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Expedition Everest Challenge Race Report part 1-Volunteer shifts

I’ve said before how the Expedition Everest Challenge is my all-time favorite Disney race (I have, right?), in fact it’s my favorite race anywhere so far.  Not because it’s “only” a 5K-I actually prefer the half marathon distance since the first 1.5 to 2 miles are always harder for me while I get into a groove.  It’s my favorite because it’s just that much fun.  You’ve got obstacles along the course...nothing really hard, after all-you are still at Disney; you’ve got characters on the course; you’ve got a cool scavenger hunt solving clues that take you all over Animal Kingdom; and then you’ve got the after-party once you’re done.  But this part 1 post is about my weekend activities before the race.

Back in January during Marathon Weekend I had volunteered at the expo and 5K (yes, I know I haven’t recapped that trip yet but I will soon...I promise!).  I’m kinda getting into the volunteering thing-it’s fun and a great way to give back to other runners.  And so I kept watch on Disney’s volunteer site until the day volunteer registration opened, then registered to work a shift on Friday at the expo from 10am-3pm as well as a shift at the Family Edition race.  I drove up early Friday morning, got checked in to Pop Century so I could drop off my bags, then headed over to Wide World of Sports (WWoS) for my expo shift.

Waiting for the crowds to be unleashed

Even the Yeti needs to pick up his race shirt

Once I got to WWoS, I checked in at the stadium’s 2nd level, got my t-shirt and snack box as well as my assignment.  They were trying something new by having queue lines set up at the tables where you picked up your bib and race shirts.  Apparently they wanted people to go in one way and come out another, and those of us assigned to the queue lines were supposed to guide people into the lines.  Um, yeah...that didn’t work.  No one wanted to listen to us.  Thankfully, it didn’t get too crazy.  A little busy when the expo first opened, but after a little bit it died down to a steady trickle and since the tables were pretty spread out those of us working the lines were just kind of standing around, directing people and answering questions.  Once my shift was over, I headed back to my room for a short nap before heading over to the Magic Kingdom for some evening park time-which wound up getting pretty much washed out as it was pouring almost all night (I had my umbrella so I just kept on going thru the park...good thing about the rain?  Lots of people leave the park so there’s short lines).

The following morning I was up early to head over to WWoS for my second shift as a volunteer.  I would be working the Family Edition race this time.  A group of us were led out to the track where the kids race area was set up.  Together we helped set up the rack holding all the medals for both the Kids’ Races and Family Edition race.  I would be working the refreshments table so those of us on that table went over to make sure everything was all set up.  It kept doing this misty-raining thing on and off so they gave us ponchos (I am now the proud owner of a Disney Parks poncho, I feel so touristy LOL).  Once the races started, I wound up handing out these little Toy Story gummy fruit snacks to all the participants.  It was so cute watching all the little kids running their miniature obstacle course.  

Medals prepped and ready for the finishers!

Once they were done, the Family Edition started.  We had a nice little break in between while we waited for the groups to get over to the track after solving their clues so they could race to the finish line.  Once all the teams were in, we were done for the day.  The rain did finally clear up towards the end of the shift.  I picked up some lunch and headed back to my room to rest until it was time to head to Animal Kingdom for my turn at a race.

You can see it was icky out, but the kids still had a blast

I have to say, volunteering at the runDisney races is pretty fun.  There’s always a great group of people to work with (both rD people and the other volunteers).  Several of the people I worked with Friday and Saturday volunteered Saturday night for the main race and I chatted with them for a little bit before the race started...they thought it was great that I was participating in the race and wished me luck.  If you ever get the opportunity to volunteer at a race, whether at an expo, water stop, finish line or any other station, I would highly recommend you try it-especially if you’re a runner/walker yourself.  Seeing the race from the other side is enlightening...you don’t really realize the scope of what is going on until you’ve been on both sides.  Oh, and if you volunteer for Disney races, your volunteer time accumulates and you earn a one day/one park admission ticket for every 16 hours you work (exception for marathon weekend in January--if you volunteer then for either the half or full marathon, that shift will earn you a ticket all by itself)...plus you get the free shirt (or jacket for the half/full marathons in January).  It really is a great experience.

My station

I am hoping if I am unable to sign up for Tower of Terror (need my redemption, ya know?) this year, that I will at least be able to go up and volunteer.  And I’ll definitely be doing several shifts next January for Marathon Weekend again.  Hope to see some of you there!

Have you ever volunteered for a race (Disney or any other)?  What did you think about the experience?

PS-there was a cute little otter in the pond behind our refreshment station that kept popping up near the shore:

A new fuel source to try-PowerBar's Energy Blends

If you've been following my posts for a while, you know I'm signed up with BzzAgent, a social marketing site that promotes word-of-mouth advertising.  I was lucky enough to get signed up for a new campaign for PowerBar's Performance Energy Blends.  They're made with real fruit (and are gluten free for those that need that) with no artificial flavors and come in a neat resealable package.

