volunteering observations ...

Yesterday morning, I woke up at 4 a.m. by choice. It wasn't because one of my kids was screaming my name. Or because I was headed out to log some miles. It wasn't even to savor the quiet and alone time I could get at that hour of the day.

No, instead, I was waking up at 4 a.m. to volunteer at the I Love the Tavern Triathlon - my first race volunteering experience. (Well, other then the Penn Relays - I used to work in media relations for that event.) I always wanted to volunteer, but it never seemed to work out. Either training got in the way. Or racing. Or J's work schedule. Or an inability to convince J that it would be fun to hang solo with the girls all day.

But, finally, the stars aligned. And it was awesome. I would highly recommend that if you've ever raced or even considered racing, that you volunteer to work an event. It will make you appreciate all the hard work that goes into your "race experience."

Personally, I learned more than just that though. Like ...

• G and I can have fun no matter what time it is.
• "Body Marking" does not suck. Triathletes are some fit individuals.
• I have really good handwriting. If you need well-written numbers on your arms, I'm your woman.
• I have serious bike envy.
• You can never have enough volunteers. If nothing else, they can stand and cheer for every athlete. Especially the ones who left their posse at home on race morning.
• Be prepared to give up your sneakers. Elusive Dave (volunteer coordinator extraordinaire for Richmond Multisports) handed his over to a racer who couldn't find his when it was time for the run.
• G and I make "red shirts" look good.
• Standing in one spot for three hours and cheering for every last racer is the perfect opportunity for calf raises and other various isometric exercises.
• A good leader makes all the difference.
• The part of the triathlon that makes me cringe the most is the barefoot run from the swim to transition.
• I can do things I never thought possible. Like lift my arm over my head.
• Some people are way more body confident than I.
• Some guys shave more of their body than I do.
• People have a fascination with my socks. A dozen people must have asked me about them.
• I now know what outfits "work" and "don't work" while racing.
• Seeing someone crash their bike, takes me back to the very instant when I crashed mine.
• Working the race gets you "insider information," such as race dates for new 70.3 races in Richmond (may have found my 2012 70.3 goal race. Just saying.)
• Some people volunteer only for the food.
• Little kids cheering for their parents, or running with them through the finish chute, will always make me cry.
• I want 70.3 bad.

Have you volunteered before? What are you waiting for?

Be sure to enter my NYC Marathon Raffle HERE. There are still 15 prizes to be won and the next three winners will be selected on Friday.

Cubs on the Run ...

You may or may not realize this, but I have a hard time saying no. I am confident in my abilities and I often take on more things than I should. Usually, everything gets done and we all walk away in one piece, but sometimes that just isn't the case.

At this current moment of time, I have the following OFFICIAL titles:

• Full-Time Stay-At-Home Mom (and all of the zillion non classified titles that come with that)
• Small Business Owner - TMB Endurance Training and TMB Endurance Bands
• Marathoner
• Vice President of Licensing for Ashland Community Preschool

It's a lot. And J works long hours and travels, so I don't always have a support team in place. I'm not complaining. I like our chaos. But with that said, I was PLANNING on saying NO to anything else that came my way.

Well, that was the plan. Until a notice was sent home from Dizzle's school. It was a request for parent volunteers. Parent volunteers who like to run. (You can see where this is going, right?)

HOW COULD I SAY NO?

Here's the deal. Dizzle's school is launching a running program called "Cubs on the Run." It's objective is to get kids moving. To show them that running for fitness can be fun. That running is not another sport's punishment. (Did I mention how I COULDN'T say no?)

I tried not to get involved. I really did. I even called G to have her remind me that I already had TOO MUCH going on. (She failed to do that and told me to volunteer.)

So, I ended up volunteering and Dizzle joined the group (as if she really had a choice in the matter.) This morning was the first session. And can I just say that it was SO MUCH FUN?

The group is small. There are only 12 children in the program. But every last one of them was so excited to be there. We started by walking a few warm-up laps and then let the kids see how many laps they could run in six minutes. Dizzle, the youngest in the group, finished 4.5 (just shy of half a mile) while some of the older children ran 6 or 7. We hope that we can repeat this exercise at the end of the four weeks to show the kids how their hard work has paid off.

You know, I'm kind of happy I didn't say no ...