Welp, I didn’t really pay any attention when I signed up for this. All I saw was that a 5k was happening right near my house. So, sign me right up! What I neglected to realize was this was a dog-friendly event.
They made it really clear. There were paw prints on my shirt! They were oh so dog friendly. So, of course that was a joyous discovery for me. (That’s sarcasm, because I’m terrified of dogs… But I made it through!
My job was to work at the post-race food tent. When I got there, they put me to work making peanut butter sandwiches. I worked with these people in high school who were telling me about this program they were in, in which they had to log a certain number of hours in various categories.
They had to do community service and athletics. I think there was another one I can’t remember. But I do remember thinking how nice that they have a structured program helping them become well-rounded people.
Even the community service had to be approved as both something that would help the community and something that would help the student in some way. So, it sounded cool.
The event was extremely well stocked with volunteers, so once I made some sandwiches, there wasn’t much to do but stand around and wait for people to come in.
There’s a new apartment complex downtown doing a big marketing push to get people in. Someone came over with beautiful chocolates in nicely presented boxes and offered us some. I was proud of myself for passing them up.
I have noticed that there’s often so much free food at these volunteer events! Sometimes I’m (somewhat responsibly) indulging, but other times I’m staying steadfast in my new, healthier lifestyle. So, I feel pretty good about the balance I’m striking.
As I was waiting for runners to come in, I knew there had to be something that needed to be done. There’s always something, right? As I looked around, I saw that more peanuts butter sandwiches could be made. We still had tons of supplies. And the only reason we’d stopped was because the area where they were being made needed to be used to prepare the fruit for a while.
So, I went back to making more sandwiches. I know how hungry runners get. I know it’s only a 5k, but people love their food after races. I also know how fast the crowd will go. Plus, one of the higher-up volunteers told me they wanted to use as much of the food supply as possible. So, we threw ourselves into making sandwiches.
And this is where I’ll pick up tomorrow.