I believe I am the only one on staff who has never been a runner and will never run. I got hooked on the running community through my husband, David. I went along to runs with him and enjoyed being part of the community. At one of the races, someone suggested that maybe I would enjoy the event more if I volunteered. So I did, and as they say, the rest is history. 

I help in many ways and have had many roles on the Grand Rapids Marathon staff. I managed the bag drop-off and merchandise table. I take good notes at meetings and can look back to what we did previous years as questions come up. I work at packet pickup, pick up volunteer lunches, organize volunteer shirts, and am ready to help wherever there is a need. I stayed on the staff long after my husband quit running marathons.

I learned that the running community was a great group of people, and I decided to become one of them by volunteering. I met a fantastic group of people, and I am happy to say they all feel like family now. If you have a problem or need an answer to something, you just have to ask anyone and they will be there for you with an answer and are willing to help you.