29th of May – 1st of June – Stockholm

Flying to Stockholm mid-day allowed me to check in to my hotel a bit past 1400, before the notified check-in time, but fortunately they still let me check in. Moments later, after spending a few moments to enjoy my magnificently limited view out of the window, I walked the 10 minutes to the Olympic stadium, the location of the marathon starting area and the Expo was located where I picked up my kit.

 

What a view!

From here I had a walk down towards the harbor area where I passed by the city hall and the royal castle. I wandered Gamla Stan (Old Town) a bit before heading south and going through Södermalm reaching Hammerbyslussen before heading back to the center grabbing dinner on the way. Coming back to the harbor I walked out to Skeppsholmen and Kastellholmen, two small islands where you had a nice view of the Gamla Stan. It was a very nice walk in the warm evening and with very few people walking around out here it was surprisingly quiet considering how close it was to the center. 

 

Harbor front.

 

  

In the court yard of the city hall.  

 

The royal castle. 

 

 Stockholm Kastel on Kastellholmen.

The following day I planned to visit the Vasa ship museum, a large building containing the warship launched in 1627 and sinking on its maiden voyage, still within view of Gamla Stan. Being salvaged in 1961 it was a huge challenge for archeologists as they had to invent numerous new techniques to conserve the wreck, preventing it deteriorating even further and stabilizing the wood. The current status is that it is starting to tilt a few degrees to one side so they are working on better support and pushing it back, and the loadbearing beams are starting to bulk under the weight which is also being looking into. All that aside it is quite magnificent walking around it and looking into it. While it isn’t large compared to modern ships it was definitely on that would turn heads back in the day. If you are in Stockholm it is definitely worth a few hours’ visit.

A smaller 1:10 model showing how the ship would look in its original colors.

 

Dinner was had at the pasta party at the Olympic stadium, a surprisingly tasty pasta and pesto dish. The portions were unimpressive but you were free to multiple portions, so that helped. Coming back to the hotel I passed by a 7-11 to get some dessert and noticed they had a salad bar. There was plenty in all the containers, with the exception of the two that contained pasta; they were completely cleaned out – not a single crumb left. And the queue to pay was mostly people buying bananas. And then me getting cake. Priorities!

As I was staying close to the starting area I left a bit less than an hour before start. Getting close to the entrance to the runner’s area I got almost stuck in traffic because of the hoards of supporters just hanging out not understanding someone was trying to get to the starting area. Getting into the runner’s area there was plenty of room to move around, so getting to my starting box was easy enough. Having reported a expected finish time of 3:50 I was surprised to see the 3:30 pacers were standing near and the 3:45 was far behind. Oh, well – I decided to just try and keep in front of the 3:45’s as long as possible. And we were off!

Leaving the stadium we soon turned right and came through Vasastan before crossing into Stadshagen and Kungsholmen. From here we went by the city hall, circled Gamla Stan and passing the royal castle, running along the harbor across the castle, through Östermalm before reaching the point where we turned right when starting but now turning in the opposite direction towards Djurgården. Making a big circle through here, we retuned to the harbor across from the castle, went down the east side of Gamla Stan before zig-zagging our way through Södermalm. 

 Passing the city hall.

Leaving Södermalm northbound back towards Kungsholmen we crossed Västerbron – a tall bridge that I was a bit worried about as it was just before the 30km mark. But it turned out that it didn’t feel nearly as bad as I had feared (I guess routine has a say in this, seeing plenty of others slow down significantly going up), and the two ends not being identical it was luckily the steep end we ran down and the gentler end we ascended. Running the same route through Kungsholmen and Stadshagen (but opposite direction) entering Vasastan, but then veering off and returning to Gamla Stan one last time, only following the north part, back to the harbor across from the castle before following the route as before, but instead of turning right towards Djurgården we turned left for a few 100m before turning in down along the stadium, entering in the far corner and ran the last few meters around on the running track before crossing the finish line.

The weather was beautiful; a bit over 20 degrees, plenty of sun and only a breeze. While it meant that it was a fair bit warmer than what I prefer when running, it also brought plenty of people out to cheer us along which really set a high mood for the day. It was only when we were passing through Djurgården that there were only a few onlookers which didn’t matter much; you got to rest your ears for a bit and you could enjoy the greenery without much interruptions (ignoring the surrounding moaning and panting runners). 

Despite it being warm it went surprisingly well; my finishing time was 3:49:08 which was a new PR, and not only that – it was an improvement of 3:25 which feels significant. Came in as 5273 out of 18863 overall (top 27,95%), 4491 out of 13456 men (top 33,38%) and 629 out of 1485 M40 (top 42,36%). With that new PR I was very happy with the result and the course isn’t even particularly flat. I guess the 19 water stations along the way also helped.

In the evening I left the city center and visited a cousin and his family for dinner before returning to the hotel for some much needed sleep. The following day I had a short walk around Skeppsholmen to kill time before leaving for the airport and returning home.

