EFA Volunteer Report

Racers anxiously waiting the start, photo and video courtesy of Swim Start Coordinator Julie P. That video makes me want to do the race...almost. I just want the experience of jumping off the boat.

Bighorn! Bighorn! Bighorn! It's been on my mind the past week. Turns out to be a butt kicker of a run. Why this is a slight surprise I will explain later. It's got something to do with me not reading reports before signing up for big races. Well first things first, recap of last Sundays race. Another memorable volunteer experience.

Tammy and Spamsi, pumped up at 6AM. Tammy was an area lead like me, Spamsi on the otherhand was one of two Race Directors from GGTC. She had to keep us area leads informed and inline as well as dealing with the races' innumerable details, from volunteers to coffee and bagels.

After all the meetings, course drive through, last minute checklists and last minute preparations, we were ready to go by Sunday morning. I was a little worried because I didn't have a 100% grasp of my duties but was assured that at least one of the GGTC race directors was going to be at the Volunteer Tent with me. We had two, Spamsi and Heather and those guys had a good grasp of everything. On top of that we were equipped with radio's and cheat sheets pasted on the back of our race ids which listed the channel directory as well as cell numbers. Because of my inexperience with the radio and not such a good experience with them at the Nike Women's Marathon last year, I kept to my cell. Help was only a call away. The radios looked good on me though, made me look all official and stuff. If there was an emergency I would have been able to use it, that procedure I memorized.

Hanging with AE at the finish area. He was out spectating.

It was a hard and early rise at 2:30AM, Spamsi picked me up at 3:40 and we were at race central by 4AM. We had to split the tent with "Registration." Unbelievable, there were people picking up their race packets 5 minutes before the last bus was set to leave. Racers were bussed from the transition area to Pier 3 where they boarded a ferry for their trip to Alcatraz. Race start went off without a hitch. My job on race day was to man and direct the Volunteer Tent. Those volunteers with stations out on the course were out of my control but those serving at with us at race central had to be directed to their proper places: hospitality, finish line food, timing, transition area, finish line medals, etc, etc, etc. I also had to field some requests from area leads who were thin on people. Jon, the timing director, only had half of his 20 volunteers show up, fortunately we found him more. There were several volunteers who mistakenly showed up at finish area when their stations were out on course, fortunately we were able to find a way to get them to their stations. By 8AM most people were setup and taken care of. The volunteer tent faced the transition area. I got to see the leaders the entire race everytime they came in to transition to the next event, swim to bike to run. That was a big bonus. The guy who won never relinquished the lead he had from the get go. Andy Potts took first after coming close in the past with 2nd and 3rd place finishes. An amazing athlete he had gone to the Olympics twice, once as a swimmer and again as a triathlete. I also got to see a lot of friends race, even managed to snap a few good photographs. The only hiccup to the whole deal was that lunch was an hour late. We had a lot of hungry volunteers but no food. When it eventually came there was too much. We ended up with 50 boxes of Cheese pizzas and 50 boxes of Pepperoni pizza for the 70 or so volunteers that patiently waited. We ended up giving alot away and the remaing 25 boxes was sent to another tent.

Fans greeting athletes as they come in for the finish.

Since I was one of the area directors for this year I have a reserved entry for next years race. I still have to pay for it but I don't have to enter the lottery. I say no thanks. Give up the fun of volunteering and the appreciation of my fellow racers so I can pay $295 and race...um I'll pass. One day but not next year. I already have my eyes on the Swim Start director position. You get to go on the boat and launch off the athletes and when you get back to race central you have the option to help give out medals at the finish line. Sounds perfect to me.

After the race it was a quick nap and off to the club after race party. It was great to hangout and get first hand accounts of the race from both the racers and volunteers.

Chomping on cupcakes at the after party. See those two at the end, the one with the cowboy hat and with the tongue sticking out - butt kickers on the bike. I know from firsthand experience:). To my immediate left is J-Fang. Everyone loving their new race kits owe her a thank you.

Lastly, some of our volunteers, some taking up area lead positions were club members from this years TAG group for Wildflower. If you remember, TAG is a program specifically tailored for beginners. These guys have gone on, completed the program, completed the race and have now come back to get further involved and give back to the club. Pretty damn cool.

Athlete Down

Monday night I was at our monthly club meeting. Our guest speaker was pro athlete Matt Reed. He had won Escape last year and took 4th this year. As the evening was winding down, Terry, the head of Tri-California, addressed the club briefly. He thanked the club for our continued support of the race and more importantly updated us on a serious accident that occurred on the bike course. Accidents happen all the time in triathlons but sometimes you get a real serious one, this was one.

