Ragnar Volunteer this year..Ragnar Runner next year!

Last Saturday I volunteered for Ragnar.  If you do not know about Ragnar it is a 200 mile relay race.  You have a team of 12 people squeezing into two vans and you run from Friday to Saturday.  I have been really interested in it, but I really am not where I feel like I need to be to run three legs of a race adding up to over 18 miles...so I decided to volunteer for some friends that were running it.  Megan, Matt and Sandy were all signed up and they needed 3 volunteers from their team to help out.  Both Becky and myself signed up.  We were hoping to get the same volunteer spot, but it didn't turn out that way.  I ended up signing up for sidewalk duty in Old Town Alexandria.  I showed up at 6:45 am to report for duty.  We had to make sure that all of the runners stayed on the sidewalk.  We also had to "train" our relief at 12:45.  We were shown where we were needed and told no need to set up until around 8:30 because the first group of runners were scheduled to arrive around 9.

I'm all set up for a day of sidewalk duty.  I have a drink, some food, my kindle and a chair.  Both the Kindle and the Chair really came in handy.

Waiting for the first runner in my lovely orange vest.  I really need to start wearing more orange vests..so stylish. 

 

While I was waiting I decided to deface some sidewalks with sidewalk chalk.  One lady did not like my handy-work.  As the lovely older woman was walking by she asked/told me "I'm sure you will be washing that off before you leave?!"  Why yes I will..I think it is going to rain later.  Umm...I think I wrote it in sidewalk chalk and not spray paint. 

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I knew Megan was going to run the leg that had my sidewalk in it.  So I gave her a shout out to give her a little boost in her running shoes.  We knew I would not see her because they were thinking that they were on pace to hit Old Town later in the afternoon. 

Well I settled in to my chair and started to read my book Divergent while I wait for my first runner.  I got to talk to a fair amount of nice Old Town Alexandrians while waiting.  I explained Ragnar to them.  I also enjoyed the fact that many people would read my sidewalk chalk signs and then walk around them as they read them.  I thought that was really nice.  I think I would have just walked over them since they are written in chalk in the middle of the sidewalk, but many people chose to walk around the writing.  Thank you nice people!

I ended up finishing my book while waiting for the first runner to arrive.  It was already getting close to 11:00.  I had to walk to the portapotty.  Since there was no runner in sight, I didn't get someone to hold my spot.  Turned out I missed my first runner at 11.  Yes 11, is when the first runner came by..I woke up at 5am to see a runner at 11!  Come one people, please let me sleep some! 

I didn't miss my second runner though!  This turned out to be the most boring volunteering ever..I saw a total of ten runners during my shift.  I did get a lot of reading and facebooking in though. 

I headed home to let the dog out and eat some lunch and then out to National Harbor to see Megan run in to the finish and cheer on the team!  Every team had different themes.  I loved seeing all of the different outfits!  My favorite had to be The People of Walmart! 

How great is this?  I love it.  I will share some pictures of the team..and some random pictures of the different teams.  I did get to see Becky volunteering.  She was working the Merch tent until 11pm. 

look how happy they look!

 The stories sound like everyone had so much fun.  I will up my mileage this year and run Ragnar next year.  Great job guys!!