Sunday, June 10, 2012

Gatorade here! Water's around the corner.

Repeat after me: Gatorade (water's around the corner)! Looking good! You got this! Awesome job! Go runner go!

I volunteered at my first race this weekend! Six of my new best friends from the DetermiNation team and I arrived at 5:45 in the MORNING in Highland Park. It took the better part of two hours to set up all the tables, mix the Gatorade (water's around the corner), pour it into cups, stack the cups three layers high, and explain to the mysterious Mexican housekeepers what we were doing. None of us had ever volunteered at a race before, despite the nearly 100 races between us.

And it freakin rocked! It was so exciting! It was so messy! It was so hot today! There were so many people! There are not enough exclamation points!!!!!!!

But seriously.

hee hee

It's hard to explain why I had so much fun. A big part of it was the simple fact that we were volunteering. I had forgotten how freeing it is to volunteer. I mean, they can't fire you, so just have fun, right? And it was DetermiNation, so, it was already supporting a cause I love. And the people who came out to help were hysterical. Everyone had that "all hands on deck" attitude that really makes life easier and more fun. We told jokes, we were a little slap-happy from the heat and early hour and lack of coffee and abundance of sports-enhancing beverage (water's around the corner).

And dirty. Did I mention that? I've spent the day in the zoo and felt much cleaner than in the 3 hours people were sweating and spilling and spitting on my legs (Note to self: buy more exfoliant).

There's also the part where I was thanked about 3,000 times in one day. And the boost I could see occasionally when I told people they "got this" and they believed me for an instant. Being encouraging to complete strangers for 3 hours straight definitely put me in an amazing mood. And a tired one. There might be more about this later. Especially the Ichi-go, ichi-eness of the whole thing.

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