Race Director's Obsessions...cones and sponsors

Race Directors, at least this one, are an obsessive bunch. We sort of have to be, keeping track of all sorts of details, contacts, dates, processes......

Two of my latest obsessions: cones and sponsors!

Sponsors for obvious reasons! Still looking for good sponsors for Good Karma 5K! Anyone?

Cones you ask? What sorts of cones? Traffic cones of course! At Run Scared last year we had a volunteer not get to a critical turning point in time for the fast runners, a huge mistake, one that I still feel sick whenever I think about. Since that moment I have been obsessed with traffic cones. If only I would have had traffic cones I could have prevented the whole mess. So, when I started this business one of the first things I did was start my search to buy cones.

I don't know if you realize this, but cones are expensive, I mean, really expensive. Prohibitively so, especially considering to mark a course fully you would need a good number of cones and delineators (which I found out quickly is the technical term for those long tall skinny orange sticks). So I did what all good modern people do, turned to Craigslist. Almost every day I do a search for cones. I managed to find someone selling a whole car load for only $40. But, still its not enough, I need more cones!!!!

If you pay attention you will see them everywhere, they sort of follow you around, taunting you, "take me, I am abandoned!" Useless traffic cones can be seen every day, on your drive to work, on your run around the lake, walking to the grocery store, in line at the airport.....they are everywhere! They are always so tempting to pick up, nobody would notice, right?

My biggest question regarding cones: when do they actually transform from someone's property to abandoned junk, of which picking them up would be considered a good act, an environmental cleanup of sorts?


I realize it's sort of a weird obsession, one that is probably unique to construction workers and race directors. Which is why, I get made fun of for pointing out cones all the time, which is why someone gave me this handy toy, so I can stare at it and fantasize about cones all day!

Anyone have good cones they would like me to keep warm and dry in a nice storage unit!?