Weary with toil, I haste me to my bed, the dear repose for limbs with travel tired, (Sonnet 27)

[Shake-and-run]

 TailChaser and I decided that the Shakespeare Marathon and HM was not something we wanted to enter, (Tailchaser had spent the previous 2 weekends running HMs which was fair enough. I don’t really have an excuse….). So lured by the promise of run entry vouchers, we signed up as volunteers. With our only experience of marshalling from Parkrun, we thought how different could it be?

The information was late arriving, with us only knowing what task we had been assigned on Friday. The request to turn up for a 7.30am sign on and briefing was a little unwelcome, but with the race starting at 9.00am, perhaps not that unexpected. This morning at 4.30am a revised WhatsApp message was sent with a 7.00am sign on. Many people (including me) did not read this until it was too late and therefore it was all very chaotic when we arrived at the venue.

We had asked to work together and to have a spot that was with in reasonable walking distance from the venue. We were a little disappointed to be posted to one of the marshal posts furthest away and as the instructions said we would need to get ourselves to the post, we had organised ourselves with bikes to cycle out. At the briefing we were offered a lift to post and there was some suggestion we should be split up to cover another post. Thankfully that didn’t materialise and we decided to take some control and informed them we didn’t need a lift as we would be cycling out. We went and asked for out hot drink voucher (they had forgotten to give it us at sign on) and had a coffee to warm ourselves up (it was only 2 degrees and we had already been standing about for some time). It really was no surprise that the coffee vendors had not been briefed about the volunteer vouchers, but that was soon resolved and we were warmed up a bit.

We arrived at our post (at 20.5 miles on the marathon course) with a good 2 hours to wait for our first runner. It was a lovely spot on a cycle/footpath with somewhere to put the bikes, a nice hedge to keep off the cold wind and some sunshine. We conversed with dog walkers and cyclists and enjoyed some of our picnic refreshments (we were well prepared with food, drink and chairs).

The WhatsApp messages kept us informed on how the runners were progressing and we had news of some marshals closing down as all runners had passed them before we had seen our first. Less thrilling was the numerous requests for help from those near road closures getting dogs-abuse from disgruntled motorists.

The race lead cyclist rode past announcing the arrival of the first runners. We were on our feet waving pom poms, jingling a bell stick and yelling encouragement. It was about 20 minutes before more runners arrived and then there was a steady stream of them for several hours. The yelling, pom pom waving and bell jingling did not cease throughout!!

The day warmed up and the runners looked hotter, as the 5 hour 30 min pacer passed us we were seeing more competitors who were walking and looking fatigued, hopefully our noise and encouragement cheered them on, we certainly got quite a few smiles!!

The Tail runner passed us at about 2.30pm and we started to close down our site. One of the organisers passed us (walking), took our hi-viz and said we were free to go. It was then just a case of riding the 6 miles home. The chat seems to suggest that (despite what I’ve said in this post) most marshals found the experience really enjoyable and thanked the managers for the excellent organisation. I certainly enjoyed cheering on the runners and we had a fab spot for the day. May be I will do it again (as long as I don’t get a spot near a road!).

The photos include a picture of the first lady to come past us and of William Shakespeare in full costume who had time to stop for a selfie. The quote in the title is for the runners, especially those who were weary when they passed us, so impressive, with 20 miles done and 6 more to go.

[Beachcomber66 Administrator Half Marathon]

I think WS had you and TC in mind as well as the runners Shakes. That was a long stint; it couldn’t have happened without stewards. Maybe a tiny bit more TLC wouldn’t have come amiss? Hope you enjoyed your day regardless.

[TailChaser Marathon in reply to Beachcomber66]

Thankfully we’re good at looking after ourselves. As long as we get our vouchers I’m happy. At least they were in agreement that we had the best form of transport to get to our marshalling point. As Shakes said, most of the disorganisation was down to a lack of local knowledge.

[Beachcomber66 Administrator Half Marathon in reply to TailChaser]

🙂 so long as you both had a good day…which you clearly did. 👍

[AlMorr Half Marathon]

Hi, glad you enjoyed your day being a marshall at The Shakespeare Marathon, a nice change from running, I notice that you were a marshall at 20 miles, isn't that where the so-called wall is on running a marathon?, the average body averages 2000 calories a day, when running a marathon the runner uses 2000 calories at around 20 miles hence the name wall, I just hope all the runners didn't hit that wall and were well prepared to finish the marathon.

