Saturday I volunteered for the Keys 100 Ultramarathon down in the Florida Keys. This is the second year I volunteer for this event and was site manager at the mile marker 60 stop. Stops are set-up every 10 miles between Key Largo and Key West to support the participants who were tackling this 100 mile stretch of road uncrewed (no one driving along with them to support them throughout the course). Why anyone would want to tackle the 100 miles between Key Largo and Key West on their own is beyond me, but 14 people were doing it on Saturday.
These stops are where the runners have access to their drop bags which include food, Gatorade, dry socks, Biofreeze, Tylenol… basically any items they think they would need throughout the day. They usually make it down to Key West within 24 hours, yup they go all night.
Most of the runners seemed in good physical condition and in a good state of mind 40 miles into the race when I saw them, but when I checked the results on Sunday, many ended up dropping out between miles 50 & 75. I saw several people that I recognized from last year. Some finished and some did not :( For whatever their reasons for signing up for this race, you have got to give them credit for at least giving it a shot!
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| Keys 100 Ultramarathon |
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| Mile Marker 60 rest stop |
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| This guy carried the flag for all 100 miles! |
Wow! Those runners are very crazy - yet admirable! I guess I'd be able to entertain the idea of being part of a relay - but that's as far as the idea would go! Very cool that you volunteered. I find that the more I race, and especially now that I'm finally doing half marathons, I value the volunteers more and more every time. They seriously carried me through to the finish line with one of them this year!
ReplyDeleteI think ultra - marathoning is amazing. I think the human body is amazing! What am amazing event to be a volunteer. I can watch people run forever. marathons on t.v. - I am glued!
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