Full album can be seen here.

16th – 18th of May – Gothenburg

My cousin located in Gothenburg grabbed hold of me at one point and asked me if I would want to participate in this year’s Göteborgvarvet – the annual Gothenburg half marathon. He noted that if I signed up so would he, but he didn’t even have to say that to convince me and not long after I had signed up, and not long after he had, too.

Gothenburg half marathon is apparently the largest annual half marathon in the world with 50.000+ people signing up every year. A fair number of people who get sent off over a period of 3 hours from 1300, so in spite of the many people it never feels as congested as one would imagine.

Getting to Gothenburg is easy; grab the train in Copenhagen and then get off app. 3,5 hours later. A short walk later I arrived at my cousin’s, a bit before he finished work so I spent some time in their garden enjoying the weather and quiet. He had been nice enough to also pick up my bib up at the expo so I basically just had to show up. Shortly after he finished work and we had caught up his wife and kids showed up, and dinner was had. I was set to start at 1314 and my cousin a few minutes later, and because of this there was no rush to get up and out on run day; slow morning and catching the bus to the park where the start was. 

The run felt like a huge city-wide party with activities for kids, plenty of food stalls and generally huge number of people around the start and finish area. The weather was very nice but temps in the 20s so a bit too warm to my liking – but it helped getting people out and about and adding to the great mood around the run. Also the 9 water stations helped a fair bit on fighting dehydration. Starting in Slottskagsvallen – a large park – we ran the first few km in some pleasant greenery. Coming through some residential area before passing the tallest point on the course – the bridge Älvsborgsbron. From there we followed along the river north/east bound, most of the time close to the water where we were running along the docks, sometimes without fences so you had to keep to your line and hope everyone else were doing the same. At least with all the onlookers around you could hope being blocked or caught if you accidentally got pushed the wrong direction…

The last few km was through a nice green forested area. 

Coming through a bit of industrial-looking area we crossed the river once again over the Hisingsbron, getting through a few turns before coming up towards Götaplatsen where we turned around, turned down Vasagatan and from there more or less straight to the finish area, the last few 100m parallel with the first couple of 100m. This meant that when reaching the finish line you would still see waves be sent off from the starting area. 

The last few meters circling the arena before crossing the finish line.

I managed to finish at 1:43:34 – satisfying considering I had run the Copenhagen marathon the weekend before (a small impulsive buy of a spot 3 days in advance). I came in as 6043 out of 46646 overall (top 12,96%), 5407 out of 28566 men (top 18,93 %) and 620 out of 2927 M40 (top 21,18%). My cousin was a few minutes slower but he had been talking about the longest he had run was maybe 10km and that was a few months ago. So happy for him finishing with such a result, but part of me was a bit annoyed that he wasn’t that much slower considering the difference in our training (but when meeting him maybe 15-20 minutes after him finishing he still looked more tired than I had felt at any time, so yay?). 

Returning to the busses we ended up in a bit of chaos of tired runners trying to locate their bus home – our bus turned out to be fairly late but when it finally arrived and a bunch of runners piled in. Non-runners were probably very happy about being trapped in a bus filled with sweaty runners. Arriving home we had a much-needed shower before celebrating the run, having dinner and having a relaxing evening. The following day I got a lift to the station, got on my train, found my seat and had a uneventful ride home.

Full album can be seen here.

4th – 7th of April – Berlin half marathon

Having completed the SuperHalfs a few years ago I assumed that it was an over and done project. Then Berlin pops up and gets added to the group. So now, to be able to say I have completed the SuperHalfs, I’ll also have to run the Berlin half marathon. It’s not like I have a choice, right?

I had booked at a hotel that was close to the start- and finish area of the run, located in the Tiergarten where half of the park had been closed off to the public. It was all nice and fine until I realized that the only entrance to the area was in the other end of the park, so the close vicinity of the hotel suddenly wasn’t so close after all. On arrival in the city the weather was nice and warm but the closer we got to the run the colder it got – on the day the forecast said something along the lines of 5-7 degrees and windy. I ended up in long sleeves and pants, but throughout the run I realized that the long pants were overkill (and looking at photos of the run I was clearly one of the few not in shorts – at this point one would think I was better at estimating correct clothing for a run).  

 

The National Bismarck Monument.

My sister was also in town to run and we had planned to meet for dinner the night before. I had booked a table at a restaurant near my hotel, but on arrival they denied any knowledge of my reservation. Yes, I had booked on the restaurant’s own page, and yes, I had received confirmation. We were offered a table outside; at this point it was maybe 10 degrees and windy so that was not particularly tempting, so we left and found another place nearby. They had plenty of room and we got a table and got our food. When we were ready to order desserts we were informed the table had been booked so they would have to give us our bill and ask us to leave. It would have been nice to know from the beginning we would only have an hour before getting kicked out.

 

The Victory Column.

 

 The Berlin central station.

