I can barely keep my eyes open as I write this...and it's only 8:50 p.m.! Today was quite eventful. The day kicked off with me hailing a cab at 3:45 a.m. to make it to the New York Public Library by 4. True to it's reputation as the "city that never sleeps," Manhattan was bustling at that ungodly hour, with many people milling about the many bars in our neighborhood alone. I made it to the Library in time to meet my co-workers and about 200 volunteers who showed up (gotta give them so much credit for being there...without the lure of a paycheck!) to help out at the start. The buses eventually rolled out to Fort Wadsworth in Staten Island, where we were greeted by colder temperatures, an eerie, thick fog, and weak coffee. After wandering around aimlessly for a bit, we finally found the rest of the volunteers who were assigned the information-giver duty and my manager briefed them on the FAQs. Little did these unsuspecting volunteers know that marathoners are quite the inquisitive bunch. I don't think they knew what they were in for as nearly 40,000 runners arrived in droves between 6 and 10 a.m. My main responsibility was to oversee the volunteers in the orange corral (the runners were divided into three start areas, designated by color), and I was lucky to have some very smart folks in my crew, making my job pretty easy. I mostly walked around to various areas within the corral, answering questions as needed but more importantly making sure the runers were as well informed as possible.
A little after 10, I took two of the volunteers (a mother-daughter team from Staten Island) onto the Verrazano Bridge, where we, like spectators at a parade, watched the runners stream by to their starting position. I kicked myself a few times for not having my camera as there were many picture-worthy sights, like a group of guys running in rhino (yes, rhinos--the big, spiny animals) costumes, or the man in full drag..fake, um, chest and butt included. We then watched the official start, where the professional men, leading a massive pack, took off just after Mayor Bloomberg and Mary Wittenberg offered spirited parting remarks. Although I got a glance at Paul Tergat taking his first steps en route to his victory 2 hours and 9 minutes later, unfortunately that's all I saw of the elite group. After all, I was there to "work," so we weren't able to catch any more of the race.
Later on, we returned to Central Park West, where I just roamed around observing the Family Reunion area (where runners can meet their family members). Mark (on his bike) joined me there and we had fun just watching all of the runners staggering about with their telltale mylar blankets as we headed to his office before eventually coming home.
Above is a picture of the start (not mine)...maybe next year I'll be in that crowd!
No comments:
Post a Comment