General manager Mike Glancy and his team at U-Haul Moving & Storage of Pittsburgh spend long days setting up for the first weekend in May.
That follows the entire year they spend assisting and relationship-building with their good friends at the Pittsburgh Marathon.
Then they watch as some 40,000 marathon, half-marathon and 5K participants flood the streets with 100,000 supporters in tow, all destined to see the 35 donated U-Box containers placed along the course as medical supply, drink and clean-up stations.
“It’s all worth it,” Glancy said after this year’s event. “It’s an all-year process, to be honest, because they have other races than Pittsburgh Marathon and they have storage (units) here as well. They get all their stuff shipped here throughout the year. We’re constantly working hand-in-hand with the marathon and helping them run smoothly … no pun intended.
“With the growth we’re looking for in U-Box, the marathon has 40,000 runners and more than 100,000 spectators. With that visibility, if U-Box gets one person to stop and ask what it is, that’s one more person than we had before.”
The U-Haul store at 3000 Liberty Ave. sits directly on the marathon route (twice actually, as the marathon circles by a second time at mile 21) and offers another reminder of U-Haul Company’s community involvement.
In addition to the donated U-Box containers, Glancy’s team hosts a cookout and gives out free hot dogs and juice to passersby and water to runners.
U-Haul even makes its facility restroom available – and at least one runner hurriedly took advantage of the hospitable gesture.
“This is our third year of helping,” Glancy said of the store, which opened in May 2012.
“It works out real well. A U-Box container is placed every two or three miles. There’s several at the finish line. A lot of them are medical stations. A lot of them are watering stations with pallets of water and Gatorade in them. They’re used for storing brooms, mops and trash cans. It’s whatever they need at each facility.”
A pair of U-Haul Moving & Storage of Pittsburgh Team Members ran the 5K: Emmett and Dana Newsome. The store had a marathon relay team participate two years ago.
While the store did not have any marathon entries this year, Stephanie D’Abarno, wife of U-Haul area district vice president Frank D’Abarno, did run the marathon.
Thanks to Glancy and his team for a job well done, and congratulations to everyone who competed in the 2015 Pittsburgh Marathon.
For additional stories on U-Haul Company’s community involvement, please visit out our In the Community page on myuhaulstory.com.
Did you run the Pittsburgh Marathon or have you been to a public event where U-Box containers were used? Please share your thoughts on U-Box in the comment box below. Learn more about our portable storage containers by clicking here.
* Photo courtesy of the Pittsburgh Marathon
