Run to Win

The Maine Marathon is next Sunday on October 4^th, and volunteers are still needed! It’s a big undertaking for one of Maine’s showcase events, so if you have some extra time and can help out you should head into Portland.

Volunteers will be given a T-Shirt and a coupon to attend a 2010 Portland Sea Dog’s baseball game, and all volunteers will be entered into a drawing for 1 of 25 Peak Performance gift certificates that will be raffled off.

If you’d like to volunteer, you can see what volunteer positions are still required and can sign up by visiting this page:
http://www.doitsports.com/volunteer/jobs-by-date.tcl?event_id=159487

(Don’t forget, Atayne will be doing a trash run as well if that is more your style.)

This past weekend, I was unable to run the Beach to Beacon due to the slight problem of having just broken my foot.

Fortunately for me, that meant that I was able to volunteer and see the race from a different perspective.

I decided to volunteer with the folks from Atayne at the finish line for 3 reasons:

1. I like Atayne‘s environmental philosophy and thought it would be good to help them out.
2. My 11 year-old niece was already signed up to help out at the finish line and this allowed me to spend more time with her (and coincidentally simplified our pre-race travel arrangements.)
3. I had a broken foot and if I was able to run with the trash runners behind the race I probably would have just competed in the actual race!

Surprisingly, the morning started out pretty well, with my niece and both nephews not needing too much coaxing to wake up and get moving. We were out the door around the time I wanted to be leaving and arrived in plenty of time at Fort Williams Park, where I hobbled around on my crutch with Morgan.

We met up with Becca Darr from Atayne, who filled us in on what we would be expected to do today:
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This morning, I wrote about some of the difficulties that marathons face when considering their environmental impact. It can cost thousands of dollars more to go green than to not worry about such things.

Another difficulty marathon directors face is finding the manpower to take care of all the tasks that need to be done on race day. A marathon such as the Maine Marathon relies on over 600 volunteers to support the runners, although many of those 600 also run the race themselves.

As of the last count, there are over 130 volunteer slots yet to be filled this weekend.

If you have a little spare time and want to give back to your local community, sign up to volunteer for one of the needed positions.

There are 3 areas that currently have the largest needs.
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Thinking of running in the New York City Marathon, but don’t want to wait for the lottery to find out if you get to run? If you belong to the New York Road Runners, then you may be used to obtaining a guaranteed entry by competing in at least 9 of the 50 events put on by NYRR each year.

This year, if you want to qualify for the 2009 New York Marathon, then you will also have to volunteer for at least one of the 50 other events that NYRR puts on.

The volunteer requirement was initiated in 2008 to support NYRR’s community service mission and our goal of encouraging volunteerism among our members. In addition, adding to our corps of race volunteers will help NYRR meet the NYC Parks and Recreation Department requirement to ensure a safe and cooperative race environment at the more than 50 events NYRR stages each year.

I think that this is a great change. Volunteering at races is a lot of fun, and perhaps by exposing people to the joys of being involved in the other side of the race they will be able to recruit some new folks to regularly help out at events.

And if people don’t feel like volunteering and resent this new requirement? They still have options. They can always try to get into the race through the normal lottery system. They can also try to run the qualifying standard for guaranteed entry before they register, which at the moment stands between 2:55:00 and 4:13:00 depending upon your age and gender. There are also charity options for guaranteed entry.

I ran the marathon in 2006, and I really enjoyed almost everything about the race. The NYRR put on a good event.

(Further Reading: NYRR Member Requirements – General Requirements & Application)

The Mount Washington Road Race is so popular that it requires a lottery to be allowed to participate. There is only one hill in the entire race, but that hill is over seven and a half miles long and climbs around 5000 feet. The lottery has been open since the beginning of March, and closes on the 15th. If you want to have a chance to run, then you need to register by Thursday. And seriously, who wouldn’t want to run up to the highest point in the northeast at 6,288 feet? With an average 11.2% incline over the entire course? Battling unpredictable winds? With only about 1000 other runners?
(Click here to continue reading…)