Delayed, huge, super slippery

My recap of the weekend was delayed by a very busy work day on Monday, followed by some problems with my webhost this morning.  As expected, the weekend was very memorable.

 On Friday evening we had to finish up stuffing the gift bags and then pack the van AND the truck with all the stuff.  Earlier in the day our neighbor loaded up some of the stuff in his car and then later Friday night our friend Michelle came out and we threw several more boxes in her SUV.  Even with doing that, both of our vehicles were packed with junk.  If we didn’t offload some of those boxes we wouldn’t have been able to deliver everything with one trip.

We got everything ready to go and had intentions of trying to get to bed early since the alarm was set for 4:15 am.  Somehow we still managed to not go to bed until after 10.  When the alarm fired off the next morning it almost seemed surreal, like I was dreaming it was going off.  Nope it was reality.

So I crawl out of bed and start telling Ali to get up.  Both of our asses are dragging but we soon became more energized as the impending excitement of Ali putting on an event she has been planning for 6 months drew nearer.  We were out the door by about 4:45 am and hit the race site almost right at 5:30 am. Two and a half hours should be plenty to do what we had to do, I thought. We pulled up to where the finish line was going to be first, at the Humane Society. Two of the people from the Gulf Coast Runners club were already there to set up the finish line and timing device.  Ali gave them a brief outline of how things should go.  The two of them took off for a quick run.  For some, running becomes so ingrained in their daily activities it is almost like going to the bathroom, if you don’t do it, you feel all backed up.

So while they took off, Ali and I unloaded the food and then went out to the main road to set up signs to direct people for parking.  The layout for the race was admittedly a bit confusing.  The finish line was at the humane society.  The registration area was more than a 1/4 mile south of the finish line at the Civil Air patrol building, the start line was about 1/4 mile further south from there, so the parking signs hopefully would help direct people to the right spot.  As we set them up, we saw the sign Ali had rented to tell people about the road being closed temporarily for the race.  You can see the pictures of it and other stuff here. 

After we posted the signs we went back to the finish area to get all the stuff together for the registration area.  It took awhile to get everything coordinated so we could get down there.  Ali was getting pulled a dozen different ways with questions from various people.  Eventually we got down to the registration area.  When we got there, there was an older guy that met us and immediately he gave the feeling of being rushed and distressed.  We had to get the registration area setup before the runners started showing up.  At the registration area things REALLY got hectic.  Everyone wanted a piece of Ali to ask her what went where and how things were supposed to go.  We just barely got the gift bags all out and the tables set up before the first runners started to already show up, a good 20 minutes before the posted 7am, packet pickup start time.

Well things were really getting crazy.  No sooner did Ali get to throw down the registration lists on the tables and bark out some quick instructions on how stuff should go, than people lined up to sign in.  It was nuts.  Ali actually started to assist in the registration process but I told her that she had to get out of there and set up the water stop and the rest of the course.  She agreed and shot off to get the course ready.

Before we got there, Ali told me she basically wanted me to be the one to get the food all ready to go at the finish, however after she left we had to try to maintain some sort of order to the chaos of a constant stream of runners coming in.  I quickly taped together a box for donations for the Humane Society but had nothing to label it with.  I taped up signs in front of the tables to direct pre-registered runners to one table and day of runners to another.  Unfortunately, once you have a horde of people in front of the tables, you can’t see the signs so they were worthless.

The registration area soon became a beehive of people.  We  had volunteers shouting out which line to stand in for pre-registered runners versus day of race registrants.  We only had two lists of pre-registered people so we only had two people checking runners in, which was not enough.  The pre-registered line was getting 15-20 people deep.  Runners that signed up that day walked up to the other table, that had little to no line, paid their money, got their gift bag and were done, much sooner than the pre-registered people.  It was ass backwards. 

My duties varied during this time, I answered questions, collected donations, shouted out directions and manned the day of registration table.  We had a raffle going on after the race.  After registering, people had to go to a separate table to enter the raffle which seemed inefficient to me as well.  It was a crazy hour or so.  

