hiya! not really a request, but could you alter the text on day 58 to say "drink some water" instead of "take oour meds"? thanks!
I gotchu bestie ! I don't have the energy to make it a fancy gif but I used PicMix for the other one, y'all are free to spruce this one up however you want over there :3 Feel free to reblog and show me what u make if u wanna! :D
You mentioned a while back that we could ask about triathlon stuff, and that you volunteered at a triathlon. What would you even do as a volunteer?
Yeah absolutely!! I've volunteered at local triathlons for almost ten years now, and ran my first one last year! I don't know EVERYTHING of course but I can give you a rundown of all the jobs I've personally done as a volunteer and how important they are. :]
I'll start with the one I did the most, packet stuffing!
As an athlete you'll often receive packets of various goodies often called Swag Bags. It's always my favorite part of running races. These can range from advertisements for local businesses who sponsor the race and/or racers, to shoutouts for some local racing teams (I see shoutouts for the Addie Ray Racing Team a lot, a team of racers who support disabled athletes! They're super neat :D). For bigger races you'll also receive Actual Swag, like shirts or mugs, or miscellaneous branded items. I've received all sorts of things as an athlete from these swag bags.
But most importantly these swag bags will also contain your bib number and any other numbers you need to put places (in the case of triathlons, they'll contain the numbers for your bike and helmet, and your swim cap, which is often a requirement).
And these all get put together by volunteers! Usually you get set up in an assembly line, and if you all work together really well you can crank out a few hundred of these in just a few hours. :] When I would volunteer for the IronMan packet stuffing (biggest triathlon in the area), we'd crank everything out in 3-4 hours max, and that race receives several hundred to a thousand racers.
My favorite position to volunteer for, SAG (Support and Gear) Stops! This is one of the more physically demanding volunteer jobs, as you're outside for several hours until the last racer has passed you. And if you're further along in the course, this may take a while.
But at SAG stops, you will have everything from gatorade/powerade (depending on the sponsor), water, and snacks to hand out to racers! Some of the pros will run by FAST, you get shown how to hold things out for racers to grab and go. But after those first racers go through things get much easier and much slower paced!
Bike SAG stops will also have a section for bike repair if you're at a triathlon. And some of the more major races, triathlon or otherwise, may have medical personnel on standby in case anything happens, either paid or volunteer. It's important to know where those medical personnel are in your SAG stop lineup, if they're there, so you can either send a racer to them or flag them down if necessary. I see medical personnel at bike SAG stops more than at run SAG stops, because a bike crash can be pretty serious, and not every racer knows what to do when they come up to a SAG stop.
BUT overall this is my favorite volunteer job. I get to yell GATORAAADDDEEE for hours lol. And if you have any racers you're wanting to cheer on, this is a great way to volunteer for the race AND cheer them on when they pass you!!
Arguably one of the more important jobs, setup and takedown!! I've only done this once for a local bike race, but it was a ton of fun! You DO have to get up before the buttcrack of dawn if you do setup, as races often start early, but it's definitely worth it.
Set up varies from race to race, but for the one I did, we set up the start/finish line, several advertisement/sponsor banners, the first-second-third podium and announcers stand, and set up cones and tape along the course to keep spectators off and racers safe. But again it will vary from race to race, and what all you do may vary based solely on the amount of volunteers that year.
At the end of the day, its the volunteers that make these races possible. And there's tons of other jobs besides the ones I've listed! My parents have done water safety for triathlons before, where they take their kayaks onto the water and watch the racers to ensure they're safe. This one's incredibly important in open water swims, as some racers aren't as prepared for open water swims as they think they are and they may panic and begin to drown, so the water safety team is there to make sure that doesn't happen!
There's also volunteers at sponsor booths, volunteers to help with general cleanup, and volunteers who run the timing chips! And I'm sure there's so much more. So if you're looking for unique places to volunteer at, races are certainly a place to look!! :]
And I've been on both sides of the coin several times, I've been a racer and a volunteer. So when I race I will forever be thankful to the volunteers who keep these races running (heh, running) smoothly <3
Hi bestiesss I'm taking an impromptu hiatus qwq I will be back either Saturday or Sunday! Accidentally gave myself burnout so gonna take some time to rest lol
