We Rocked the House by Gina Cocomello

On June 13 Alternative House hosted our 14th Annual Rock the House 8K Race. We have been working for months to get ready for this event. On race morning the weather was hot and muggy but no thunderstorms. The morning starts early I arrived before 6:00am bringing in supplies and setting up registration. Soon volunteers started arriving. We needed to get ready for the runners. Over 50 volunteers turned out to support this event. Volunteers registered the runners, handed out T-shirts and bibs. They were stationed on the route as course marshals to cheer the runners on and to serve water. Two volunteers were out on bikes riding the route to help organize the volunteers and watch for the runners. We wanted everyone in place before the race started. Almost 300 runners registered for the race. The runners were getting ready, stretching, doing short sprints, and pinning on their bibs. There was a group stretch and warm up. The DJ was playing Bruce Springsteen songs right before the start. The runners were lining up. We even had a few runners with jogging strollers lined up in the back of the pack. Then they were off. While they were gone we got ready for their return opening cases of bottled water and sports drinks, cutting up fruit and organizing the prizes. It didn’t seem like very long before the first runners were crossing the finish line. One or two at first then more and more, as they crossed the finish line there was lots of cheering, finally the last runner, more stretching and lots of water. Prizes were awarded for best in category and even random prizes so everyone had a chance to win something.

The Rock the House 8K Race is our largest fundraising event of the year. We couldn’t do it without the support from our sponsors, Board, volunteers, staff and runners. I personally want to thank everyone involved in this event. The proceeds from this race go to support our programs and services for homeless and at-risk youth and teens. Thank you.