On May 3rd (hey, I've been busy!) I had the opportunity to volunteer for the Cinco de Miler race in Glendale - a 5k, 5 mile, and 1 mile "Sombrero Shuffle" taking place at Westgate. I decided to opt out of running for once (read: not in the budget) and I wanted more volunteer experience in pursuit of my future job as race director. I chose to be the person on the bike that leads the lead runners on the course, to make sure they know where to go and clear the way so that person can run their best possible race. The race director needed one more volunteer for this job so I talked my father-in-law into it too as he's a pretty experienced cyclist. I would lead the Sombrero Shuffle and 5k, he would lead the 5 mile race.
Before any of the races began, we did get a map briefing of the various courses, but neither one of us had actually gone out to ride the route(s). Now, I have been a participant in many races, but I have never been the lead runner in anything, so I was nervous about getting lost. I asked, "So the course is pretty well-marked, then?"
"Oh yeah, you'll be fine," was the response I received. Nothing to it, right?
The order of events was the Sombrero Shuffle would go first, followed by the 5-milers, followed by the 5k runners. Looks like my navigation skills would be put to the test first. I left my father-in-law behind in case they started the 5-mile while I was out (this ended up not being the case). 7:30am and we were off! The Sombrero Shuffle had a lot of kids in it, so thankfully I didn't have to ride too fast (although the fastest kid was still faster than me as a runner, I think he pulled like a 7 minute mile!). As I was out, many of the volunteers holding signage were still making their way out to their posts. I'd ask them as I was riding by, "Am I still going the right way?" The most common answer was "Yeah", but I get it. You're a volunteer, you had to get up early on a Saturday to spend your day not getting paid and helping other people all morning. I just didn't want to be the one to ruin everyone else's race day.
It was hard to get lost on the 1 mile course, but right after the 1k sign, I came to a junction where I could have gone straight or turned left. I looked for a volunteer, a sign, some kind of indication as to what to do, but I couldn't find anything. I finally saw the miniscule arrow on the ground to turn left as I was riding over it, but I turned and brought the 1-mile race to a close shortly thereafter.
I got back to the start line and warned my father-in-law about the left turn. "There aren't going to be any volunteers there or anything, you just have to turn left at your first left after the 1k sign."
"All right," he said, acting uninterested. The 5 mile race started a few minutes after, and he was off. I stayed behind to lead the 5k.
After a few minutes of race instructions and wisecracks by the race director about me possibly getting lost, I was out riding again with the 5k-ers. Some of these guys are really fast, so I had to be on top of it now. I made my first right turn out of the main avenue of Westgate, and...
...I could see the group of 5 mile runners making another loop of the course. They weren't supposed to be there. My father-in-law had missed the left turn. My heart sank, and I started panicking a little bit.
What can I do? What should I have done? I had the lead 5k guy behind me, coming up fast, and I felt like it was my responsibility to get him to the finish. It's what he came to the race for. So I pedaled furiously through the sea of 5 mile runners. "Lead 5k runner!" "Lead 5k!" "On your left!" I yelled various phrases about 8,000 times to try and get around everyone.
Meanwhile, people are flagging me down, "I call BS! We did an extra loop!" I knew it, they knew it, but I didn't feel as if I could stop what I was doing right then and there. "Let me get this guy to the finish and I'll loop back." Which I did, but I know that probably didn't make anyone feel better.
Both courses up to this point go out to 91st Avenue and head south towards Bethany Home and were to follow a canal path back to the stadium. So far, so good, but that wouldn't last long. I approached the canal and looked for the next sign, the next volunteer, something on the ground to indicate where exactly I should turn off the street and start following the canal path. Again, nothing. The only markers on the course at this time were the cones that lead out to Bethany Home Road, so I followed that. Other runners were running in that direction (although there should have been a turn somewhere for the 5 mile runners to head in a different direction, never did find that either!).
So I end up on Bethany Home Road now, but there aren't any additional cones blocking my lane. I'm just out riding with traffic, and runners are running on the side of a road that isn't blocked off for the race. What the heck?!? To my right, I can see an asphalt canal path. I know that the race director wouldn't have us out running with traffic, but there isn't a curb where I can ride over to the path, so now I have to stop my bike, pick it up, and put myself on the asphalt path.
