Labor of Love

A few years ago, actually almost 5 years ago to the day, a fellow firefighter (who is a runner) and I were sitting around the firehouse discussing our Thanksgiving weekend plans. He mentioned that he usually gets up at the crack of 4:00am, packs his running bag, meets a few family members for breakfast, drives over an hour to a relatively small unnamed Northeast Massachusetts town, and competes in a 5 mile road race that has over 3000 runners. I asked him what it is like to run with so many people on such a short course. He responded, “I hate it, I don’t know why I go”. I responded with the obvious, “Why do you go?” I don’t remember his answer, but he start rambling about it not being true race, he described it more as an ‘event’ than footrace. He complained about the soccer moms who run 12 minute miles and stage in the 8 minute mile section. He explained the parking situation was horrible, the pack doesn’t thin at all, the majority of the people don’t break 9:00 minute miles, and the frozen pie each runner receives isn’t that good. He told me it was a long standing family tradition to run in this race on Thanksgiving Day so he felt the need to continue to do so. Just joking, I asked him that if I organized a Thanksgiving Day race, would he run with us. He responded he would.

I immediately envisioned a nice easy Thanksgiving Day 5K road race sponsored by our Fire Department. I had zero experience with organizing a road race and had zero expectations that anyone other than my buddy and I would show up at this fictitious race. And since I am way faster than my buddy, I knew I would beat him and come in first place. Hey, as my once single brother-in-law used to say, “A hit is a hit, keep up the average”. I’m still not sure if he was talking about road racing wins or “Last Call” stats at a local bar in Central Square. The analogy works, so I’m using it.

What turned out to be an innocent conversation about holiday plans, morphed into me and another firefighter (a fellow runner and my next door neighbor) feverishly researching what is involved with staging a road race. I recruited my neighbor not only because I am also faster than him, but because he is a computer whiz and agreed to handle all registration and on-line duties. Note to all future race directors, find a tech savvy individual and con this person into handling all registration duties, provide cash and candy if need be, it makes race director life so much easier. We ultimately ran the idea by our Fire Chief, the Police Chief, and the Board of Selectmen, who all loved the idea and gave us the OK. Before we knew it, we had a race planned. We had no idea what we were doing or how the race was going to turn out, but we had a USATF insurance waiver in hand, and had Active.com & Coolrunning.com up and running dammit!!!!!!

I won’t bore you with all the organization details such as the countless race committee meetings consisting of just the two of us sitting around a kitchen table trying to figure out what we should do and when should do them. We tackled such topics as signage, volunteers, refreshments, t-shirts, sponsors, advertisement, course marking, etc... Please feel free to contact my wife and ask her about the amount of time involved in planning a race. I warn you, only do so if you really want to see her infamous 'Look’. She is really a softy and 'The Look' isn't all that intimidating, but I let her think it scares me, hey, let her feel good about herself. Come to think of it, I would love to see what “The Look” looks like directed at another person. But I will tell you that on Thanksgiving Day in 2005, 179 local runners showed up at the Fire Station in Ayer, Massachusetts and ran in 3 inches of freshly falling snow. As I think back, I still can’t believe that we staged a road race. There were no major problems, the timing company showed up, the porta-potties were delivered in time, nobody got lost on the course or broke any bones while running (actually if somebody got hurt, one could consider that job security, I know I’m an idiot), and there was plenty of hot coffee and hot chocolate after the race.

The Ayer Fire Department has an established charitable contribution wing called The Combination Company #1. Its mission is to contribute to our local community in the form of civic, charitable, public safety, literary, and educational purposes. Proceeds from our race will enable the Ayer Fire Department to continue to fund an established long standing scholarship at Ayer High School, support local high school athletic programs, provide support and education for the local community in the areas of fire and public safety, sponsor Senior breakfasts and dinners, participate in Ayer’s Annual Safety Day, and offer ‘Camp Pete’, an annual full day safety camp each summer for over 80 children. ‘Camp Pete’ has always been, and will be, free of charge.

Our race has grown tremendously each year since its inception. Our largest growth area has been in runners under the age of eighteen. It has been rewarding to see a family theme emerge within our race. As we scan the registered runners each year, we note not only the many familiar names who have been with us since the start, but the many runners with the same last names. It brings a smile to our faces when we notice that many individuals run together in large family groups. I don’t want to discount the number of quality racers who run with us though because we do have more than our fare share of ultra fast ‘rabbits’, so defined as anyone who can run sub 5:15 miles. So maybe that 1st place overall finish I thought about is out of reach.

We continue to strive to stage the best race possible and appreciate our sponsors who choose to lend support to our race, our volunteers who choose to assist us with staging our race, and our participants who run in our race.

Go on, admit it, pretty good for a bunch of firefighting runners huh?

We are heading into the 4th year of the Ayer Fire Department Thanksgiving Day 5K Road Race and I am pleased to announce that I am still faster than my two co-workers. We are expecting over 400 runners this year. I’m proud of our race. By all means our race isn’t perfect, I think the course is a little short, but hey it’s a 5K, and if someone runs our course a few seconds faster than a certified USATF wheel-measured course, who cares? Take the PR and go have a second piece of pie later that day.

Is being a Race Director fun? Not really, most of the time you are so focused on completing tasks and working off the ‘punch list’ that you never get to enjoy the process. Why do I do it? Simple. I owe it to you runners out there. As a Race Director, I feel that I ‘m doing my part for this wonderful sport. Over the years, I have competed in so many amazing races and it is all because someone stepped up and said, “I want to organize a race”. Call it giving back; paying it forward, you pick the phrase. Now don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a self ‘pat on the back’ article, but I just want you to think about that favorite race you circle on your calendar every year. Did you ever stop to think about the planning that goes into your favorite race. Did you know that the Race Director usually starts the planning process for the next year’s race a few months after the current race?

Do me a favor, the next time you attend a race and have a positive experience, seek out the Race Director and thank him or her. You don’t realize how much that means to someone that puts family commitments and their personal time on hold to plan such an event. Actually, don’t seek them out on race day, send the Race Director an email when you get home. The Race Director will probably have ten things going on at once and when you introduce yourself, the Race Director will forget at least five of the things he or she was juggling at the time of your introduction :)