Just got back from Central Park where I volunteered with the Red Cross to assist the medical teams at the New York Marathon.

Our job was to be spotters in the post-race area watching the runners as they came from the finish line to where UPS trucks were lined up to give them back their belongs collected in Staten Island at the start of the race. We basically kept an eye out for anyone who looked like they needed assistance and then either escorted them to the medical tent or called for a medical team to come pick them up.

We had a lifeguard stand where one person could sit and watch the crowd from above. Everyone else was fanned out on both sides of our designated area to go to someone either they spotted or were directed to by the person in the lifeguard seat.

We didn't get the top elite runners or the wheelchair athletes because they exited in a separate area. But the first wave of runners were serious athletes and most of their problems were leg or arm cramps. But, after them it seemed to be the runners who had pushed themselves the hardest and that middle group made me wonder why people even run marathons. They showed up around the 3:30 to 4:30 hour mark. 

Some were really in agony with leg cramps, others were throwing up, and still others were just disoriented. Our team didn't have any life-threatening situations, though we did have to call for medics a few times.

The next wave of runners appeared to be those who had paced themselves better. They didn't seem to have as much of an issue with severe cramping.

I had to help a few runners who couldn't perform the simplest of tasks because it seemed that their  bodies were too tired or too sore for small motor skills. I loosened and retied a Canadian runner's shoes (he just wasn't able to either bend over or crouch down to do it himself.) This big strong runner asked me if I could open his bottle of Gatorade for him, which I thought was pretty funny and another asked for a scissors to open his bag of salted almonds which I just ripped open for him.

There were runners who wore funny hats or bunny ears and a couple of guys in drag. I loved the Dutch runner with the little Dutch hat and matching pigtails. I shouted from the lifeguard chair "you got any chocolate?" And he shook his head and laughed. "Or maybe a Heineken?" I added.

I spoke a lot of Spanish and helped some runners from Mexico and Argentina.

There was an Israeli runner who needed a moment to rest and stretch in our area and I stayed with him a little until he was ready to keep walking. A guy wearing a yarmulke walked by and I yelled out "mazel tov"  and then "yesher koach" (may you have strength) and then I got a huge grin.

The runners were so nice. We cheered and applauded for them as they walked by and shouted out congratulations in the different languages our group knew (Spanish, French, Mandarin, Cantonese, a little Hebrew and a little Italian). They shouted back "thank you for volunteering!"

One man with the French flag painted on his cheek turned to us with a big smile and said "New York people, you are the best!" and the rest of the runners around him cheered.

I took a big leap of faith this week and I'm still feeling a bit stunned: I quit my job to go back to school full-time.

It hasn't really sunk in yet.

I still have this overwhelming feeling that I'm supposed to be working on something. I still feel like I should be checking my email, looking for the latest news, or coming up with the next big idea to improve the product I manage.

For the next several weeks I'll be catching up on a lot of things around the house that need doing including household paperwork, cleaning out closets, giving away clothes, book, etc. I start a new mentoring program called iMentor.org this month and I'll be volunteering with Red Cross at the NY Marathon in November. 

Right now "celebs" is the biggest word in my tag cloud, but that's going to change. I'm sick of writing about entertainment and celebrities, which is one of the reasons I am leaving the media world (more about that in future posts). A few months ago I Googled "should I quit my job and go back to school?" and was disappointed I couldn't find very much. So, I'm going to try and fill that niche myself here.

Stay tuned.

Detroit is a sports town and the fans there don't just follow the pro teams, they follow the college teams, too -- even if they don't have a friend or relative at that school. It's so exciting that Detroiters get to watch their MSU Spartans play for the championship Monday night and it couldn't have come at a better time, not just for Detroit but for the entire state. The city gets an influx of money from the tourists and corporate sponsors and people around the state can take their mind off of the economy for a few days.

Here's what Steve Keating of Reuters had to say:

Detroit put aside its dread over a crippled auto industry on Saturday, savoring a day in the sun and the national spotlight as the NCAA basketball tournament delivered a moment of relief for the beleaguered Motor City.

Downtrodden Detroit revels in Spartans' success | Motoring | Reuters.

Well, I've had to watch some lousy movies and listen to some awful music as an entertainment reporter, but after seeing this video I'm really glad I'm not a travel or food writer. The Houston Chronicle's Kristin Finan is shown here eating chapulinas -- deep-fried grasshoppers!

Dude, you're in Oaxaca, go get some chocolate!

I spent most of the evening studying for the CUNY Proficieny Exam I have tomorrow morning. At about 10 p.m. I realized that I didn't have a dictionary, which you are allowed to bring with you to the test. I figured it might be just my luck to get a word I don't know on the test handout, so I decided to run over to Barnes & Noble and get a paperback copy to bring with me tomorrow.

When I was at the register, I decided to throw in one of those Godiva chocolate bars on display as a reward for studying hard. As I walked home, I unwrapped the chocolate and took a bite, so good! I bit into the candy bar a second time and immediately felt one of the veneers on my front teeth come loose. I was so mad at myself, because I'm usually careful and avoid certain hard foods (pretzels, for example).

Because of the test schedule, I wouldn't be able to get into a dentist tomorrow afternoon, and figured I'd have to stay snaggly-toothed until possibly Tuesday. I was really stressing over this.

I went back to studying for another hour or so and then began to get ready for bed.. I started to brush my teeth and laughed at my jacked-up smile.

Then it hit me: with times the way they are right now, I should just be happy that I can even afford to go to the dentist to get this fixed. I started feeling grateful instead of stressed. I smiled another, even bigger snaggly-tooth smile at myself and came back to share this with you.

And after another bite of chocolate (which I'm breaking into smaller pieces), I'm going to sleep in the bed that's in the home I thank God I have every night.