On December 24th, I volunteered at the Houston Striders‘ annual Longest Long Run. The LLR is 21 miles of the actual Houston Marathon course, starting from the George R. Brown Convention Center and ending at the Picnic Loop at Memorial Park. It’s a great training run for the Marathon.

As a member of both HoustonFit and the Striders, I was fortunate to have a choice between two 21-mile runs. Although I knew the Striders run would be more fun, I opted for HoustonFit run the previous week because I wanted to get it out of the way, and it was also a good opportunity to recover from my disastrous 30K race. So, with the 21 miles under my belt, I was looking forward to helping at the Striders run.

I got to the GRB at 6am, and met up with Steve, Peter, Ines and a few other Striders. Plus, I saw fellow Houston Running Blogger, Steve! My job was helping with two of the water stops. There were 9 stops total, and Ines and I were assigned to Water Stops #2 (White Oak at Micheaux) and #6 (Kirby at University). Our job was really easy - taking the supplies (cups, water, Gatorade mix, coolers, Striders sign, trash bags), setting everything up, distributing drinks and encouragement to the runners and cleaning up before moving on to the next water stop. There was also a bike volunteer following the runners, as well as (I think) someone in a truck driving along the course.

When I arrived at the GRB, all the supplies were already organized for each water stop, Steve was handing out detailed lists of volunteer cell phone numbers and locations/directions to each water stop, and sign-in sheets were being prepared. I was really impressed by this level of organization - which would continue to be the theme for the rest of the morning. What impressed me right off the bat were:

1. There were printed maps of the course, showing mile markers and water stops, available for all runners at the start of the run - even though a map of the course was available on the Marathon website.
2. All runners were required to sign-in and indicate the number of miles they were planning to run - 10, 13 or the full 21. The Striders made sure they had an accurate headcount of all runners for each distance, along with their names and group affiliation. “We want to make sure everyone is accounted for at the end,” Steve (I think? Or Barbara) explained.
3. The Striders designated a “Last Runner” - his role was to intentionally run behind everyone, to make sure that every single runner came in safely. Plus, he was the signal to the water stop volunteers that it was time to pack up and move to the next water stop. The “Last Runner” role went to Doug, who wore an insanely bright neon yellow shirt, making him easily visible from a far distance and any satellites passing above.

In other words, while a group of 80-90 runners isn’t as large as a few hundred, I saw genuine concern and effort put towards ensuring the safety of all runners of all levels - something that I don’t always see at other runs I’m in, unfortunately.

After everyone was signed in, Steve gave a safety/pep talk and the runners were off. We jumped into our cars and headed off to our respective water stops. I was really glad that I was assigned to Water Stop #2 because it’s on a part of the Marathon Course that I’ve never seen. So, driving to that first stop allowed me see the first few miles of the Course that I’ll be running in…..ack! 20 days!! As we drove through White Oaks, we passed quite a number of runners. They were a mixture of other running groups (we saw a few of their water stops), and unaffiliated people training for the Marathon. I kept thinking that on January 15th, these roads will be packed full of runners.

Doing the water stops was fun. At Water Stop #2, Ines was in charge of the Gatorade and I had water duties. We handed out water and cheered everyone on. When Doug and his shirt showed up, we packed up and headed over to Water Stop #6 in Rice Village.

Water Stop #6 was at the corner of Kirby and University Blvd, between miles 12 and 13 of the Marathon Route. Ines and I knew the runners were going to be tired at that point, so we stopped at CVS to pick up some extra water jugs. We set up in the Gap parking lot, put up the Strider’s LLR sign, and within a few minutes the runners started showing up. Just like at Water Stop #2, there were lots of other runners out that morning. We offered water to them as well, but most said, “Oh, I’m just running on my own - I’m not with your group.” We told them to help themselves if they really needed some fluids, but they mostly smiled gratefully and said no. As the morning went on, a few shoppers stopped by to ask who we were. An elderly couple said they already had their spot picked out along University Blvd where they were going to setup their lawn chairs and cheer for the Marathon runners. Another man was so inspired that he decided to register for the 5K.

Our water stop marked the end of the course for some of the runners. One was John, who stayed to help distribute water and flag down runners. He showed off his Garmin Forerunner, which is completely and totally awesome. It’s a heart rate monitor/GPS/trainer all in one. It even creates maps of your running routes, which you can download (along with all sorts of other data) to your computer. ooooh…..I want one.

After Doug checked in, we closed down the water stop. Ines took two runners back to their cars at GRB and John and I headed to Memorial Park. The post-run party truck was there, overflowing with drinks, snacks and BEER. Awesome. Someone even brought some cold handtowels for all the runners to cool down with. Since I burned thousands of calories all morning sitting in the shade handing out cups of water, I helped myself to some Cheese puffs and ginger ale. mmmm…..ginger ale.

As each runner came in, Barbara checked their names off the list. Many of the Striders running the course kept tabs on everyone, so they had a pretty good idea of who was still out there and where they were. Steve was one of the early finishers - with an average mile time of 9 minutes or less. HELLO.

And at the end, Doug and his shirt arrived, marking the end of the Strider’s Longest Long Run. Yay Doug!

Afterwards, the Striders hosted a post-run meal at IHOP for the volunteers. mmm…pancakes.