According to Terry, a male cyclist was on a downhill section headed out towards Golden Gate Park and Ocean Beach. The road is wide and clear for the most part, a good cyclist could pick up a lot of steam here. It's unclear how fast he was going but he hit a hidden obstacle on the course. Basically its a bump on the asphalt where a bike could pick up air and a cyclist could lose control. It wasn't marked because unlike a pothole or a crack it wasn't a break on the surface of the road. The athlete lost control, crashed, went over his handlebars and hit the ground with his head. Undoubtedly saved by his helmet, he was able to get up only to be hit by an oncoming male cyclist. I've been on this hill, it's not unreasonable to be going 30+/40+ miles per hour on this stretch. A female cyclist was also injured when she wasn't able to avoid the ensuing crash. The first guy suffered the most and remains in the hospital, the other two were released from the hospital the same day. He's reportedly safe now but his injuries will take some time to heal. He's expected to stay in the hospital for about a month and his parents who came to see him race will be staying here in San Francisco while they attend to their son's recovery.

In the athletic endeavours that we participate in there's always that element of danger that for the most part never materializes. Now and then however something happens and we are reminded that it's not all fun and games. My friends, train hard, race hard and do your best to be safe.

The race itself, from a volunteer's point of view, was great. I got pictures and a report that I'll share later.

Taper Time!!!

Hawk Hill in thick fog. More pics from Saturady click here.

6.5 hours, 3 hill repeats on Miwok (Rodeo Beach side), miscellaneous hills to and on the way home. And with that ladies and gentlemen, I've concluded my last heavy workout in preparation for Bighorn. I was laughing again the last two miles home, you what that means - I was "uncomfortable", ultra euphemism for I felt like crap. It was the IT again but this time the left. Nothing crazy, just soreness that does go away after a day of rest. It was also a lot better this week, I was able to run home. Now I'm looking forward to tape and preparing myself mentally for the big race ahead. Gonna read some race reports, study the elevation profile and all that, confer with my Bighorn partner Olga. She's got her marbles all lined up already so I have to catch up.

Now it's back out to take my turn at our club booth at the race expo. Maybe smile at a few ladies, ogle some new bikes, lust after a few accesories. I heard somewhere that Triathlon is considered a sexy sport and I agree. It's not just the people it's the gear, cool well designed gear. From the bikes to the running shoes, it's all so polished, matching and all that. Consider the wetsuit, it makes people feel aquaman, all trim and ready to go. Thank God for ultra, otherwise I'd be one of those guys who race around in lycra and spandex, shaving his legs to be like Lance and coveting every new shiny piece of triathlon trinket. Oh wait I do that already....haha. All joking aside I owe a huge debt of gratitude to the sport. The biking and swimming saves me from all the pounding of running and the triathlon community has been very good to me, made a lot of friends in this sport. Most of all it keeps me humble. It's hard to be full of yourself when you swim like a dog among fishes.

EFA Weekend

Crap another crazy weekend!:) We, Golden Gate TriClub, is the host club for the Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon. Being part of the board of directors, I've got duties to perform like taking my turn at manning the club booth on race weekend and taking a turn at door duty at the club party on Sunday night. However, besides those duties, I also volunteered to be a director for the race. I am the Volunteer Director. Basically my job is to help the volunteers; distributing food, giving out info, helping the lost volunteers find their way to their stations, and all the other duties that will help smooth out the volunteer experience for everyone. I also need to help the other leads if they find themselves short of volunteers. Boy I hope it doesn't come to that, everything is in place and if everyone just shows up in their designated areas we should have no problems. Keeping my fingers crossed. This last several years I've really gotten into this whole volunteering thing. I enjoy it as much as racing, in fact last year I was crew/volunteer for more events than I raced. It's a lot of fun especially in big events. I am still in awe at how popular this race is considering the distances don't fit in any standard. Your time in EFA is only unique to EFA and comparable to no other triathlon. We get people from all over the country as well as a good number of international racers. Boggles my mind to this day.

Today on our afternoon swim there were a bunch of out of town triathletes getting in some bay time. They were not hard to spot, they were the ones cursing the cold water:) Oh we complain about it too, we're just less surprised, less shocked you might say. At the end of our swim we ran into a couple swimming, sans wetsuit, in fact I'm not sure they even had swimsuits on. What was remarkable was that the woman was blind. According to an informed bystander she's out there frequently, enjoying a good swim in the bay.

Tomorrow I am running hill repeats again. This time I'm planning on a bigger, badder hill. My friend Stephen is going to come out and join me although I think he'll be bored. We'll see. I was supposed to race the Mt. Diablo 50k but I ended up bailing for financial reasons. I spent more money on my Florida trip than anticipated and with Bighorn coming up it seemed prudent to stay home. Ironically most of the money I saved on the race fee and car rental went back to the same outfit who holds the race - Pacific Coast Trail Runs. I need a new pair of Vasque Velocity's and they had them on sale on their online store. Need shoes!

Well I hope everyone has a great weekend. Between my training and all the fun duties I'm going to need my sleep after this one.