Breakfast sandwiches + race day registration

Breakfast sandwiches + race day

If you’re like most people, you don’t often think about breakfast sandwiches on race day - unless you are eating one.

Well, I think about breakfast sandwiches on race day all the time.

Maybe it’s because I spent a summer making breakfast sandwiches at Dunkin Donuts. To this day, I’m quite proud of my ability to make a fully cooked bacon egg and cheese sandwich in 17 seconds! If you’re curious about the timeline, the 17 seconds is from the order leaving the customer’s mouth until the sandwich is handed through the car window.

Working at Dunkin required early mornings. I would arrive between 3:30am and 4am so I could get the bagels in the oven. We baked the bagels from dough everyday while the famous donuts would get delivered by a truck. The store opened at 5am with the breakfast sandwich rush taking place from 6:30am-9am. My shift would end at noon. I made $7.25/hour.

If you think I’m making this up, here is photographic evidence.

How are breakfast sandwiches similar to community races?

It’s not just the early morning alarm that makes me think of breakfast sandwiches at community races. I’ve noticed quite a few similarities between making breakfast sandwiches and organizing a great race. Here are a few:

• Speed matters: people don’t want to wait 15 minutes for a coffee and breakfast sandwich at Dunkin Donuts just like they don’t want to wait 15 minutes to pickup their bib and shirt at a race.

• Roles create focus: at Dunkin, I focused entirely on making sandwiches while others on the team poured coffee and managed the cash register. This allowed me to operate fast and efficiently. At community races, volunteers and staff with clear roles operate with increased focus, helping to produce a smooth operation.

• Preparation is key: before busy periods at Dunkin, we would pre-heat sandwich ingredients to reduce the time required to make a sandwich. At community races, being prepared to handle bib pickup and the inevitable pre-race rush efficiently helps create a seamless race that starts on time.

• Technology can help: at Dunkin I wore a headset so that I could get to work immediately when a customer ordered a sandwich. At races, Run The Day’s technology helps to streamline registration, bib assignment and shirt pickup.

• Mentors are important: a 6-year veteran sandwich chef named Lou mentored me at Dunkin. This helped me to learn faster than I would have figured it out by myself. At community races, I am always learning from Tim’s 20+ years of experience, race directors and the broader run community.

• Seeing the big picture can reduce stress: When long lines formed at Dunkin, I worked urgently while keeping in mind that long wait times would not end the world. Similarly, community races can feel stressful. Producing a great event requires detailed preparation and urgent execution, but at the end of the day, the sun will still rise tomorrow. So when things go sideways, I do my best to act with urgency while reminding myself that bringing the community together for an active event is already a win.

Thanks for reading.

— Ian

Tech Update: Walker check-in

• Check-in walkers without assigning unique bib numbers

• Run The Day’s walker check-in offers a great way to:

  • Streamline race day check-in

  • Reduce lines for bib pickup

  • Manage shirt inventory

  • Accurately track no show rates

• How to use: 

  1. Download Run The Day in App Store or Google Play.

  2. Navigate to your race

  3. Select ‘view participants and assign bibs’

  4. Check-in walkers

Seamless race day registration

@goruntheday

Thanks to Beth and everyone involved in making the Jenkintown Sunset 5k a great race! #5k #community #runtheday