volunteer duty...

yesterday was my second triathlon. well, my second triathlon experience. my first was the father's day triathlon i completed just a month ago. my second was as volunteer for the denver danskin triathlon...

i decided to volunteer for the race for several reasons. one, i sincerely appreciated the volunteers at the boulder sprint tri and their water-bearing cheerfulness. two, my incredible friend greenfish was participating - in her very first triathlon - and i wanted to be there to offer moral support. and three, the race supports breast cancer research - a cause i am enthusiastically behind...

i was originally assigned to the finish line, which meant passing out water, draping medals over finishers' heads, and snipping off timing chips. as the first winner came nearer and nearer the finish line, though, more and more volunteers showed up for the finish - clogging the area even before any of the 2,300 athletes crossed the line.

in a fit of wisdom, the organizers decided to relocate a few of us to points along the run course. it was a sweltering, cloudless day (temperatures hovered near or over 100 degrees for most of the day), and the fear of dehydration convinced the organizers to locate volunteers at points along the run course in case there were any emergency situations. armed with only a couple gallons of water, i stood in the same spot on the shadeless out-and-back course - one mile from the finish - for four hours, until the last of the participants had passed...

it was an amazing experience. yes, it was warm, but it was nothing compared to the gratitude expressed by so many of the athletes. i can be a fairly emotional person, and watching as each woman ran or walked by both out and back - either for themselves or in honor of another, to prove they could make it or to improve on a previous result - i felt a tremendous amount of respect for the race, for the event, and for every woman who passed. and while i'm not exactly an out-going, rah-rah type guy, i gave encouragement to as many of the 2,300 finishers as i could. because with a mile left, i was the last red shirt they'd see until the finish line...

i'll never forget the appreciation in the looks of so many faces. i'll never forget the smile on greenfish's face as she ran by on the way out and the way in. and i'll certainly volunteer again...

and speaking of greenfish... i won't steal her thunder by posting her results. but i will say that i was incredibly proud of her as she ran by, grinning from ear-to-ear. i knew she could do it. but i don't think i expected (nor did she) that she'd do as well as she did. while i was standing at my post, i heard the din of the names of the finishers as they crossed the line all morning - and just a din as all the names were foreign. but when greenfish crossed i heard her name clear as a bell - and a big fat grin broke across my face...