So I’ve participated in quite a few ultras over the decade plus that I’ve been in the sport. Sixty five to be exact. At first, it was easy to take for granted the amount of effort required to put on these events. Far too easy. You show up to a race, get your bib and swag, run the course, then sit around chatting with other runners before shuffling to your car for the drive home. The race is all about you and your need to prove that you’re tough enough to complete these stupid hard distances. Now it’s not like you don’t interact with others, but the focus is internal.
The more races you do, the more you start to start to look around. The more you look around, the more you start to notice things. Your first couple races you may notice course markings are less than perfect when you manage to take a wrong turn. Eventually, you realize just how many damn course markings are out there. Initially, you may be disappointed in how far you have to go to reach the next aid station. This will turn into an appreciation for whoever designed the course to actually locate an aid station. And then get all kinds of goodies to said aid station. Along with volunteers to hand you candy and fill your water bottles (even soft flasks with impossible to open lids).
Now it’s not like it took me a decade to realize how important organizing and running these races are. I can be pretty self-absorbed, but I’m not quite that bad. It did take me far too long to sign up and volunteer at my first trail race. I have no problem scheduling out races to run, but I seem to have this mental block about doing the same thing for volunteering at races. It’s not like it’s a difficult task. And it’s not like I don’t always have a boatload of fun when I volunteer. I’ve gotten into a bit of a groove over the last couple years and had been volunteering at at least one race a year.
This year I’ve managed to take it up another notch. I started the year helping out Carl “No Relation” Perkins at Phunt. Followed that up with another overnight stint helping Gabe break people’s spirits at DUC. And then last weekend handled the Rockland Falls aid station at First State Trail Races with my family. This race was only 20 minutes from my house and been around for a number of years. All I knew was that it was in Delaware. I mean, I’m aware I live very close to the state, but just figured it was the other side of Wilmington (which is still really, really close). Frankly, it’s criminal that I haven’t been over there and helped out before this year as Vanessa and the Beast Coast team put on a number of great races in the area. I have a couple races that I like to participate in and I’ll be adding this to my annual volunteering calendar. Fingers crossed the weather is always this amazing.
TL;DR Volunteering is great. We should all do it more often!
Oh volunteering!! Giving runners the false hope that at a late in the race aid station, I’m giving them locally distilled gin instead of water.