5k Mud Run Marshalling

Most of the team congregated Friday evening for the 5k Mud Run starting at Brown's Island.  I was not allowed to participate as a runner as I'm supposed to cover myself in bubble wrap and sit very quietly on the couch until Saturday at 7am central time.

The race was not well-organized.  Packet pickup was only offered same day, which was crazy AND we had a nice rainstorm in the middle of the day, so this caused some extra problems.  The lines were HUGE and did not move.  Thanks to the rain and the threat of a thunderstorm, a lot of volunteers bailed, so everything was understaffed.

I left the team at 5:30 to get to my marshalling spot, which was supposed to be in a field on Belle Isle, where I couldn't get into any trouble at all.  Did I mention that a lot of volunteers bailed?  The coordinator could man only the most critical positions.  I got reassigned to the rock hop portion of the course.  The EMTs followed me there and didn't budge - they knew if anyone was going to require aid, it was going to be here.

I had a great time, trying to convince people that the slimy route was much better than the jump over the crevasse of death.  I've been told I was small and loud.  Whatever.  I did my job and tried to wind up the runners and remind them that this was supposed to be fun for them.  J9 was kicking ass running in a wedding dress, complete with veil.  I'm very sorry that I did not get to see the wedding dress in the mud pit.  Bike Coach, Saint and The Brit came through my race spot shortly after J9 and I snapped a couple of very quick pics before they were off (down the slimy route at my behest).  After that, I couldn't wait for people to get by my spot so that I could run back (gently, no ankle twisting here) and perhaps get to see my peeps finish or at least in their muddy best.

Sadly, but the time I made it back to Brown's Island, everyone was in the middle of changing.  All I got to do was embarrass J9 (I didn't see anything) and snap some more pics.  FYI, the Fuji waterproof digital camera is awful.  We bought it at Costco on Thursday and are returning it today.  Huge delay between snapping a pic and it actually taking.  It would only work for the pictures my Mom takes (gravestones and empty fields where civil war battles once raged).  It'd be really good for pictures of dead people.  Fortunately, we had none of those on the race.  Unfortunately, the race pics are not good.  I can live with that.

One beer later, we had a lovely time.