ReRun Run 2009

Inspiration At City Park

Kelli, Megan, And Amy

Sunday morning, after a restful sleep, I woke up with sore legs. I’d gotten up early again to offer help to a few other teammates. As part of their fundraising effort, Meagan, Kelli, Traci and Amy planned a 5K (3.1 mi) race over at City Park. What they’d pulled together was impressive. We slipped into the park through locked gates to get set up. The women had rented a large U-Haul truck and filled it with the many odds and ends needed to facilitate the run. This included among other things: A pop up canopy and tables for the registration area, dozens of muffins, bananas and bottles of water, flagging and signs to mark the course, a sound system for the DJ to spin music with, four 10-gallon jugs for water and gatorade, and a large digital timing clock for the finish line. The ladies had also secured permits and ordered a bank of porta-potties too. The race had a retro theme and was called the ReRun Run. As part of the theme, other events from around the country had donated boxes filled with leftover T-Shirts and finisher medals. Folks who finished the race might go home with a T-Shirt for the Colfax Half-Marathon or a cheese-shaped medal from the Wisconsin Marathon. With the start of the race nearing, the women divided up the duties and delegated tasks to the volunteers that had come to help. I helped put up the finish line banner and then went to help mark the course so racers would avoid any wrong turns. The final minutes before the race were hectic out on the course: putting up the last directional barriers and signs, posting volunteers along the course, and stocking, the aid station, but it all came together.

About 80 racers participated, more than anticipated, and many had positive comments to offer the organizers at the conclusion of the event. I can’t say enough about how well my teammates did to pull this off. The result was really astonishing considering they’d never taken on a challenge like this before. The planning, logistics, and event execution all went off without a hitch and I’d like to think that they have laid the groundwork to make this an annual event. We finished the morning with a celebratory brunch on the rooftop patio of a local restaurant, toasting the success of the race and the funds raised to help end blood cancer.