Well, my BzzKit arrived today and I received two for free to try (banana blueberry and apple mango strawberry) plus 10 coupons to give to friends ($1.50 off of two).  Once I've tried them out, I'll post a review here for everyone.  Here's the nutrition info: 

Since I've kind of started getting yucked-out when I have too much Gu on really long runs and Chomps get stuck in my teeth (though they taste yummy), it would be cool if these work out for me...plus they'll fit in either the leg pockets or zippered pocket of my SparkleSkirt ;-)

I'll bring the coupons with me to Everest for anyone who'll be there and wants one, just let me know!

Something I learned this month

Don’t stress over things that are not my responsibility.  This comes from my workweek last week.  Remember I said I’d get back to why I hadn’t posted for two weeks?  Well, the first week was when Boston happened.  After that, I’d come home and keep checking all the news info and did not have any urge to write at all.  The second week...well, that was because of work.  No, not my travel agent work-my HR/Payroll/Benefits job.

Don’t get me wrong-I love my job.  I get to do a wide variety of human resources stuff from payroll to benefits to government compliance reports with a bunch of other special projects thrown in.  I am constantly busy which is great since the workdays usually go by pretty quickly, and I like the people I work with in my office (doesn’t hurt to have cool bosses too).  Last week just was a bit crazy as in addition to the fact that it was a payroll check week, I was helping part of our department catch up on some stuff that was getting pretty far behind (me along with another woman in our group I should say).  And so every single day I was there late for a couple of hours (except Friday, I was darn determined to go home on time and I actually finished one minute before clock out time).  Which is great from the perspective of extra money for the overtime.  But the other part...

When I start a project, I want to make sure everything is done completely and correctly...forms with all the spaces filled in (and please, don’t sign above the box, sign in the box, that drives me nuts), all emails sent out, spreadsheets complete, cross those to-do’s off my huge dry-erase board that hangs on my wall, all mail sorted and checked...etc, etc, etc.  I can get a bit anal when my mild OCD starts really kicking in.  So I push and push to make sure I get to a good, COMPLETE stopping point each day, trying to get as many of the candidates processed as possible for the stores (I’ve been helping with applicant/new hire processing) as I can.  All this while still thinking in the back of my mind, “Don’t forget, you still have to process your own stuff, benefits enrollments, 401k packets to send out, spreadsheet to finish for the district managers...OMG don’t forget that other thing and this other thing and....”

You get the picture.

And so by the time I get home my brain is fried-like well-done fried.  I would open my laptop, check email and Facebook and then just crash for the night...all week.  When Friday came around I pushed hard all morning so I could get out on time.  Once my weekend was here I made sure to relax, enjoy and catch up.  Relaxed on Saturday and got a bunch of blog posts started (posted 3 on Saturday alone, 2 here and one on thedisneyworldfiles.com).  Had a fantastic day Sunday with my mom with lunch out and shopping (scored some GREAT Disney stuff for giveaways on my other blog!), then when I came home I did some more blog post work.  Felt great to be more or less caught up again.

So what did I learn?  While it’s great to help others out when they need it, don’t let trying to help someone else with their work (while only barely staying caught up on your own) stress you out.  Ultimately, their work is not your responsibility.  If you can help a lot, that’s great.  If you can only do a little, well that’s more help than they would have had without you.  Don’t let your own work suffer or stress yourself out trying to make sure your own work doesn’t suffer.  

Oh, and be sure to take time for yourself to relax and recharge.  I’m counting down to Memorial Day weekend when I’ll have a nice 4-day weekend to do just that ;-)

Race reports

April Blogger Challenge #9-an event you’d like to blog about and what you would say about it

So I think this one is meant kind of like an event you’d like to cover or report on.  For me, that’s easy--any race I’m running or doing volunteer shifts.  And yes, me saying that reminds me again I need to write up my report from this year’s Marathon Weekend.

When I write up a race report or race weekend report, I do it both for myself (so I don’t forget the events of the day-my memory really stinks) and for anyone else out there who may be interested either in that particular event or just running/volunteering in general.  And believe me, there are a ton of people out there looking for information about races.  Of my top four all-time viewed posts, three of them are race reports...one is from the Weston Rotary Run for Tomorrow, the other two are my two Expedition Everest Challenge reports (2011 and 2012).  Oh, if you’re curious about the other post, it was when I told everyone my training calendar was now live on my blog (which by the way it still is, click the tab at the top of the page that says Training Calendar if you’re interested).  My number one, all-time top viewed post is my 2011 Expedition Everest Challenge Race Report-almost every week I have views for that report.

So since I know there’s the demand out there for others to read the reports, I’ll keep writing them to cover my races/race weekend events.  What would be really cool is if some big organization would ask me to “officially” cover one as a blog post/article.  But that’s just me with my head in the clouds ;-)

What events would you want to or do you already blog about?