I was in the Belfast Marathon!
May. 4th, 2004 03:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rhondacrockettAnd all I got was a T-shirt and a neon yellow coat with a pointless compartment at the ass, which none of us could work out what it was for.
Before you ask if I ran the Marathon: ROFLAMO NO!!!! And if you thought that, clearly you don't know me that well. :)
No, I was a Race Official. And I have the coat and T-shirt to prove it! I handed out cups of water to the runners/relayers/walkers, and I was pretty damn good at it, if I do say so myself. If it wasn't a voluntary position, I might consider making a career out of it. Belfast Council called Joanna in on a favour; they gave her money for her football competition (soccer, that is, to you Americans, who think football is something you play with your hands), and in turn they wanted her to get a team together for a water station. So yesterday I was up at a quarter-to-eight (soooo early! *dies off*) and off to the Winemark on Stockman's Lane (unfortunately shut for most of our stint there), to enjoy the delights of orange buckets, green gloves, and the sight of some 6000 people all running at me at once (ahhhhh!!!).
Och, it was fun, a great laugh. It took me a while to get used to the hand-over technique; I screwed up several times near the beginning (which means I screwed up with the "serious athletes", oh crap O.o) and the cups just spilled all over the ground, but then I started getting really rather good. Several of my hand-offs were so smooth, the water barely juddered in the cups *looks smug*. The weather was good, thankfully. We did have two rain showers, one before the race and one during. The first shower, we sat in the cars and let it blow over, and the second was over pretty quickly, besides which we were all too busy with the mass of runners coming past us to pay much attention. I also roped in two random children to help - well, they volunteered and I told them to go ahead. I was posted at the last table so I had a pretty easy time of it. Poor Joanna and Jennifer get everyone coming at them at once.
The only bad result is that my left shoulder blade doesn't like me now.
*
Buying The Well of Lost Plots has reawakened my book-buying compulsion. I've just been to Waterstones, and purchased:
Sunshine Robin McKinley
Only Forward Michael Marshall Smith
One of Us as above
The War of the Flowers Tad Williams
Perdido Street Station China Mieville (first e has an accent on it)
also The Blue Day Book Bradley Trevor Greive
I have no idea where I'm going to put them. My book drawer is full.
I've been feeling really creative recently, like the storytelling in me is bursting out at the seams. Delaying it and putting it aside only makes it more impatient. The flood gates opened last week when I indulged myself in a little media res writing before going to bed. I didn't get to bed until 5am. And for a piece of writing that wasn't supposed to be anything but a snippet, coming from nothing and leading nowhere, I now have so many ideas for continuing it into almost a proper story, and am constantly revising one scene which I've already written. Gah! I need more hours in the day!
::Edit:: What the heck is going on with LJ's typeface? It keeps changing to Helvetia. O.O
::Edit 2:: WHY WON'T LJ PUT IN MY PARAGRAPH BREAKS ARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH????????
::Edit 3:: *Discovers that, for some reason, LJ thinks she doesn't want auto-formatting and corrects that mistake*
::Edit 4:: That's better now!
Before you ask if I ran the Marathon: ROFLAMO NO!!!! And if you thought that, clearly you don't know me that well. :)
No, I was a Race Official. And I have the coat and T-shirt to prove it! I handed out cups of water to the runners/relayers/walkers, and I was pretty damn good at it, if I do say so myself. If it wasn't a voluntary position, I might consider making a career out of it. Belfast Council called Joanna in on a favour; they gave her money for her football competition (soccer, that is, to you Americans, who think football is something you play with your hands), and in turn they wanted her to get a team together for a water station. So yesterday I was up at a quarter-to-eight (soooo early! *dies off*) and off to the Winemark on Stockman's Lane (unfortunately shut for most of our stint there), to enjoy the delights of orange buckets, green gloves, and the sight of some 6000 people all running at me at once (ahhhhh!!!).
Och, it was fun, a great laugh. It took me a while to get used to the hand-over technique; I screwed up several times near the beginning (which means I screwed up with the "serious athletes", oh crap O.o) and the cups just spilled all over the ground, but then I started getting really rather good. Several of my hand-offs were so smooth, the water barely juddered in the cups *looks smug*. The weather was good, thankfully. We did have two rain showers, one before the race and one during. The first shower, we sat in the cars and let it blow over, and the second was over pretty quickly, besides which we were all too busy with the mass of runners coming past us to pay much attention. I also roped in two random children to help - well, they volunteered and I told them to go ahead. I was posted at the last table so I had a pretty easy time of it. Poor Joanna and Jennifer get everyone coming at them at once.
The only bad result is that my left shoulder blade doesn't like me now.
*
Buying The Well of Lost Plots has reawakened my book-buying compulsion. I've just been to Waterstones, and purchased:
Sunshine Robin McKinley
Only Forward Michael Marshall Smith
One of Us as above
The War of the Flowers Tad Williams
Perdido Street Station China Mieville (first e has an accent on it)
also The Blue Day Book Bradley Trevor Greive
I have no idea where I'm going to put them. My book drawer is full.
I've been feeling really creative recently, like the storytelling in me is bursting out at the seams. Delaying it and putting it aside only makes it more impatient. The flood gates opened last week when I indulged myself in a little media res writing before going to bed. I didn't get to bed until 5am. And for a piece of writing that wasn't supposed to be anything but a snippet, coming from nothing and leading nowhere, I now have so many ideas for continuing it into almost a proper story, and am constantly revising one scene which I've already written. Gah! I need more hours in the day!
::Edit:: What the heck is going on with LJ's typeface? It keeps changing to Helvetia. O.O
::Edit 2:: WHY WON'T LJ PUT IN MY PARAGRAPH BREAKS ARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH????????
::Edit 3:: *Discovers that, for some reason, LJ thinks she doesn't want auto-formatting and corrects that mistake*
::Edit 4:: That's better now!
