I had a blast. That is the most fun I have ever had with my radio in the 2+ years I have had my license. Thanks for the opportunity to be a part. You can count on me for next year.

I'm sorry that we had to hear from the individual that had the "problem" with getting through the barricade. The Clock crew arrived about 30 minutes after race started and had no "contact information" if something should go wrong nor did they know how they were getting back! The Truck driver had been tossed a Motorola radio before he left the staging area but was given no instructions or information on its use. It had been set for the security net (channel 2) and he never changed it. When I learned this, I showed him how it works and tried to get a radio check on each of the channels he had on his list. No one responded!

Just a brief note to thank everyone on the "Mile" Net Control. Their quick response and ongoing support was greatly appreciated throughout the day.
PS-And thanks to whoever provided the lunch!

Here's what I have. GREAT DAY.......Few problems.

I enjoyed working the radio at Marathon at Mile 5. I am still so tired that I could pass out any minute.

I spoke to one of the officers at my post 14 and he said they were changing things on the cops as it was in processs, so he wasn't sure what was going on. So we had a good laugh. I did feel bad for the guy who was ranting on the air that he couldn't get in and would have wished he would grow up a bit for that kind of attitude hurt hams radio.
I did seem we had a lot of medical calls though later on in the race seems like they were doing like fly's!!!!!

Volunteers who work the Marathon might be interested in something that happened in the year 490 BC. A Greek messenger named Philippides was sent to Athens with the news that Persia had invaded. He ran 26.2 miles to carry the news before he fell and died. The location where Persia invaded Greece?
Marathon.

I would like to share a funny story. At mile 9 these was a Korean Bakery/Sushi store and before the race the owner was pushing his hand cart with plastic boxes of sushi across Olympic Blvd. to a waiting delivery van. He did this before the race and before and after the bike and wheel chair races. When the men's race was in full force he wanted to push a handcart across Olympic Blvd , and would have hurt himself and many runners doing it. All he cared about was the delivery of the food. For a half hour I advised him that it would not be safe to go across Olympic and he stood on the sidelines cursing in Korean. He then told me I am going , I told him I was going to let the LAPD know and he would have to deal with them. He pushed his cart of sushi a block toward Normandy and checked out the flow of runners. He saw another LAPD officer there , so he finally pushed the cart back to his restaurant, and put the food away in the refrigerator. At the end of the race the Water Captain asked me if the Korean man ever gave up. I laughed and told him the story. The Korean man probably was afraid of getting a ticket or even getting arrested. He did not care about the safety of the runners or even himself. How do we deal with people like this in the future? I look forward to joining the marathon next year. I really enjoyed it on Sunday.

I don't ever remember hearing soooooo much chatter on the mile net concerning misplaced/ lost volunteers and movement of supplies. It was chaos under construction most of the day.... It seems there were last minute changes to water station locations.. My mile captian was lost for a while looking for her water station at Boyle & 7th street. Her map showed it to be at Boyle & 7th mine showed it on the bridge as did the supply truck. From the sound of things this was not the only snafu... Something else that caused confusion at Mile 23 is the presence of an independent aid station set up by a group called JBT. They had permission to set up but I am not sure it is such a wise idea to allow such. LADP did not know they were not part of the regular network and were annoyed when they approached them seeking aid for two downed people and found they had no way of handling such. The officer ended up taking his police cruiser onto the course to pick up the downed persons and get them to a proper aid station. I found out about this after the fact when he complained to me saying "Your aid station is useless...." I had to explain if he heard of anyone down to let me know and that the JBT group was not part of the official network with no direct communications to marathon operations. Dropout transportation. Good idea poorly exicuted. Drivers of the vans did not seem to know the city. Had no idea how to reach the different pickup locations. Was there any communication with these drivers to let them know about pick ups? I had to give directions to one to get them over to Mile 22. Also another driver who eventually picked up the bike of the downed rider had no idea where he was to take passengers or property he picked up and spent ten minutes parked on the course talking to someone... dispatcher? trying to figure out what to do. And was not sure what to put on his paperwork for the pick ups... Im sure as everyone gets used to the new course layout and new asignment areas that things will get better. I had a great ime. With all the changes it was like working the marathon for the first time again. New perspective... new views of the city, new people. What a day. See you next year.