So now everything's good, right? Not exactly. I'm still on the wrong side of the canal. I can see an actual sidewalk now that I'm on the canal, and I'm pretty sure that's where I'm supposed to be (although I still don't see any volunteers, and I'm already past where the water station would have been, but I didn't see that either). But without a clear indication of where I should be, I kept riding straight until the bridge, crossed the bridge and went back to Westgate. At least the distance should have been right. Problems at this point though are the 5 mile runners are going the same direction. Wherever their second turn was (which I suspect would have been at the missing water station), they didn't take it, and just followed what I had determined would be our 5k course for the day. I was devastated.
At the finish line, I rode up to the race director to try and explain what was going on and get his advice on what to do. "I think there were some problems with the 5 mile course."
"Well there shouldn't have been."
Okay, yes, I understand there shouldn't have been problems. I would like to think you wouldn't have conducted this race knowing there would be problems going in. But there were problems, and I'm just some volunteer who needed a little guidance. There were going to be some annoyed runners at the end of all of this.
"I think the 5 mile runners did an extra loop over there", pointing to the part where the evil left turn was, "and I don't think they went out on the second turn in the canal."
"Just tell the race timer who the lead 5k runner was." He was pissed, and I understand it, but we were led to believe we'd have a pretty well-marked course. It was only well-marked for the first 1k!
My job now is go back out on the course and "sweep" the course for the last runner, tell the water stations they can shut down, etc. But really my job would be to find the correct course, find out if there were any aid stations or runners on it, and try to get everyone safely back to the finish.
Approaching Bethany Home for the second time, there is a volunteer standing near the canal holding a green arrow sign to turn right. "Hey, where were YOU before?" I said half glad, half annoyed. It would have saved me from leading the 5k runners into Bethany Home Road traffic, but hey... I followed her direction, and found where the aid station was (not visible from the road, at least not to me). My father-in-law was there.
The first thing he says when I ride up, "This course is NOT well-marked!"
"No, no, it is not." I briefly relayed my exchange with the director from a few minutes ago. My father-in-law relayed to me about how there were virtually no course markings and no volunteers down the path where the 5 mile runners were supposed to have run. A few runners were on their way back from that direction. The general comments were: "there were no signs", "there's no water", and "we didn't know where to turn around." The lady at the water station just kept apologizing. Oh brother.
I had suspected the race was short on volunteers when I received an email days before the race asking if I "knew anyone else who could help". I also know it's very difficult to find volunteers for almost anything, but I had already asked those I thought would do it; my father-in-law was the only one, and he was already there.
We split up at that point and each did a few more sweeps of the course. Meeting up at the finish line, we compared notes. It was just a poorly marked course if you're on a bike and trying to navigate directions and decisions quickly. I looked at the map several times before we went and while we were there, but they just aren't detailed enough to show you where to go (like the turn onto the canal path). Check out the 5k map to see what I was working with. So, a path that sucks for cyclists can easily become a course that sucks for runners. I know the runners probably think we are idiots, but we honestly did try to do our best job out there. Why else would we go?!
This post is already considerably longer than I intended, but the quickest summary of what I will do when I'm a race director is:
2. Same as above, but having volunteers in place before the race begins, including the aid stations. Having that visual I think would have helped me direct the runners better.
3. Be open to criticism. The answer to problems can't only be, "There shouldn't have been problems."
4. Figure out a way to motivate volunteers. As a runner, I agree it is frustrating to show up to a race and the volunteers don't know the answers to your questions (ex: I didn't know what to tell the guy about running a non-5 mile race) and don't seem to care about figuring it out. I'm not sure what it would have taken to get more volunteers out to this race, but it's something I want to explore more.
5. Have a plan to make it right. If the race still manages to go awry in spite of my awesome planning, I'll need to figure out how to make it right for people so they are willing to come back. Offer their money back, offer another race for free/at a discount, offer some kind of running gear or nutrition... I don't know what would be best, but something. It's the answer I was looking for when I arrived at the finish line and spoke to the race director, something I could tell the runners who I knew were looking to me for answers as well. Even today, I'm not sure what I should have said, but when it's my race, I'll have the power to make that decision.
