Volunteering at RTP and ARC

I volunteered at the Rock the Parkway Half-marathon this weekend. I haven't been running much and therefor wasn't in shape to run it even if I wanted to. I hope to become more consistent with my running soon. Until then I thought it would be good to give back to the sport that has given me so much.

I was a course monitor which basically means I assisted KCPD with keeping traffic off the course so the runners are able to run a safe traffic-free race. I was assigned the intersection at 63rd Terrace and Ward Parkway. Wow was there a lot of traffic! It became quite a challenge. Many people were trying to either turn south on to ward parkway or cut across, neither of which we could allow them to do once the runners got close to the area. I used my car to block the intersection but even that wasn't enough. One older gentleman tried to bump me with his car because I told him he needed to turn around. The KCPD officer assigned to work the same area came over and positioned his car so that between my car and his nobody could get through. He apologized for not doing that sooner and made sure I knew to holler if I needed help with any upset drivers. We had a few more people yell at us after that but for the most part people cooperated and turned around as directed. And of course it's always nice to hear "Thank You" from all the runners. Overall it was an experience I had hoped for. I'm sure I will volunteer at some more races this year.

I have been to a few fire calls for the Red Cross this past week as well. I have recently been diagnosed with PTSD because of the trauma of going through 2 fires in a 2 week period last year. My psychiatrist suggested that maybe I shouldn't volunteer with the Red Cross because of my recurring nightmares. I told him that I believe the benefit of helping those affected by a fire or other disaster outweighs the fear I feel from my experience with fire. I do now take a low dose antidepressant to help with the PTSD and feel like it is helping. My hope is to pursue a career in Emergency Management or related field and don't plan on giving up my volunteer activities anytime soon. Volunteering has been such a blessing for me and I look forward to the future opportunities it presents!