For the Love of Our Participants

Sometimes race directors do funny things to demonstrate love, love for our participants that is. This was one of those times. I ordered a batch of safety pins for an upcoming event. I have to admit, I ordered them from China. I know, I feel bad, huge carbon footprint, outsourcing to another country and all. But, they were cheap, plus I figured if I ordered them from somewhere in the States, most likely they had been imported from China originally, so I am just cutting out the middle man. (Look at me, justifying my obviously guilty behavior).

They arrived in a giant plastic bag. All 6,000 of them. Each pin was connected to a group of 9 other pins. All stuck together. Yeah. All 6,000 of them, Well, you can't have participants reaching in and trying to undo the group, getting poked, stalling the registration lines. I love my participants too much.

So, what did I do? I put on my current favorite tv show (The West Wing), sat down on the floor and undid those little clumps and freed each and every safety pin, released it to its own personal freedom! Go forth, be free! That was 600 clumps that had to be undone. After two episodes my fingers were silver from the residue. But, my love for my participants was demonstrated once more.

This is my final pile. 

Making mountains out of safety pins! 

Other things I have done for the love of participants:

• Waking up before another human being on the planet is awake to get to the park to set up in the cold, dark and rain
• Figuring out how to cook, transport and keep hot pumpkin soup hot for Run Scared (never again)
• Baking for hours so our participants can have awesome finish line food
• Figured out how to keep bottles of Gatorade cold in the middle of a dessert in June with no shade
• Made sure our favorite furry participants have treats too
• So many other things, I mean really, my entire job is showing the love to our participants. I hope you agree next time we see you at a race and are feeling the love!!!