SO, in January, I contacted the Volunteer Director to see if he could use an intern. I needed to complete an intern for my schooling, and I thought the Ironman would be fun. That's when I met Colby 'Baggs' Neilson. He's amazing. He swallowed me up like a little sister and cracks me up. We started having meetings every week, coordinating with local businesses, gathering donations, prepping for Captain meetings, etc. I couldn't have asked for a more fun person to work with, he's the bee's knees, and totally made my experience rock.
Race week came, and I took the entire week off work. Good thing! I was busy!
Day 1 at the Dixie Center (which turned into local headquarters for the staff of Ironman) even this little family shuffled across from the river to check it out... they were so cute!
they had a hard time getting up the curb... but they all made it
Tue was our Captain's meeting where we met with our 100 local captains and they met with their Ironman Staff counterparts to ask questions. And we took our Captain's photo...
Wed and Thur was running around, organizing, coordinating, etc etc etc.
Fri we had our ALL volunteer meeting... which I heard last year was a disaster, and I was determined to remedy it this year.... I made it my baby. I made signs, coordinated with the Dixie Center for some poles, etc. there are our 100 captains, and 4,000 volunteers that show up and want instructions... it's mayhem, but it went SO good! i got a LOT of compliments that it was 100 times better than last year!
This is me and Baggs before everyone started showing up...
Sat was RACE DAY!!! I was so excited! I slept about 2 hours. And had to be downtown at 3am to shuttle athletes... I met a fun staff guy, JD, who let me fire the cannon to start the pro's race! It was the best milisecond ever!
And JD let me keep my shell from the cannon... for proof ;)
JD drives the lead vehicle in front of the lead pro... so I got to ride along! It was awesome!
This was our ride.. the new Ford Edge, with TIMEX race clock in tow!
After we finished our loop, I hung out downtown with Baggs an Sunny ALL day. We did whatever we needed to, checking on our captains to make sure there werent' any disasters.... it was a well oiled machine....
Jen was Bike Aid #1 and Jamaica resumed her captain of Finish Line Catchers... we Frahmettes represented! ;)
This was my little family for the day... Josh, Baggs, Sunny, Bret and Me... we had SO much fun! We all hung out for the last 2 hours of the race (10pm-midnight) in VIP and cheered on the finishers.... once the sun goes down, the party starts at the finish line!
Mike Reilly is the COOLEST announcer EVER! He comes out from the booth and PUMPS up the crowd for the last couple hours! I thought he would just come out for a few minutes, but he ran up and down the shoot pumpin up the crowd and celebrating with the athletes as they came in to finish! I think he said it about 2,000 times.... 'YOU ARE AN IRONMAN!"
He was dancin and swingin a towel around and havin a great time!In February when Baggs told me he needed me at the buses loading athletes at 3am I said, "I'll be there, but I apologize if I show up in the front page news and they assume I'm displaying public drunkiness as I'm passed out, face down in the Town Square fountain (finish line area)" so as things got stressful, we joked about it! And of course had to reinact it... even though we were wired and past the point of exhaustion
after 22 hours of being awake... all I can say is, I'd do it again tomorrow! It was my dream job, it was exhilarating, and I LOVED it! Baggs made it SO fun and reassured me I failed my intern, so I better be prepared to do it again next year ;)
A W E S O M E !
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