I Just Love Run{ning}
My recap of the Philly Love Run
The Love Run is a half marathon and 7k that's run in Philly, usually in the middle of the spring.
It's usually cold, as is the case for March in the Tri-State area. The course runs through the city before heading down (or is it out) Kelly Drive, winding through the outskirts of the city before finally finishing right in front of the Art Museum steps.
It's a nice course, with only a few hills sprinkled in throughout the second half of the race. If you get decent weather (mid-40's) you can certainly pop a good race and come away with a personal best.
Finding Work
CGI, the company that puts on the race posted on their social media account for people looking to work the race. Since I'm not coaching for the school, I thought it would be a great opportunity to scratch an itch of being around runners.
Weekend
As most of you know, Saturday was a wash. If you race the Phillies 5k, they basically turned it into a swim 5k.
That didn't stop ANYONE at the Love Run. There was so much work to be done. From making snack packs, to flag setups, packing vans, unloading trucks, staging finish line chutes, prepping stations, the list just kept coming.
Luckily, as a small peon in the grand scheme of the Love Run, I spent only a fraction of my day in the elements. I spent most of it making post-race snack packs for the 11,000+ runners.
That was the better part of Saturday. After an early release and time to recoup in the hotel, we had dinner at 6:30 where we discussed the plan and goals for race morning.
Race Day
After a 2 am wakeup and a 3 am arrival at the course, I spent the majority of the cold, dark morning setting up everything that didn't get set up Saturday in the rain.
This included unboxing and unwrapping heat sheets - which I incorrectly guessed what they were, then repeatedly incorrectly called them something else for hours. To me, heat sheets are a track and field term for what heat you're in. A heat sheet for a road race is a shiny metallic blanket used to keep shivering runners warm.
After heat sheets, we moved to scrim - another word I had no idea was a word... I hung scrim, which is the fabric that lines the finish line chute - the stuff with all the different race logos on it. That stuff. It's called scrim. 800 meters on one side, 800 meters on the other side. Zip-tying each eyelet, with gloves on.
Next came the medals and any last-minute setup of the finish line. Keep in mind, that I was one small cog in the race wheel. There were teams to set up the start line, others to get the water stations ready, and others doing all sorts of other jobs I had no idea what they were.
After that, it was finally race time. The sun had finally risen above the buildings and my gosh did that sun feel good! The racers left at 7:30 and there was about 20 or so minutes where it was calm and there wasn't a lot to do. Just before 8 am the fast 7k runners started trickling in, then more and more and more before the 70 minute mark when the first of the half marathoners started to arrive.
From there, the floodgates opened and runners from both races were pouring into the finish line, just as the rain had poured relentlessly the day before.
Luckily, we had great finish-line volunteers handing out medals. I spent the better part of 2 hours saying the same thing: "Congrats on finishing. Medals are this way. Move on to get heat sheets and food". For hours! My voice, as you can imagine, took a beating.
Post-Race
After every single runner finished, it was time to turn Philly's Eakin's Oval back into what it was 48 hours prior. Every fence, water station, bag of trash, the start line AND the finish line all needed to be packed back into the vans and trucks they came to town in.
We spent the next few hours moving, shrink-wrapping, and loading the huge trucks so they could sorted and shipped to the next race CGI puts on.
It was a sight and I still can't believe how much stuff was required. I really just never thought about it until I saw it firsthand.
Final Thoughts
I had often criticized the pricing structure of bigger road races. I knew they had to close the streets and pay for police, etc. But I never thought about the sheer amount of people that it required to put on a city race.
I'm finally at a place of understanding that yes, a road race of that magnitude has to be as expensive as it is.
Besides the cost of putting on a race like this, I was very impressed with the crew of people who put on the race. They were great people. Not just good at putting on races, but also, just really kind, committed, caring people.
I really appreciated how big of an operation this was and how, even at 3 pm on Sunday, after every runner had crossed and the entire course was almost broken down, they were still chipper, happy, and were working right alongside the rest of us.
To me, that shows a lot.
So if you're ever complaining about a road race's prices, which I now will not ever again, consider signing up to work a race. You don't necessarily have to do it as a volunteer, they often pay, but spend some time on the other side.
On the Blog:
Common Mistakes Made on Race Race Day
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