Saturday, April 10, 2010

Bull Run Volunteer Fun!

What a beautiful day for the Bull Run Run 50 Miler!  Sunny skies and a light cool breeze the whole day meant fast times were ready to be run along the historic Civil War trail. Returning champ Leigh Schmitt definitely got that memo and was a few ticks ahead of Tom Nielson's 6:17:24 record pace when he passed through our Aid Station with 5 miles to go. Proving his talent is other-worldly, he kicked it in even faster over the last leg to set a new course record of 6:09:58! Not to be out-done, Aliza LaPierre also broke the course record on her way to the women's title in 7:23:06. Huge congrats go out to both of these speedsters!! Full Results Here.

On the volunteer side of things, Lizzy and I had a blast working the early-morning Aid Station (mile 7.2 and 11.4) before moving down to the Marina (mile 21 & 44.9) for the rest of the day. Here are a few scenes of the fun!
Seeing as how I have a PB&J every day for lunch, I was definitely put to good use here. Likewise, Tammy Massie's patented 'X' slice on the end of the banana halves makes peeling them super-easy when on the run. She's so smart!

Proving we had some serious skill on display, check out how EVERYONE ELSE is just staring in awe at us!

Speedy Chris Reed gets by with a little help from his family on his way to a 3rd place finish in 6:51!

Another speedster, Amy Lane (from my home state of MA!), has us laughing as she cruises through on her way to a 4th place finish in 8:02!

Lizzy, Queen of the Soda Pop

Enjoying the beautiful weather with Tammy...much nicer than the last time we met on this trail in December during a 30-degree day.

Trash cans and dead branches in the background mock my self-photo-taking ability. 

 Inside the Marina Building I found this sign that had me laughing out loud. Yes, those are about a half-dozen "Erg" machines between me and the phone on the wall. ...Poor Coach Jim.

All in all, just a great day to be outside to help 400 or so runners enjoy 50 miles of springtime trails. Can't wait to come back next year and run it myself!

On a side note, I was able to run every day this week with diminishing hamstring pain each day. I'm pretty much back to 100% today, so I can definitely say I made the right call to stop in Philly when I did last week. Now I'm right back on track in my training plan for France!

5 comments:

Chris Carver said...

Glad to read that your hamstring injury is almost over and that you haven't missed too much training.

TrailClown said...

Love that you were sporting the Team USA duds, and I gotta say, it's just sweet that you put back into the sport and volunteer like you do. Hope the hammy stays silent and you rock it in France.

Runner Tammy said...

Dan,

It was so great to hang out with you and Lizzie on Saturday! I had such fun catching up with one of my favorite pacers of all time (you, Shane, my sister and Tristan sporadically all tie for first--you all will need to duke it out to break your tie:-)

I am so excited for your upcoming race at the 24 hour world championship.

The runners at BRR50 were really lucky for so many reasons: perfect weather, a course in great condition and you and Lizzie taking such good care of them!

Happy Running!
Tammy

Dan Rose said...

Chris - I'll have the hammy at 100% in order to try and keep up with you speedy UK runners in France!

TrailClown - I've been wear-testing all the USA gear this past week to see what fits/works best for France. That red jacket is nothing short of brilliant for colder/overnight weather. The arms/shoulders zip off on the fly to make it just a vest when it gets warmer. Very very impressive piece of running gear! As for volunteering, I'd do it every week if I could. There's nothing better than helping hundreds of people reach their goals in just one day's work! Plus I get to eat Aid Station food too...something I never get to do during races!

Tammy - I'm not sure I rank up there with ace pacers Tristan and Shane, but I'm more than happy come in out of the bullpen when called to help out those big guns!
Awesome seeing you on Saturday...you have crazy kinds of aid station talent! I learned so many little things from you that will go a long way to helping shave a few seconds off everyone's time at my next aid station assignment...Thanks!

Amelia said...

It is like you guys were heading an aid station training session. If only your interested crowd had notebooks and pens out. I want Tammy to teach me!