Volunteering at the Sapper Joe 50K

Taking a little downtime between marathons (Park City last Saturday and Layton next Saturday), I agreed to volunteer at the Sapper Joe 50K race this morning. Why not? I already had my alarm set for an early Saturday from last week.

I was on base at Camp Williams by 4:30 a.m. and met my two National Guardsmen and followed them out to Aid Station number 2 on Camp Williams. It was pretty dark and I couldn't see much ahead on the drive out other than the back of their vehicle and the sparks it was shooting off. They lost a pin for a porta potty leg and it dragged the whole way, so I kept an eye out to make sure they didn't start a fire.

Dropped the vehicle off at the aid station and drove the Sergeant out to the gate to unlock it. This was the gate into the live ordinance section and we had to warn all the runners to NOT LEAVE THE TRAIL for any reason between the two green gates.

We quickly set up our aid station and I layed on a cot and enjoyed the starry night and sunset.

At 7:01 our first runner came through. Most of them were fairly self-sufficient and just chatted with us as we helped fill bottles and bladders (the running pack kind and probably the other kind too). Someone forgot to put TP in the portapotties, so luckily the paper towels were nice and fluffy.

Visited with Steve Kissell and his brother near the end of the race and enjoyed cheering on Jen Richards (who went on to win the female 50K). About 9:45 we drove out and locked the gate and picked up trail markers and were done for the day. It was very interesting seeing all the areas of the base that I had driven by in the dark with complete ignorance.

Looks like a beautiful but tough race. I want to experience these trails one year – but need to have more climbing legs on me before I can do that.

Thanks to the Army National Guard for allowing us to invade their territory and use their trails. Go Army!