Race for the Cure
The race was based on Brown's Island, in fabulous downtown Richmond. The big building in the middle is the Richmond branch of the Federal Reserve. All the free food and stuff was on the island...
	...which isn't much of an island, as it is only separated by a man-made canal to get around the fall line. Hence the class V rapids about a mile upstream.
People from about 5 different troops/Venture crews were there. My mom and I wore the snazzy green shirts of the Venture uniform. People seem to trust you if you're wearing the same type of shirt as everybody else in the group but it is a slightly different color, as all the passing motorists kept asking me where they could park. Notice the storied cobblestones of 5th Street. Ooh, ahh, we're all historic here in Richmond.
	People flock to the start lines of the various races. Kids' Run (1k), Fun Walk (a different 1k), and the actual event (5k).
Due to road construction, I had to do stand around in a different place than usual to help staff the Kids' Run. The kids ran up 3rd Street, where a crowd of people turned them around before they ran into busy traffic, and then they ran back down the other side. We all got to stand in the road and act as glorified cones. Note that all the kids are number 1, literally, according to their number tags.
	After the Kids' Race finished, we moved over to help staff main race's finish line. On the way, we had to pass through a crowd of people still waiting to start. Holy crap, that's a lot of people going to the race. The thing doesn't even start for 20 minutes.
The course takes people down one bridge across the river, over a few blocks, back another bridge, and then they wind around by VCU for a few blocks. After the first thousand or so runners, it's pretty much just a mass of people bobbing up and down and marching on over the course. I wanted to get a picture of that up close, but they put us in a different place this time, so this is the best I've got, from across the river. They filled up a good 3 lanes of the Manchester Bridge
	The people come down 7th street into the finish. The blue tags are for people who are actually racing, but as you can see there are already a great deal of people who finished and are walking back up the hill to their cars.
Then it started getting hot. We handed out hundreds of flats of water to people as they finished. After carrying them two at a time up to the finish line for a half hour, they started getting really heavy. To give you some idea of how many people were running we've been handing out water for about 15 minutes to people in this picture. There are still thousands of people on the bridge in the background, at about the 3k mark. We were there for quite a long time, and nearly ran out of the water, some of which you can see in the background.
Relay for Life
Then, about a week later, I helped the troop with their volunteer efforts at another cancer fundraising events. Here is the troop's setup, featuring our (relatively) new carport-esque awning. We don't need no stinkin' tents! Instead, we brought camp chairs and a whole slew of blankets.
	Night falls on the walkers. Ow. You can see all the luminaria that our people placed around the track. The track was supposed to be off in a field at the church where my troop meets, but due to squishiness, we had to move to this sidewalk by the kiddie playground.
Yeah, it's pyrmonaia time!
	I mean, Sam and Scott were certainly excited about the prospect.
Ooh, candles.
	Ahh, candles. Hey, check out this video, including one lap around the track.
Tent city in the kiddie playground. It looks bright, but that's only from the 5 second exposure.
	Here, Executive Chef Peter Kauffmann, fresh off his success in cooking mac and cheese from a box, takes on the challenge of hot dogs. Seriously, aside from the fried oreos I cooked during exam week, these are unfortunately the most technical things I've cooked in recent memory.
Red Bull + Young People = Hyperactivity Hyperactive Youths + Long Exposure Photography = Weird Pictures
	Just say no to karaoke.
The event organizers placed these 32 VT memorial luminaria.
	We got an early start the next day, and in no time flat, we had the place cleaned up. I mean, I was impressed.

View Page Stats See who's visiting this page.

Back to Top of Page