My first race not racing: Miwok with CRC

I want to run this race.  It is on my bucket list of races for sure.  But by the time I knew about it, the lottery had happened.  Ron from CRC contacted me and their mailing list about volunteers for their aid station.  Since I could not run and was overdue to volunteer and maybe mostly to improve my chances in next year's race lottery, I signed up.  And convinced Jill too.  We were at Bridge View in the Marin Headlands with breathtaking views of the City.  It was a beautiful and uncharacteristically warm day -- great for volunteers but hot stuff for runners.  I worked a road crossing at the bottom of the hill with Margaret, instead of at the actual aid station.  I wore my Quicksilver tank and should have worn more sunscreen.  This was a brilliant idea.  Although it is not always possible, as a general rule for races that interest you, if you cannot run it, volunteer it.  Some highlights:

1.  A woman endurance cyclist asked me the question I answered the most from passers-by: What is the race and how far?  Miwok 100K, shortened to 60K.  The subpopulation one finds in the Marin Headlands, especially on a bike, is super fit.  I was surprised how few of the cyclists had heard of ultras.  She said I was the first ultrarunner she had ever had a conversation with or met.  That was hella cool.  That was how I spent most of my time waiting for the first runners.

2.  I saw everybody, including the first runners, pass through.  That was bitchen.  I knew so many of them!  QSURT teammates recognized the jersey, whether they actually knew me or not.  I got recognized from Way Too Cool by a runner.  I saw Franz and Ron from CRC.  Sophia stopped for a picture.  It was awesome.

3.  Everybody thanked me.  It frustrated me at first, since I felt so lucky to spend such an amazing day such a fulfilling way.  It was like are you kidding me?  You are running these hard trails in this heat.  I am standing here with a pirate flag wearing an eye patch.  THANK YOU!  Then I remembered how heartfelt my own thanks are when I am racing and realized that these thanks were just part of that same cycle and that I was screwing it up by thinking it was weird that I was being thanked, and then it was rad.

I took pictures of the Golden Gate Bridge and sent them back to Alabama.  I want them to see it here so bad.