Friday 20 May 2011

Virgin London Marathon Volunteering

I can’t believe that it’s been over a month since I last blogged. That’s, frankly, unacceptable. I’ve not been idle though (heaven forbid) so I’d best give you a run down of what I’ve been up to over the course of the next few blog posts.

On the 17th of April I volunteered at the VLM which was hugely rewarding. I was assigned to the Blue start to hand out Lucozade to the participants. I was joined by a dozen hugely enthusiastic school kids and Jackie who I chatted to most of the morning. I bumped into my friend Sarah who ran last year and was aiming to improve her time this year. I’d not seen her for several months since we left the company we worked for so that was a lovely surprise. The atmosphere was amazing and I got to see the tail end of the Red start. It’s all very slick and once the runners are away you’d hardly know anything had been going on save for the giant balloons.

For a couple of hours of my time I got a Lucozade t-shirt and cap, a VLM Staff t-shirt, a volunteers medal and as much Lucozade as I could walk away with. The sense of community was astounding. On my way back from the station I got chatting to a couple who had also been helping out and the seed of an idea to run abroad got planted. Paris and Rome Marathons were sold rather well.

My mum had recorded most of the coverage so I got to see it later over a glass of something cool. Special thanks go to my dad who drove me to Blackheath that morning after my train got cancelled. Thank you Daddy!

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