The morning of the run the weather was nice but cold. Arriving outside the entrance there were loads of people gathered but as such a big area had been blocked off for the start- and finishing area it never felt crowded at all until you were standing in the starting blocks. And the area being in a park it was just nice walking around under the trees and taking in the mood of the morning. And on time we were sent off.

As with the marathon we started off by circling the Victory Column and continuing west until turning slightly north along Otto-Suhr-Allee and turning south on Schloßstraße. Continuing on crossing Bismarchstraße before turning east along Kurfürstendamm, Tauentzienstraße and Potsdamer Straße, crossing Potsdamer Platz and following along smaller roads until doing a u-turn on Strausberger Platz and going back west again until we came to Unter den Linden, ran through Brandenburger Tor and crossing the finish line.

Having come through the Brandenburger Tor and nearing the finish line.

A slight irritation was the water stations that were set up as they were quite short so it was hard to spread out and not be in the way for each other – and there were no warnings before they showed up so if you weren’t paying attention and looking ahead past other runners you had a hard time preparing to place yourself optimally to get water. The worst situation was a water station right after a sharp turn that couldn’t be seen until you were right at it after the turn. Other than that it was a very nice run. 

I ended up finishing in the official time of 1:43:01, coming in as 7444 out of 43542 overall (top 17,1%), 6154 out of 19446 men (top 31,65%) and 901 out of 2521 M40 (top 35,74%). So I was happy with both the result and relative result. And I got the new SuperHalfs medal now also including Berlin so I was coming home with two medals.

 

Another huge SuperHalfs medal! 

That evening I met up with my sister and two of her friends (who also ran) and one’s partner and kid. A nice dinner and company, concluding another good day of running. I had a few hours the following day to trot around before returning to the airport and ending another trip.

 

Very odd building just outside the central station. At first glance you don't notice the weird shapes 

so you get really confused by the mirror image until you get an understanding of its structure.

Full album can be seen here.

7th – 10th of March – London and Kingston Breakfest Run

We lived in London back in ’86-’89, more exactly in Kingston (“Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames”). Since then I’ve visited London several times but I never returned to Kingston. That was due to a change, and when I saw they had a run in the spring it was hard to ignore. It wasn’t the usual half or full marathon distance, but rather an 8/16/20 mile run, the longest distance promoted as a good warmup for the London marathon 4 weeks later. So obviously I signed up for the 20 mile distance despite not running the London marathon – I felt like such a rebel.

In spite of the extensive train and underground network in London there is no good direct connection to Kingston from the central part of the city (the furthest “in” you can get without changing is Waterloo), but coming from Heathrow there was a direct bus which made it so much easier. 

Don't drink and phone.

I spent a few days walking around and reacquainting myself with the neighborhood. I was reminded how long time ago I last was here because everything felt both smaller and much closer together than I recalled. Hampton Wick station far away from home? 10 minute walk. The building at the far end of the road we lived on? Maybe 50 meters away. But other than that where we lived looked almost identical to how I remembered it. So it was quite eye opening and yet it was nice to walk around recognizing the different places I hadn’t seen in more than 30 years.

There were quite a few of these kinds of statues spread out throughout the center. 

 

The runs were centered around an 8-mile loop, so running the 16-mile run you ran it twice, and the 20-mile run required running it twice and adding onto that a smaller 4-mile loop. The start (and finish) was located on Kingston Historic Market, and from there we went north, circling the Bentall Centre before crossing Kingston Bridge. From there we followed the pathway along River Thames all the way to Hampton Court Bridge which we crossed and from there we followed the road (A309/Hampton Court Way) until reaching the roundabout past the railroad and turning onto A307/Portsmouth Road and basically following that all the way back to the market. Second round was identical except from going directly to Kingston Bridge from the market, bypassing the Bentall Centre. After the second round we once again crossed the Kingston Bridge, but only continued for app. 1 km before turning around, passing under the bridge before looping around and crossing in the opposite direction, looping around and running along the river (almost) parallel with the main loop, but opposite direction. Reaching Kingston Island we rejoined the main loop and returned to the market, finishing the 20 miles.

Nearing the Historic Market.

 

Running along the River Thames after crossing the Kingston Bridge. 

I managed to finish in 2:50:14, a result I was very happy about. That put me as 249 out of 582 overall (top 42,78%), 179 out of 320 men (top 55,94%) and 30 out of 49 in my age group (top 61,22). The relative results were quite a surprise – obviously some very serious runners doing that distance so the competition was tough. I am assuming it could have something to do with more casual runners go for the known distances (5k, 10k, half and full marathons) and these odd distances have less interesting – especially the longer ones.

Happy with the result I grabbed my medal and snacks, bought some cakes at the market and returned to my hotel less than 10 minutes away. The rest of the stay in Kingston was spent either relaxing at the hotel or sitting in a restaurant somewhere eating. My favorite thing(s).

Full album can be seen here.