by Natalie on August 26, 2009
Earlier this year I had the opportunity to volunteer for the ZOOMA Annapolis Half Marathon and 10K because it was not a race that I was ready to run. This coming weekend is one of my favorite Annapolis races put on by the Annapolis Striders, the A10. Unfortunately I missed registration and learned too late about the option to do a “bib swap.” Volunteering was definitely an option but then I was given yet another way to be involved with the event.
I have been a huge fan of Gracie’s Gear ever since I met the company’s president, Gracie Updyke, this spring at the ZOOMA kick-off event in Annapolis and after having had a chance to try out her tops, capris, and shorts. We’ve kept in touch and every so often I work with her on PR projects and she asked if I’d be interested in repping her gear at the A10 event in the Fleet Feet Annapolis booth. So there you go! I get to see yet another side of a run event by participating as an exhibitor in the Expo. What does this mean? [click to continue…]
by Natalie on June 1, 2009
My enthusiastic gear check buddy making sure runners would know where to drop their things.
Most runs start pretty early in the morning and the ZOOMA Annapolis race had a start time of 7 a.m. for runners of the 10K and half marathon course. This means that volunteers had to be there long before the sun was even up to ensure that water stations, information centers, parking lots, exhibitor areas, and the gear check station were set-up and ready to go when the first runners arrived at the start line.
I had volunteered to work gear check at the race as well as hand out chocolates to finishers as they arrived back at the Expo from the finish line. I woke up almost every hour to make sure I didn’t miss my 4:30 a.m. alarm and by the time I got to the Naval Academy stadium to meet my fellow volunteers I was remaining optimistic that the ominous clouds overhead would blow over.
Not having volunteered to work a race before I wasn’t sure what the flow of things would be and it turned out it couldn’t have been simpler, more organized, or run by the most patient and helpful people. The ZOOMA race is the brainchild of Brae Blackley and her calm demeanor and constant smile eased both volunteers and runners as she responded to a constant flow of questions. Her core volunteers are her friends, mother, mother-in-law, and husband as well as the many willing locals who came out to support her race whose mission is to empower women to live healthy, active, and happy lives. [click to continue…]