Before any of the races began, we did get a map briefing of the various courses, but neither one of us had actually gone out to ride the route(s). Now, I have been a participant in many races, but I have never been the lead runner in anything, so I was nervous about getting lost. I asked, "So the course is pretty well-marked, then?"
"Oh yeah, you'll be fine," was the response I received. Nothing to it, right?
The order of events was the Sombrero Shuffle would go first, followed by the 5-milers, followed by the 5k runners. Looks like my navigation skills would be put to the test first. I left my father-in-law behind in case they started the 5-mile while I was out (this ended up not being the case). 7:30am and we were off! The Sombrero Shuffle had a lot of kids in it, so thankfully I didn't have to ride too fast (although the fastest kid was still faster than me as a runner, I think he pulled like a 7 minute mile!). As I was out, many of the volunteers holding signage were still making their way out to their posts. I'd ask them as I was riding by, "Am I still going the right way?" The most common answer was "Yeah", but I get it. You're a volunteer, you had to get up early on a Saturday to spend your day not getting paid and helping other people all morning. I just didn't want to be the one to ruin everyone else's race day.
It was hard to get lost on the 1 mile course, but right after the 1k sign, I came to a junction where I could have gone straight or turned left. I looked for a volunteer, a sign, some kind of indication as to what to do, but I couldn't find anything. I finally saw the miniscule arrow on the ground to turn left as I was riding over it, but I turned and brought the 1-mile race to a close shortly thereafter.
I got back to the start line and warned my father-in-law about the left turn. "There aren't going to be any volunteers there or anything, you just have to turn left at your first left after the 1k sign."
"All right," he said, acting uninterested. The 5 mile race started a few minutes after, and he was off. I stayed behind to lead the 5k.
After a few minutes of race instructions and wisecracks by the race director about me possibly getting lost, I was out riding again with the 5k-ers. Some of these guys are really fast, so I had to be on top of it now. I made my first right turn out of the main avenue of Westgate, and...
...I could see the group of 5 mile runners making another loop of the course. They weren't supposed to be there. My father-in-law had missed the left turn. My heart sank, and I started panicking a little bit.
What can I do? What should I have done? I had the lead 5k guy behind me, coming up fast, and I felt like it was my responsibility to get him to the finish. It's what he came to the race for. So I pedaled furiously through the sea of 5 mile runners. "Lead 5k runner!" "Lead 5k!" "On your left!" I yelled various phrases about 8,000 times to try and get around everyone.
Meanwhile, people are flagging me down, "I call BS! We did an extra loop!" I knew it, they knew it, but I didn't feel as if I could stop what I was doing right then and there. "Let me get this guy to the finish and I'll loop back." Which I did, but I know that probably didn't make anyone feel better.
Both courses up to this point go out to 91st Avenue and head south towards Bethany Home and were to follow a canal path back to the stadium. So far, so good, but that wouldn't last long. I approached the canal and looked for the next sign, the next volunteer, something on the ground to indicate where exactly I should turn off the street and start following the canal path. Again, nothing. The only markers on the course at this time were the cones that lead out to Bethany Home Road, so I followed that. Other runners were running in that direction (although there should have been a turn somewhere for the 5 mile runners to head in a different direction, never did find that either!).
So I end up on Bethany Home Road now, but there aren't any additional cones blocking my lane. I'm just out riding with traffic, and runners are running on the side of a road that isn't blocked off for the race. What the heck?!? To my right, I can see an asphalt canal path. I know that the race director wouldn't have us out running with traffic, but there isn't a curb where I can ride over to the path, so now I have to stop my bike, pick it up, and put myself on the asphalt path.
