Route 66 5K and Fun Run - Volunteer Edition

Well, the Route 66 5K and Fun Run is in the books.

The weather cooperated - right up until the start of the race.

We volunteers showed up around 7am for the 8am starting gun and quickly got to work hanging medals and heat sheets, moving barricades and directing traffic. This year the medals didn't come wrapped in plastic - trying to be more green - and a team of us made quick work out of hanging the 5K and Fun Run Finisher's medals.

The Medals and Heat Sheets

About 20 minutes before the start of the race, the crowd of runners began to gather in the chute, and the weather was (so far) cooperating - the rain seemed to be staying to the east of us as the storm front moved across Tulsa.

The runners begin to queue up

Then, with about five minutes until the starting gun, the sky started to spit on us. Everyone was in such good spirits, though, that it hardly seemed to make a difference. With five minutes to go, we heard a beautiful rendition of the National Anthem, then came the final countdown and the starting gun, and the runners were off!

Five minutes to go...

Then the rain started coming down, very lightly at first. As the runners started cross the finish line, the rain became heavier. One of the first runners to cross vomited just past the finish line, and it became my job for the rest of the morning to keep runners and walkers from plodding through the mess. Sorry, no picture of that... ;) I ended up soaking wet because it was so busy for a while there, I completely forgot to put on my rain poncho until after I was pretty much soaked to the bone.

This year's medals were very nice indeed:

Fun Run Finisher's Medal

5K Finisher's Medal

And the Volunteer Coin wasn't too shabby, either:

Now it's time to dry off and get some rest - I'll be right back out there tomorrow working the finish line for the Marathon.

A special congrats to Sarah at @RunGingerRunBlog and her Hubbo, Cindy Decker and Ms. Kate, as well as the many others who completed the Route 66 5K and Fun Run today!