire Derek Jeter. To me, Joe is one of the best. Just a day before, he was a pacer for runners for the half at Hartford. Amazing!!!

What I learned today:

- Pacers at these big races (like Hartford) run for free. Joe told me that he has run Hartford multiple times but has never paid because he has always been a pacer. He knows some key people at ING that has given him this opportunity.... I want a part of this!!!

- I never realized that the running club was "hired" by local races to keep track of time, or oversee the race results of a race. And the demand was so overwhelming that they actually turned down jobs....wow!.

- Again.... it's a lot of work.

- Race directors, such as Joe, are most likely to receive a time waved voucher for the Boston Marathon. Now, he didn't tell me this, but, I know for a fact that race directors get more points towards a time waved voucher for Boston. CMS gets roughly 20 or so time waived vouchers for Boston in return for their part in volunteering at their races. The more you volunteer, or the bigger part of volunteering you do, the more points you get towards the time waived voucher. I need to get busier!!

- I think what I learned the most today was, that no matter how far a long you are in your running career, no matter how many races you finish, no matter how many medals you get, you have to give back to the sport that gave you what you have earned. There is no greater feeling to me, than watching someone running their first race and seeing the look of satisfaction a they cross that finish line. We all know how that feels. We have all been there.

I was humbled by today's race. I talked to the people that helped put the race together. I saw what it takes. They had a vision, a goal to raise funds for their cause. I'm glad that we were there to help them out to reach their goal. I'm glad we could give back.

I know, I have said this many times before. But if you could give back by volunteering at races, I strongly urge that you do. The satisfaction you get, outweighs any medal you can ever get. Trust me.

Next Saturday, I get to do it again. Joe asked me to help him out at another local race. Since I am experiencing "The Naggles" .... what else am I going to do?

I will be there!!