So now everything's good, right? Not exactly. I'm still on the wrong side of the canal. I can see an actual sidewalk now that I'm on the canal, and I'm pretty sure that's where I'm supposed to be (although I still don't see any volunteers, and I'm already past where the water station would have been, but I didn't see that either). But without a clear indication of where I should be, I kept riding straight until the bridge, crossed the bridge and went back to Westgate. At least the distance should have been right. Problems at this point though are the 5 mile runners are going the same direction. Wherever their second turn was (which I suspect would have been at the missing water station), they didn't take it, and just followed what I had determined would be our 5k course for the day. I was devastated.
At the finish line, I rode up to the race director to try and explain what was going on and get his advice on what to do. "I think there were some problems with the 5 mile course."
"Well there shouldn't have been."
Okay, yes, I understand there shouldn't have been problems. I would like to think you wouldn't have conducted this race knowing there would be problems going in. But there were problems, and I'm just some volunteer who needed a little guidance. There were going to be some annoyed runners at the end of all of this.
"I think the 5 mile runners did an extra loop over there", pointing to the part where the evil left turn was, "and I don't think they went out on the second turn in the canal."
"Just tell the race timer who the lead 5k runner was." He was pissed, and I understand it, but we were led to believe we'd have a pretty well-marked course. It was only well-marked for the first 1k!
My job now is go back out on the course and "sweep" the course for the last runner, tell the water stations they can shut down, etc. But really my job would be to find the correct course, find out if there were any aid stations or runners on it, and try to get everyone safely back to the finish.
Approaching Bethany Home for the second time, there is a volunteer standing near the canal holding a green arrow sign to turn right. "Hey, where were YOU before?" I said half glad, half annoyed. It would have saved me from leading the 5k runners into Bethany Home Road traffic, but hey... I followed her direction, and found where the aid station was (not visible from the road, at least not to me). My father-in-law was there.
The first thing he says when I ride up, "This course is NOT well-marked!"
"No, no, it is not." I briefly relayed my exchange with the director from a few minutes ago. My father-in-law relayed to me about how there were virtually no course markings and no volunteers down the path where the 5 mile runners were supposed to have run. A few runners were on their way back from that direction. The general comments were: "there were no signs", "there's no water", and "we didn't know where to turn around." The lady at the water station just kept apologizing. Oh brother.
I had suspected the race was short on volunteers when I received an email days before the race asking if I "knew anyone else who could help". I also know it's very difficult to find volunteers for almost anything, but I had already asked those I thought would do it; my father-in-law was the only one, and he was already there.
We split up at that point and each did a few more sweeps of the course. Meeting up at the finish line, we compared notes. It was just a poorly marked course if you're on a bike and trying to navigate directions and decisions quickly. I looked at the map several times before we went and while we were there, but they just aren't detailed enough to show you where to go (like the turn onto the canal path). Check out the 5k map to see what I was working with. So, a path that sucks for cyclists can easily become a course that sucks for runners. I know the runners probably think we are idiots, but we honestly did try to do our best job out there. Why else would we go?!
This post is already considerably longer than I intended, but the quickest summary of what I will do when I'm a race director is:
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| Credit to running.competitor.com |
1. Mark the hell out of the course. Chalk arrows, taped arrows, volunteers in place BEFORE the race begins, cones, barriers, anything I can get my hands on.2. Same as above, but having volunteers in place before the race begins, including the aid stations. Having that visual I think would have helped me direct the runners better.
3. Be open to criticism. The answer to problems can't only be, "There shouldn't have been problems."
4. Figure out a way to motivate volunteers. As a runner, I agree it is frustrating to show up to a race and the volunteers don't know the answers to your questions (ex: I didn't know what to tell the guy about running a non-5 mile race) and don't seem to care about figuring it out. I'm not sure what it would have taken to get more volunteers out to this race, but it's something I want to explore more.
5. Have a plan to make it right. If the race still manages to go awry in spite of my awesome planning, I'll need to figure out how to make it right for people so they are willing to come back. Offer their money back, offer another race for free/at a discount, offer some kind of running gear or nutrition... I don't know what would be best, but something. It's the answer I was looking for when I arrived at the finish line and spoke to the race director, something I could tell the runners who I knew were looking to me for answers as well. Even today, I'm not sure what I should have said, but when it's my race, I'll have the power to make that decision.
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