Thursday, September 20, 2012

Finding Your Way!

It's almost time!  Can you feel the excitement?  The anticipation?  The fear?  Ok....maybe not so much the last one (with any luck), but hopefully you ARE starting to get excited about our "Feet For Freedom" event which is now just over a week away.  If this is your first race (or even if you are a seasoned race veteran), you may have some final questions, so read through this next section and we'll try and "find" those answers for you.

What Do I Do Now?
1.  Find the Expo
Most "bigger" races have an Expo that happens the day before or the day of an event.  In our case, the Expo is being held at Eastview Christian Church (1500 N. Airport Road in Normal) beginning at 4 PM on Friday, September 28th.  At the Expo, you pick up your bib (no...not THAT sort of bib...a racing bib are those numbers that you pin on the front of your shirt that identifies you as a race participant) and goodie bag.  YES!  You get stuff (or goodies) for running these races.  You'll get pamphlets and flyers for upcoming races and sample products and other neat stuff...plus you'll also get your official race t-shirt.  But you'll get a way cooler shirt when you....

2.  Find "Team Compass"
Starting at 5 PM on Friday night, we will be in the Eastview Christian Church parking lot to distribute our "Team Compass" t-shirts.  We'll try and get a sign or poster or banner of some sort made that says "Team Compass", so make sure and look for us and we'll get you outfitted with your wicked cool "Team Compass" shirt.


3.  Find the Start Line
All races will start at Eastview Christian Church.
  • The 5k will be at 6 PM on Friday, September 28th.
  • The half-marathon and 10K will be held on Saturday, September 29th.  The half-marathon will start at 7 AM and the 10K will start at 7:30 AM.
  • The 5K will be run entirely on the Eastview campus.  The half-marathon and 10K will be run over city streets and Constitution Trail.  
  • The Saturday races will be "out and back" races.   They will start on Raab Road, in front of Eastview Christian Church, turn south down Airport Road, turn into Tipton Park, loop through the park and out out the Constitution Trail until each race hits the halfway distance at which point the runners will turnaround and then return to Airport Road before finishing at Eastview Christian Church.

4.  Find the Finish Line
This one probably goes without saying, but we thought we'd throw it in there anyway for someone like Tony Davenport who might start running and just not stop.  If you picture Forrest Gump from the movie when he just kept running, well that's kind of like how Tony is.  You almost need to put a big "STOP" sign in front of him.  (We kid...Tony's awesome....we love Tony bunches...and he's a good sport for being our target.)

5.  Find Someone and "Be Their Barnabas"
This is kind of new to us, but when we read about it, it sounds really cool and it totally makes sense!  It's intended more for those who are doing the 5K on Friday and not running on Saturday, but who might want to come out and "help" those runners on Saturday doing the 10K and half-marathon.  We'll steal the description from the race director's Facebook page:
Many have asked: What are Barnabas Runners? Answer: Our Barnabas runners are there to help you finish. I remember the first time I 'Hit the Wall' in a race. It was mile 22 in the Nashville Marathon and all I could do was barely put 1 foot in front of another... it was a 17 minute mile. All I wanted was to quit. I finally started jogging (kind of) and fell in step with another runner. We just plodded along together, without a word, for about a half mile. Then I turned to her and said "I wouldn't still be running if you weren't here." To which she responded,"I would still be walking if it weren't for you!" All it took was the least little encouragement for each of us to go on. Our Barnabas Runners are there to help you finish. Give them a hand signal or something to let them know you could use a little help or company or just to have them run with you. We want to help you finish! Barnabas was known as The Great Encourager, and that's what we want to do.  If this appeals to you and you would like to volunteer as a Barnabas Runner on Sat the 29th, just go to the event page, sign up to volunteer, and in the comments box put Barnabas Runner. We also need traffic flaggers. Enjoy your day!
So if you're interested sign-up  and be a "Barnabas Runner".  Or heck, just come out and cheer on those that are doing the 10K and half-marathon.  Just another chance for "Team Compass" to be heard and make a difference!

6. Find More Contributors
Yes...there is still time to get more people to donate to our "Feet For Freedom" campaign.  So continue to get those pledges and/or collect that money!  If you have already collected some money, Pastor Chris says that you can bring it to Compass, put "Feet For Freedom" on the envelope, and drop it in the offering bucket.

So have we left any questions unanswered?  If we have, then you can email us, and we'll get an answer back to you as quick as we can!

Good luck with the rest of your training!  Until next time....