Seaton Trail Race Volunteer Report

So, the fastpacking - the 'no long term damage' one?

Yeah.  Two weeks off.  I let the IT band calm down and two days later the medial side of my ankle swelled up - probable deltoid irritation from where I damaged it in November tearing the ligaments on the lateral side.

Beautiful.

I stayed off it as much as possible, only doing strength workouts - sure, this is AWESOME for the Sulphur 50 miler (now two weeks away) but I was also supposed to run the Seaton Soaker today - the Seaton Trail Race.

So I was trying to make it so that a)it wasn't swollen; and b)I could take a step without pain.

The swelling is pretty well gone but walking is STILL painful, though much improved.  The lateral side of my ankle is now painful, I think everything has gotten stiff though why my lateral side should get painful over a week into the medial pain is beyond me.  Fuck my ankle.

Anyways, I decided that running Seaton would be a bad idea.  And god knows, I'm ALL about #illadvised, but I'm trying to stay healthy for Haliburton and that means staying healthy for Sulphur.  So.

I volunteered!

It was lots of fun.  I helped unload food at the school in the morning, then headed to the Forestream aid station and made some PB&J sandwiches and cut some fruit.  Met Merle and his son Will, and a bunch of other lovely volunteers.  Leeanne had asked if I could help direct runners where the course takes a sharp turn off the road back onto trail, so this actually meant I was away from the aid station for most of the day - out of sight of it actually - but I had come prepared with a camp chair and it was a beautiful sunny day.

Once the first runners started coming through, I headed to my spot, and directed and cheered.  There were a few people who wouldn't have noticed the turn, and one guy I had to chase after despite repeating 'to your right' so it was probably a good thing I was there.

Once most of the runners had come back through on their way to the start/finish or turnaround for the 50k, I headed back to the aid station and stayed there until the 50kers came back, and then I went back to my spot.  Everyone knew the turn by then, but I got to cheer people on and of course trail runners are lovely, so it was fun.

And sun-shiney.

I also managed NOT to get burnt, so there Toby, I don't ALWAYS get burnt!  60 SPF, I probably blocked all that good vitamin D...

So that's where things stand.  A fun day, and I am planning on trying a run on the rail trail tomorrow, but geez.  Crossing fingers for Sulphur!