That Volunteer Life

I joined a handful of folks over the weekend to volunteer at The Mosaic trail race, outside of Austin. It was a gig that occasionally got confusing: the course is a big Figure-8 and depending on the distance people were running, they started going in one of two directions and looping back and forth, again, depending on the distance of their race. People occasionally finished and didn't stop to pick up their medal or remove their timing chip, causing us to chase after people. But, mainly, it was a lot of fun. On Friday morning and early afternoon, it rained. When we heard "Singin' in the Rain" pour through the speakers at the finish line, Charles, one of the volunteers, grabbed an umbrella and did an impromptu impersonation of Gene Kelly. (See photo) Matt, my buddy from Austin, managed to keep his shirt on because of the weather. Logan, the volunteer coordinator, kept us on our toes but also kept us laughing. Race Director, Chris McWatters, was his usual, chill self, unflapped by missing timing chips or too few T-shirts. Volunteering is fun because you get to see so many people, make new friends and witness people pulling a bad race out of the fire or revel in having a good one. This was my last race of 2020. Good riddance! Let's hope 2021 is a marked improvement.