Henri Ruul: Research has shown that people who volunteer live longer.

A few weeks ago I was invited to volunteer for the Nykredit Invest Aarhus City Half Marathon by Aarhus Skiclub and I found it is a good way to give back to the sport I love. Furthermore, I completed my part of the protein-carbohydrate project (the study with biopsies and hours of cycling) last week, so since then I have been more busy focusing on my own studies and conditioning my body for other sports (mainly for running and roller skiing). It probably makes sense, that I prefer to do volunteering rater than competing in a running race after a week of (running) training. Additionally, this was my first time being on the volunteer side so I couldn't say no. Training is fun, racing ...ohh, you will be hooked ...and volunteering- awesome! Just to be clear, I could see myself volunteering for races in future, but more often I see myself pinning my bib to the front of my shirt!
But lets's start from the beginning. So today we gathered at the parking lot next to starting area at 8am (2 hours before the start) in order to do the ''volunteer check in''. After check in and picking up the reflective vests, the coffee, bread and jam were waiting us. It was nice to see how many people were offering a helping hand to the race, but on the other hand because of the excellent interest in volunteering, we had to wait until they find a job for us. I just kept on drinking coffee ...a cup, two, three ohhh, stop! And finally, I got something to do- helping to manage crowds in the starting area. At 10am, ca 10 000 runners and off they went! After that, I found myself at the finish area, where I was responsible for keeping the area safe and cheering on as they go by. Everything went smoothly, and suddenly pmmmm ...bottleneck! Finishers went crazy- all of them wanted to get out as quickly as possible, and of course they asked me to help them, but I couldnt do anything. The situation calmed down as time passed by... and we had to start cleaning up the finish area. Later lunch with a good company and done with that! Back home, easy run 15k and relaxing/blogging in progress!