The format is familiar - teams made up of volunteers who take turns walking (or running) around a quarter-mile track for specified periods of time. Each lap is worth a predetermined amount of money donated by sponsors.
No big deal, right? Well, there was a catch. The event took place from 12:00PM on Friday until 12:00PM Saturday, and someone from each team had to be on the track at all times. The location was our local high school football/track facility. Each team was assigned a location on the infield to pitch tents or cots, tables, camping gear, etc. And yes, it was a true relay event with a baton that had to be handed off to a teammate when your "shift" ended. All in all, it should have been a lot of fun.
For the most part it was. However, there was one aspect that almost pushed me over the edge. About 8:00PM on Friday night, a couple of DJ's arrived with a monster sound system. Their goal - to serenade and/or motivate us during the wee hours of the morning. On paper, a great idea! In execution, a disaster, at least for our team. The well-meaning DJ's proceeded to place a huge JBL speaker no more than 25 feet from our campsite! So friends, I listened to 70's rock at about 100 dbs, ALL NIGHT LONG!
My assigned sleeping hours were from 12:00AM midnight until 5:30AM with my next shift starting at 6:00AM. Did I sleep? As unbelievable as it sounds, I actually fell asleep, or at least dozed, until 3:00AM when they played a POLKA! I bolted upright on my cot, every hair standing on end, thinking I had OD'd on polysorbates. Only the quick thinking of one of my teammates stopped me from calling 911 and announcing the arrival of alien beings.
Eventually, I started to doze off again when they played King Tut by Steve Martin. Try dozing and laughing at the same time. So I made a command decision - brew some coffee and get on with my day at 3:30AM. Out came my camp stove, my carefully measured ground coffee, my coffee pot, and eight cups of water. Just as I was digging around in my pack for matches, another disaster struck - I had forgotten to bring a coffee cup! Dumb, dumb, dumb!
Enough for now. Writing this was supposed to be therapy. Instead it's taking me down the ugly road to low self esteem. In the words of Western Union - STOP.
Good news - we raised a bunch of money for cancer research. Even better news - I slept for 10 uninterrupted hours last night.
3 comments:
A) This post made me laugh. Thank you.
B) Actually, "STOP" is only one word.
*L* Awakened by the Polka!
Congrats on helping raise money for such a worthy cause. :) I just hope the ACS does something good with it.
Having a cancer survivor in the family, I felt it was time to contribute to research. I'm with you - I hope it gets to the people who count.
Post a Comment