This past Saturday was the 49th JFK 50 miler. I helped out at an aid station last year which inspired me so much that I've added this race to my bucket list. This year Hank wanted to come along and help out too...except that he hadn't been feeling very good the days prior. So I brought a chair and a wool blanket and bundled him up off to the side so he could watch.
The weather seemed colder this year though the runners seemed to be doing better. The aid station I help at is at the bottom of Weverton Cliffs. The trail down the mountain is pretty technical...add that it's leaf covered and the runners have just run about 14 miles already and you have the potential for injury. Last year folks rolled into our station looking like they had been hit by a car...blood dripping left and right with gashed faces, hands and knees. Seriously hardcore.
We had much less blood this year which was good because I ended up being at the end of the table closest to the first aid stuff which meant I was wiping cuts and applying bandaids to runners who were so cold their fingers couldn't bend.
Several people had icicles on their hats. brrrr! I offered a couple of runners my gloves because they looked so miserable.
Even though the day started off bitterly cold, it really warmed up to be a gorgeous day for a run. So after we closed down and cleaned up, I headed home to go for a little run myself.
The JFK is still on my list, but in the meantime I'm really glad to be able to volunteer for it.
1 comment:
Sounds cold, but really fun to be on the support crew!
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