Later this year in August I have volunteered to be a marshall at a 10K event race at the same place as I run one of the parkruns I go to, this 10K will be on part of the parkrun course but with a further 5K extension including a 1K part all uphill, the race starts at 11am, but the marshalls have to be at a briefing by 9.30.

[TailChaser Marathon in reply to AlMorr]

Yes, you’re exactly right Al, 20 miles is The Wall. We wanted to make sure that our runners had a little boost to help them through it. Hopefully we helped.

Good luck with your marshalling, sounds like they’ve got it sussed already.

[Shake-and-run Half Marathon in reply to AlMorr]

TC told me about ‘the wall’. Made me more determined to make a difference!

[AlMorr Half Marathon in reply to Shake-and-run]

If I was going to run longer than a half marathon I would only run to that wall, no further 😂

[Cowladyrunning Marathon]

Interesting experience for you both. It's a shame you weren't better looked after but it sounds like you were great cheerers! It's all that pom pom practice we have! I've signed up to marshall at a local ultra in July so no idea what to expect!

[TailChaser Marathon in reply to Cowladyrunning]

My Pom poms were in storage since last years London Marathon. They stood out much more at the Shakespeare. We do get a lot of practice! Plenty of suncream if it’s July (I hope?!).

[Shake-and-run Half Marathon in reply to Cowladyrunning]

Thanks CL. There is not a lot of roadside support for runners at these provincial events, particularly out of the town centre. I felt we had to make an effort! Good luck with your marshalling at the Ultra

[Sandraj39 Half Marathon]

Gosh..that was quite a feat of bell-jangling and cheering…and I am sure you were very much appreciated by the runners!👏👏👏🙂

[TailChaser Marathon in reply to Sandraj39]

It seemed to be. I don’t know about Shakes but I’m exhausted 😅

[Shake-and-run Half Marathon in reply to TailChaser]

I was quite surprised how tired I was last night, but then it was an early start….

[TailChaser Marathon in reply to Shake-and-run]

It certainly was

[SueAppleRun 10 Miles]

That's a long day volunteering, what a good thing to do, without volunteers like both of you these events couldn't go ahead

[Shake-and-run Half Marathon in reply to SueAppleRun]

Thank you Sue. It was a lot of fun.

[Dexy5 10 Miles]

Very well done both of you! I’m sure your own race experience helped there, and doing it together must have been fun, once the runners started coming by.

I was thinking that you probably wouldn’t have met if it hadn’t been for running, and c25k, and look what fun you are now having together! Shame about the early start 😴🥱

[Shake-and-run Half Marathon in reply to Dexy5]

Tailchaser has Marathon experience and was brilliant with her magnificent pom poms. She knew just what the runners were going through and the right things to say! I just thought it was important to make lots of noise because I know how encouraging it is and what a boost it can give you. Some runners, particularly the early ones, were in the zone and didn’t acknowledge us, but many gave us smiles and waves or even exchanged a few words. I had a great time, it was fun to do it together and we had plenty of provisions with us (TC had enough food to feed an army!).

[TailChaser Marathon in reply to Shake-and-run]

Still getting through the orange segments 😂

[Irishprincess Administrator Half Marathon]

Well done both of you. That sounds exhausting! I think you definitely earned your vouchers 🙂

[Shake-and-run Half Marathon in reply to Irishprincess]

Thanks IP, we had a lot of fun but I was quite tired by early evening. We will wait patiently for the vouchers and hope that their administration is not as chaotic as their briefing and deployment of volunteers!! 🤞🤞

[TailChaser Marathon in reply to Shake-and-run]

Yes, I’m not holding my breath!

[Sandie1961 Half Marathon]

Well done! Sounds like you expended almost as much energy as if you’d run it 😂😂

[Shake-and-run Half Marathon in reply to Sandie1961]

It certainly felt like last night! A hot bath and a G&T was just the recovery plan I needed.

[Irishprincess Administrator Half Marathon in reply to Shake-and-run]

A G&T in a hot bath is perfect recovery 🥰