Very early this Sunday morning, in fact, so early it seemed like the middle of the night, got up, got ready and got my butt in to central Cardiff to register as a volunteer for the Cardiff Half Marathon. Volunteers for this event are called the 'extra milers'. So, at 7.30am today, was sitting in Cardiff City Hall kind of wondering what the hell I had done but then looked at the swag in front of me, and on me.
Don't even like Nandos - much - but managed to get two £7 vouchers to use so it seems like a fair trade off. I already knew a while ago that my volunteering role today would be as part of the baggage collection point - if this had been part of the recent Cardiff University International Student Arrivals programme I would have been able to call myself part of the Portable Storage Logistics Team - baggage basically. Wasn't in the least bothered by this as at least we'd all be able to chat to the actual runners both beforehand and afterwards.
The Cardiff Half Marathon is now sponsored by Cardiff University so it felt almost like an extension of work - in a good way. The Half Marathon starts and ends in Cardiff Civic centre of which the University is an integral part and it is my main stomping ground. Athletes village was right in front of City Hall and the National Museum.
So, once registered, we had to wander to the baggage area where we were briefed and told that we would all be responsible for our own drop off point. I was 19751-20000. We all had our own wee area which we could rule and organise as we please and were totally responsible for and to be honest it was like having my own wee baggage kingdom. Loved it!
As the runners started turning up, we chatted with them - I was particularly interested to find out if they'd run half marathons before, what their best mileage had been, when and how they started running etc etc. Basically though, we were to support and encourage and that was pretty easy. There seemed to be a hell of a lot of bags to store in a fairly small area so a lot of time was spent rearranging, moving and checking and double checking labels and whether my numbers were good and the bags were in numerical order.
Once the bags were all deposited, the race started and we could chill. But only after I was confident I had a decent system going and would be able to find the bags easily when my runners were returning. I did feel possessive about my guys. There were quite a few inspirational stories - in particular I was really interested in the more 'mature' runners and they were seriously encouraging and inspirational in their own rights. Was dead interesting to hear how many folk started out with Couch to 5k.
As for the actual 'team' I was sharing a tent with - cracking folk. In particular I was dead chuffed to see how many international students from Cardiff University were taking part. Our students seriously rock! The guys on either side of me included one new 'fresher' and one postgrad who has only been here for 10 days. And yet - already they are involved with events like these. Stunning - truly! Here's a picture of the team. By the way - I haven't all of a sudden put on four stone - I had like four layers on underneath the t-shirt. Promise!
Once the race was over, the runners started reappearing - slowly though. We kind of got obsessed at staring at runners mid-riffs to see if we could spot our own numbers, it was so satisfying to spot your own runner from a distance and to have their bag ready before they even reached you - as if by magic! I've done three power walking marathons in my time and know that when you finish you really do want your own kit bag back to get out of cold or damp clothing and into clean, dry and fresh stuff. But, it was just brilliant to see everybody returning and offer applause. Think we had one of the most supportive tents going in that we were cheering and applauding most folk walking past. Let's face it - these guys have just done so well and in the main are raising loads of money for charity. Loved this day and would happily do it again. Was great fun, the runners were fab and my fellow 'extra milers' were absolute darlings.
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