NYCRUNS VERRAZANO FESTIVAL OF RACES

"Pay it forward" is the idea of doing someone a favor after someone else did one for you.  I like that concept a lot.  Some years ago at the NYCRuns Inaugural Brooklyn Marathon, I overdressed and after either the first or the second of the two small loops had my outer layer, a yellowish hoodie, removed.  A staff person saw that the piece of clothes was too big for me to carry for the rest of the race and offered to take it from me and I gladly accepted.  It helped a lot not to have the hoodie with me, else my bad finish time would be even worse.  Yesterday, I worked at NYCRuns' Verrazano Festival of Races and got the chance to pay it forward.  I served as a bike marshal and traveled up and down the waterfront beneath the Verrazano Bridge many times.  On a trip back to Owl's Head Pier, where the start and finish lines were, I saw that a runner was carrying a balled-up jacket in her right hand.  Earlier in the morning it was probably cold, especially with the wind blowing and runners just milling about waiting for the start.  But once they run, they heat up very quickly.  I offered to take the jacket back for the runner and she accepted.  I dropped it off with Bag Check and later on I saw that it was not there any more.  I hope it helped the runner not to have the extra item to carry for the rest of her 5K or 10K race.

As usually, I took a few photos of the race, mostly of the volunteers but there are some of runners.

Volunteers of the Food and Drink Table.

Volunteers at Bag Check.

Two of the Bike Marshals.

Volunteers at Water Station #1.

Volunteer and staff of Water Station #2.

For the entire, small album, visit

https://plus.google.com/photos/109153989599275468311/albums/5871630378743787345

What I really like about the Verrazano race is that it is in my neighborhood.  I did not have to take the subway and be at the mercy of the MTA weekend road repair schedule.  Instead, I got to the race on bike and brought along the $200 bike trailer that I used to ferry my son around for fun.  It was used to put out the mile markers later.  I should have used it, too, when collecting the markers from the 5K and 10K races once the Half-Marathon was underway.  By themselves the signs are light, but with 10 or 20 of them they became heavy and unwieldy.

When the race was over and everything taken down, there were four tall paper bags of  bagels leftover. I took them home in the bike trailer in hope of passing by some food pantry or soup kitchen in my neighborhood.  A quick Google search revealed none.  At home after a late lunch I did find a pantry not too far away, but I had to make sure they would accept the bagels.  I left a voicemail with the place and no one called me back.  So late in the day, there was little chance I would be able to donate the food for human consumption so I made a little piece of art out of them. 

Bagel Art

The good news is I recalled someone asking in Freecycling Network for bread and such for some chickens in her neighborhood.  I contacted her and it turned out she works not too far from where I live.  We met today and I was able to give her one bag of bagels, transferred into double plastic bags for safer carrying, as the paper bag that the bagels come in break easily if not carried properly.  I look forward to giving her the rest of the bagels over the next few days.  Hooray for freecycling!