Another problem became apparent.  The two port-o-potties we had at the registration area were not enough.  Runners always have nervous bladders before a race.  There were huge lines to use the two portable toilets.  We could have used at least four.  Ali had received over 250 pre-registered runners and on top of that we got many more day of registrants than expected.  We were taking checks and money as fast as we could grab them.  People came up right until the very start of the race, and in a couple cases, a few minutes after it started, to participate.

One of the different things about this race was that dogs were allowed to run/walk with their owners.  I couldn’t believe how many people took advantage of it.  I bet over 40 human / dog combos showed up.  All sorts of dogs from tiny to huge signed in.  I was doing rough estimating in my head and with all the walk up runners, Ali had well over 300 people in this event, maybe closer to 350.  That is an AMAZING number to get for a first year race.  All the effort Ali put in to getting the word out had definitely paid off.

Finally the last straggling runner headed down to the start and I had to get to the finish to attend to the food.  I hoped that some of the volunteers at the finish had picked up the slack and started on it.  I hopped in my truck and raced up there.  I was relieved to see they already had all the food set up, albeit not in the location Ali had wanted.  However in retrospect, the spot they chose worked out much better, we had too many runners to cram into the space Ali originally designated.

Very shortly after I got there, the first runner was already coming in to view.  He was all alone and flying.  He covered the 3.75 mile course in just about 20 minutes.  He smoked the rest of the field, winning by almost a full two minutes.  After that, people continued to come in for the next 45 minutes with the last participants walking across the line a little over an hour after the start.

I tried to take a few pictures at the finish but found myself busy maintaining two water jugs to make sure they were filled.  As I was there, the one woman that registered late and barely had time to run down to the start asked me if I remembered her and how she didn’t get a shirt.  I told her I did.  We only had a few shirts left and they were only medium and large sizes.  She opted for a medium that I ran and got for her.  Another late registrant whom had a poodle with her asked if it was too late for her to enter the raffle.  I told her no, I asked her her name.  I found a piece of paper and pen and wrote it down to put in the box.  I found Ali and asked her where the box was.  She said it was locked in Michelle’s car.  What??  Somehow she locked her keys in the car, however they called a locksmith and hoped they would be there shortly.  That made me panic a bit.  This raffle that we promised the runners could not go off without that box.  I waited a bit and when I didn’t see Michelle show up I asked Ali if I should go to the registration area and see how things are going.  She said yes.

The truck and van were blocked in by runners so I hopped on Ali’s mountain bike to ride down there.  Her seat was probably a foot too low for my long legs so I stood and pedaled for most of the distance.  I hauled ass down there only to not see Michelle anywhere.  I got a call from Ali shortly i got fdown there saying Michelle was up at the finish and had the raffle entries, whew.

So I pedal back up as quick as I can.  I see the raffle box and I deposit the entry I wrote for that lady earlier.  The food area is packed with runners just shooting the shit while eating and drinking,  people seem to be enjoying themselves.  Having the dogs around definitely added to the fun.  There is a picture I took of one dog that cooled off by sitting in a big pan of water, it looked so cute.

As Ali was behind the prize table, there were quite a few runners that came up to her and complimented her on the race and how it was run.  They all said pretty much the same thing, usually first year races suck, this one was well attended, well organized and just all around well done.  It really made Ali proud to hear those sort of comments as well it should.    

Then a request was made that the stuff left out on the course gets picked up so me and one of the main human society employees went out in his truck and picked up the few cones and tables that were still out there.  By the time we got back they were done with the raffle already and were on to the awards.  Ali was running the show and handled the mic like a pro.  She was well spoken, funny and just did a fantastic job for someone who never got behind a mic before.  A lot of people bolt after grabbing some chow and drink so there were quite a few people that won awards that were not present.  It’s a normal thing but always a bit of a bummer.  The one guy that wrote in the results had handwriting that was very tough to read so Ali really had to struggle to make out some names.  There also were some mistakes in the results that made for some red faced moments, however all in all they went just fine.  Ali wrapped it up and the remaining crowd quickly dispersed quickly from there.  Ali did it, it was an awesome event that exceeded anyone’s expectations.  Even with the early chaos during registration, it all worked out and we learned things that will make the event run smoother next year.  In total, Ali’s efforts will have generated over 5k for the Humane Society, quite an accomplishment. Thanks to all the hands, clean up was done in less than a half an hour.

