Now that the Route 66 Marathon Weekend is over, it's time to reflect on all that I experienced.
Just as yesterday, I worked the finish line today. But first, the team of finish line volunteers gathered to hang the medals and heat sheets about an hour before the starting gun.
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| Pre-medal racks... |
Compared to last year's freezing, windy weather, this year was a virtual paradise - mid-50's with gusty winds, and unlike yesterday, NO RAIN! We got the heat sheets and medals hung relatively quickly, and were ready for the first half-marathon finishers when they crossed the finish line.
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| The medals were hung by the heat sheets with care... |
Once we were finished, I was stationed at the finish line with three other volunteers to greet the finishers as they crossed the finish line, keep the flow of traffic moving towards the medals and food tent, help any runners who were experiencing physical pain from injury of exhaustion.
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| Waiting on finishers... |
The morning was filled with all sorts of amazing, confusing and inspiring sights - from the blazing fast marathon finishers to the runner that ran the entire downtown course in bare feet to the wheelchair competitors to the teams of runners finishing together to the (just like last year!) marriage proposal - this year's marathon pretty much had it all!
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| Four hours into it... |
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| Finishers receiving their well-earned medals... |
This year, there was a veritable plethora of medals:
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| A small sampling of the medals... |
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| Marathon Finisher |
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| Half Marathon Finisher |
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| First Marathon Finisher |
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| Marathon Maniac |
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| Relay Medal |
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| Half Fanatic |
My shift ended after six hours at 1PM, five hours into the race. Amazingly (and accidentally), I exited the highway and came across runners still on the course - my hat's off to these runners, they're so much more resilient that I could ever hope to be!
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| Runners on the course |
And on a personal note, the Tulsa World retweeted one of my tweets - thanks, guys!
And so, another year is in the books. Already looking forward to next year's festivities. It's the 10th anniversary of the Route 66 Marathon, and I have it on good authority from @tulsagrly that it's going to be pretty amazing!
A special shout-out to Hannah and Laura, who despite having just finished running 13.1 miles, stopped to say 'hi' at the finish line - so proud of both of you! Maybe I'll be joining you at the finish line next year!
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