Yesterday for the first time I was part of Ironman. No, not at participant, but as a volunteer. I volunteered to be course marshals. The task - simple, make sure only racers are on track and open the blocks safely to let spectators cross. But Ironman is not just about the run or the bike or the swim, its about endurance, its where racers make personal history. I started around 3:00pm at the marathon course. The beginning was great, there were the strong Ironman veterans navigating the course strong. The course was a 4-10km rounds. There were some racers who were exhausted from second round and I wished they make it, and it was great watching them pass by again still going strong. Then came the rain, like a real storm. The day was literally replay of Zurich Marathon day, rain and shine and rain and storm.
I knew that Ironman is not a race like marathon, its all about finishing, especially the run is a run or a walk or a crawl, probably time to shut down the brain and just keep moving to finish line. I was close to water / food station. I could see some runner's face light up at sight of hot soup, fruits, water. Some hung out, browsed the selection, ate, some just grabbed a handful of something and carried on. Then there were others for who each round was painful. You could see the exhaustion in their whole body. We tried our best to cheer them, tell them they are doing great. By 8:00pm when racers had already been on track for 13hrs., we started seeing the really exhausted ones, those who were in true sense testing their limits. Some runners just had to sit down for a min and we would tell them last round, you can make it! There was one guy who had 2 rounds to go, completely exhausted, thinking that its over. He asked someone - I still have 2 rounds to go, I am not going to make it, am I! It was most likely that he will not make it, but you don't say that, and of course miracles do happen, second wind is true. So I wish he made it, though I don't remember seeing him at the station again.
There were no more spectators at this time, so we slowly joined in the water/food station. It was run by a group from a Fraungymnastic club. We slowly made our way in and became incharge of a waterbooth. They were all wondering and asking each other who these people are :) Finally someone got the courage and asked us - who are you! It was kind of funny. So we told them we are freewilangers and we were at the pedestrian crossing, but now its all empty so we came to help. Most of them did not know English, so it was great time to practice German.
By 9:00pm, the final stragglers were pouring in at the station. They still had 2hrs to run / walk the last 10km. We were all cheering each runner, telling them its the last one. By 9:45, all runners had passed our station and were in their final round. So we packed up and went over to finish line. I was hoping to see lot of those who we were cheering in last hour. There was a Malaysian man, somewhat older. I saw him at first round, and second, and then around 9:00pm at the third round. He still had ~10km to go and was barely walking. It was awesome to watch him finish just in time! One guy proposed to his girlfriend at the finish line! That was some drama. In the end it was a lot of fun. The analogy I give, for me Ironman is like Everest. It would be awesome to do it, but I know I can't. Marathon is like Basecamp. So the event at least inspired me to not give up on running and do another marathon next year.
I knew that Ironman is not a race like marathon, its all about finishing, especially the run is a run or a walk or a crawl, probably time to shut down the brain and just keep moving to finish line. I was close to water / food station. I could see some runner's face light up at sight of hot soup, fruits, water. Some hung out, browsed the selection, ate, some just grabbed a handful of something and carried on. Then there were others for who each round was painful. You could see the exhaustion in their whole body. We tried our best to cheer them, tell them they are doing great. By 8:00pm when racers had already been on track for 13hrs., we started seeing the really exhausted ones, those who were in true sense testing their limits. Some runners just had to sit down for a min and we would tell them last round, you can make it! There was one guy who had 2 rounds to go, completely exhausted, thinking that its over. He asked someone - I still have 2 rounds to go, I am not going to make it, am I! It was most likely that he will not make it, but you don't say that, and of course miracles do happen, second wind is true. So I wish he made it, though I don't remember seeing him at the station again.
There were no more spectators at this time, so we slowly joined in the water/food station. It was run by a group from a Fraungymnastic club. We slowly made our way in and became incharge of a waterbooth. They were all wondering and asking each other who these people are :) Finally someone got the courage and asked us - who are you! It was kind of funny. So we told them we are freewilangers and we were at the pedestrian crossing, but now its all empty so we came to help. Most of them did not know English, so it was great time to practice German.
By 9:00pm, the final stragglers were pouring in at the station. They still had 2hrs to run / walk the last 10km. We were all cheering each runner, telling them its the last one. By 9:45, all runners had passed our station and were in their final round. So we packed up and went over to finish line. I was hoping to see lot of those who we were cheering in last hour. There was a Malaysian man, somewhat older. I saw him at first round, and second, and then around 9:00pm at the third round. He still had ~10km to go and was barely walking. It was awesome to watch him finish just in time! One guy proposed to his girlfriend at the finish line! That was some drama. In the end it was a lot of fun. The analogy I give, for me Ironman is like Everest. It would be awesome to do it, but I know I can't. Marathon is like Basecamp. So the event at least inspired me to not give up on running and do another marathon next year.
