Handing out Gatorade during a marathon isn’t as simple as it sounds. Sharon Harris, 55, readily hands out beverages to dehydrated runners, despite suffering from spinal stenosis, which prevents her from standing for more than 30 minutes at stretch.
This marked Harris’s first year volunteering for the marathon. Despite fears of not being able to participate due to her spinal stenosis, Harris decided to step up anyway – refusing to let her disability dictate her life.
“I can’t just sit at my house all the time because then you get depressed,” she said. “My quality of life, if I wasn’t doing this, it’s bad.”
Harris arrived at the volunteer location at 6:30 a.m., an hour ahead of schedule.
Danny Soria, a volunteer who worked with Harris, said they were among the first people to arrive and patiently, despite the rain early in the day. “I laughed because I had brought my little umbrella just in case,” Harris said.
Aside from packing an umbrella, Harris’s preparation for the day included skipping breakfast, a ritual of sorts for hereach time she does volunteer work. The reasoning behind this habit: a lack of access to indoor bathrooms. She wasn’t about worried about getting tired from hunger.
“No, believe me, I have enough energy for everybody right now,” she said, shrugging off any concerns.
When asked about the inevitable pain as a result of standing for a long time, Harris joked: “The medical tent is right here.”