There were lots of memorable moments during the race.  When I was at registration, a little girl came up and handed me an envelope.  She said that in the envelope there were donations that they collected for the humane society.  It was at least a couple hundred dollars.  She was so cute.  I thanked her very much and told her I would make sure they got taken care of.  Things were so hectic that I didn’t have as much time as I would have liked to express how awesome of an act I thought that was. 

At the finish line, the first woman across was standing near the table where you turned in your time card.  She was an attractive woman with a typical lean runner’s body.  However as she was standing there she coughed up some mucus that was hanging off her mouth for what seemed forever, it was like and 18 inch stream of mucus, just dangling.  Talk about an unglamourous moment.  Eventually she just spit it out.

The graciousness of many of the runners who thanked Ali and many of the volunteers for putting on a good race was quite satisfying.  People genuinely enjoyed the event. 

Once we got home and unloaded Ali crashed and took a nap for almost four hours.  I initially refused to nap and started working on house chores, however after a couple hours I felt like a zombie and actually laid down for maybe an hour of off and on light napping.  It actually wasn’t too bad getting stuff done, I over estimated the amount of work I would have to do after the race. Quite a few times I told Ali how proud was of her for how she handled the race.

I made up a survey for the web site so runners could tell us what they thought about the race.  Surprisingly, quite a few took the time to go there and answer a few questions.  The response was overwhelmingly positive with the only consistent negative thing being too few port-o-potties at the start.  Ali and I got the results for the race up later that same night.

Sunday morning was surprisingly laid back.  We had stuff to do for the Super Bowl party but since people weren’t going to show until at least 5:30 we had lots of time.  I got to f around in WoW for a good chunk of the morning.  The weather was cool and gray so it was a good day to just stay inside and veg out.  Several times Ali and I commented how it reminded us of a PA day.

Sunday afternoon we got stuff together.  Ali drew up the betting board for the party.  The bets were all the same as last year except for one.  Instead of “Will Jerome Bettis score a touchdown” the bet was “Will the Bears defense score a touchdown?”  We only had four people over (5 if you include little baby Parker).  We invited our neighbors over too.  They have zero interest in sports or football but I figured they could still enjoy the gambling and drinking aspects of the event as well as the funny commercials. Unfortunately they couldn’t make it.

The game itself was really sloppy because of the rain.  Six first half turnovers is unheard of.  It did keep things exciting however.  I drank something like four Zimas and ate like a frickin pig.  I felt disgusting afterward.  For some reason, drinking for me makes me inhale food, I don’t really know why.  Our friends with the baby left around halftime so we watched the rest of the game with the other couple.  One downfall of watching a superbowl while hosting or attending a party is you just don’t get to pay close attention to things.  I missed quite a few commercials or only heard/saw parts of many others.  There were quite a few funny ones I saw, more funny ones that I didn’t see. 

The game itself turned into pretty much of a blowout, more so than the final score indicated.  The Colts dominated time of possession while the Bears offense turned totally inept.  I was glad to see the Colts win for Tony Dungy and Peyton Manning’s sake.  They have had it in the works for a long time.  I have to admit I was a bit turned off when Dungy made some comment along the lines of he was glad to win to show that a Christian coach could get it done.  An odd thing to mention but I guess that was important to him to get out.  Although I always have found it humorous for athletes and coaches to thank God for their victories, as though God gives 2 shits about who wins a sporting event. Eh, whatever. I was the big winner on the betting board, I probably got a 50% return on my $8.50 investment!

So by the time our guests took off and we cleaned up it was after 10:30.  Ali and I both were exhausted and collapsed into bed.  The alarm came way too early Monday morning.  It was a great weekend.  One of the best in a long time.