2020 Marathon Olympic Trials - Volunteer
Amy and I were assigned to table #32. The first 15 tables were for the most elite athletes in the race. The first 15 tables had 6 bottles. The remaining 21 tables contained space for 12 bottles each. Each bottle on the table was preassigned a position so that the athletes would know exactly where their bottle would be. These positions were also organized to limit congestion at the tables. The #1 seeded woman was given bottle position 1 at table 1. The #2 seeded woman was given bottle position 1 at table 2. This way the expected leaders would be 16 feet apart if they came through at the same time to retrieve their bottles. Similarly, the 90th seeded woman would have her bottle in position 6 at table 15. I thought this was ingenious and so very thoughtful. The remaining tables followed the same pattern, just with more bottles per table.
No other race has ever provided personal hydration on this scale. In most big races there might be 60 or 70 competitors that get this kind of treatment. However, for the trials this benefit was provided for any competitor that wanted it. Approximately 80% of the field opted to provide their own bottles/fuel for the personal hydration tables which meant that the morning of the race there would be 3,000+ individual bottles distributed around the course and made available in the right place at the right time. So, let's do some math. There were 36 tables for the women at this one stop. Since the tables were 6 feet long and spaced exactly 10 feet apart that means the this one "water stop" was 36 * 16 = 576 feet long. With the mens' stop immediately before and a neutral fluids stop after the 3 sections crested one of the longest hills on the course and stretched around the corner disappearing out of sight.Despite the large scale of the operation, no detail was too small to be overlooked. The tablecloths for the tables? I've never seen tablecloths like them before. The tablecloths had a small pocket in each corner that went over the foot of the table. This meant that all of the table covers were perfectly secured and would not blow in the wind. Speaking of wind, it was howling on this day! Despite coming from the cold of Upstate New York for this event I was freezing! The wind was just brutal. It made a sunny 46F day feel like it was at least 20 degrees colder. Apparently, members of the Atlanta Track Club had actually come out during the planning phase and setup experimental tables on windy days so that they could be prepared. It worked! In addition to the ingenious tablecloths they also had two sided tape to help keep the bottles in place. Who would think that the bottles would blow over? The Atlanta Track Club did. The tape worked great, we just had to experiment during the race on the right amount of coverage between the bottom of the bottle and the tape. Too much contact and the bottle would be stuck to the table and difficult to remove. Too little contact and the bottle would be blown away. Each bottle behaved differently depending on the bottom of the bottle and how much liquid was contained within.
Since this was a high stakes elite race there were controls in place at every table. There was a manifest with our box indicating 33 bottles and noting which had nutrition attached. We had to check the control document against the contents of the box immediately after it was opened. Any discrepancies between the document and the contents of the box had to be immediately escalated. Fortunately, everything was exactly as it should be for us. We did only have bottles for 11 runners instead of 12, but that was exactly what the documentation indicated we should have. The runners would come past our table 3 times during the race. This meant that between laps we would have to clear the table of any unclaimed bottles and then restock with the next set. Each bottle was noted for which lap it applied to in case the athlete wanted something different available on lap 1 vs. lap 2 or lap 3. After the table was reset, pictures had to be taken to show that everything was exactly as it should be. The bottles were all decorated to be distinctive. The funny part was that with every bottle being so distinctive they all started to look the same to me. One of my favorites was a woman that had each of her bottles wrapped with pictures of her family. Another woman included a phrase on each of her bottles.
The security measures associated with the bottles for the "slower" runners might seem like overkill, but here again the wisdom of the Atlanta Track Club to provide the same level of service to every qualifier proved to be the right choice. The last table at our station was #36. Table #35 had the honor of serving the second place finisher, Molly Seidels! She was the 139th ranked runner at the trials! I remember her coming past on each of the loops. On the first lap, the women's lead pack was huge. On the second lap it had gotten smaller, but was still surprisingly large. On the third lap it was starting to get smaller. On each of these laps Molly Seidels was running on the inside between the pack and the tables. I remember her distinctly because on each of the laps she had a huge grin on her face. She looked like she was having the time of her life, and I guess she probably was! What I didn't know until after the race is it was entirely logically that she would go past so close to the tables. On each of these laps she was about 40 feet away from where she would need to retrieve her bottle. She really is one of the most incredible stories in the race. I wholeheartedly suggest that you spend some time reading about her background. She is an inspiration!
I probably should have titled this post, "All About The Bottles". Despite the many details I've shared so far, there is still one more about our little corner of the Olympic Trials. When the men came through on their first loop one of them discarded a bottle in my direction. In order to keep the athletes safe and maybe, possibly, score a little souvenir for myself I picked it up and placed it out of the way where we wouldn't have to worry about it rolling back into the road. Only later did I realize that it was from the #18 seed in the men's race! I'm a bit of a running geek, but I'll admit that I did not recognize the name. When I got home and had a chance to Google Connor McMillan it looks like he might be part of the next generation of the best marathoners in America. Fortunately, I brought home two souvenir bottles. This one, which will go unchanged and a second one that will have the sticker removed, be washed and go into the regular rotation of bike bottles. I look forward to random workouts when I reach down and use a bottle from the trials. Maybe some of the speed from the person who discarded it will rub off on me 🤞
You may have noticed that there aren't many pictures of the actual race. We were repeatedly reminded to be professional and not take selfies during the race. We were instructed to be "camera ready" and professional. These were all very reasonable ways to reinforce that we were there to facilitate the race, not to spectate. However, when it came to Stephanie sometimes emotion took over. We cheered for all of the racers, but when Stephanie came through the volume needed to be turned up to 11. It has been a joy to watch her improve over the years. I'm proud to have known her long enough to say that once upon a time we used to run very similar times, although that was only for a short time as she continued to improve to a completely different level than I will ever achieve. The picture here is from the 3rd lap. Stephanie came over and reached out for a high 5. How could I say no? She is amazing and if you want to know more about her incredible journey to this race you can read a nice article about her on Runner's World. I'd love to know what her younger self would think about how she has changed her life and those of us that have been lucky enough to follow her journey.The day ended with a nice dinner where we could meet up with Brian. He was there to continue his tradition of spectating the Olympic Trials. It was fun listening to his stories about previous Olympic Trials Marathons and also nice to get more time to hang out with an expanded group of former RWOL'ers. We have stayed in touch on Strava but nothing beats being able to connect in person. I look forward to seeing some of the folks here, and many more of our friends, again this year on Patriot's Day in Massachusetts where we can have a nice little 26.2 mile fun run from Hopkinton to Downtown Boston.
