Operation Jack Marathon/Half VOLUNTEERING, and PFTW

Last year, I registered for the OJ Half Marathon on a whim, then backed out when I realized my longest run prior would only have been 7 miles. I'm impulsive, not stupid. So instead, I volunteered at an aid station, made a new friend, and had a great time.

This year, I registered for the half (again), and dropped out due to Jerk Shin. So I volunteered.

After doing that twice, I think, next year, I'll skip the registering part and go straight to the volunteering part.

If you don't know what Operation Jack is, click here to learn about this great cause.

This year, #1 wanted to volunteer with me! We had about an hour drive, and had to be setting up our station by 6am, so that meant it was still very, very dark.

I picked the most obnoxious outfit I could put together...

(the Team Sparkle skirt is new, Merry Christmas to meeeee! thanks, H!)

The race is run on the beach path, and the course? It's beautiful. I mean, if you're into this sort of thing.

We filled a million teeny cups...

I swear I'll be dreaming of yelling "Water! WATER!" for days.

Speaking of water...

No hydrant water here, VEGAS RNR...

All told, we got there at 6am, and left when we were told the last runners were through, around 12:45. We passed out a jillion cups of water or electroyltes, a ton of GU, and saw Sarah and ChaCha kicking ass.

What 6.75 hours of playing in sand looks like, on the fourth round of dumping...

And what the 12 year old looks like on the way home...

Anyway, a quick news clip about the event, including the tiniest 9 year old boy ever - and seriously, that kid was FAST. And AMAZING. He looked like he was definitely hurting when we saw him (we were at 2.5mi on the way out, 10.5 on the way in), but wow. I have some opinions about little kids running an event of this distance, but I don't want to minimize what the day was about. All told, the event raised about $40,000, benefiting the Operation Jack Autism Foundation and Train 4 Autism.

I said it last year, and I'll say it again. If you've never volunteered, DO IT. It's worth every second.

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Quick Plan for the Week

Last week recap, Monday nothing, Tuesday 5 miles slow, Wednesday nothing, Thursday 5 miles less slow but still pretty slow, Friday/Saturday nothing, Sunday 7 miles easy, followed by 6 hours (literally, on my feet in the kitchen, 6 hours) cooking. Then Monday 6 hours handing out water. My legs by Monday evening were tired. But almost entirely pain free. Which makes me pretty optimistic.

This week...
Tuesday: 6 miles
Wednesday: Rest
Thursday: 5 miles (with a little speed?!.....)
Friday: yoga? (hahahaha)
Saturday: 8 miles, slow