16th - 20th of April - Manchester

Packing for these kind of trip - extended weekends - has almost become routine and as such the preparations are done on autopilot. The night before departure curiosity got the better of me and I checked the foreign ministry's travel advisory to see if there was anything to be aware of when there. They didn't have much about that, but they did mention you now need to apply for an ETA before arrival which can take up to 3 days to approve. Woops. So I apply for one and give the necessary information (who I am, passport information, if I've done crime etc.) pay and send it off. It said up to 3 days before getting a response but often shorter. I was getting ready to be clenching all day before departure, but only a minute after sending my application I received an approval. Phew. Can't get any more stressful than that! ...Right?

 

 I was surprised to see how almost desolate it looked not far from the airport, 

despite it being on the outskirts of Manchester.

The flight wasn't until late afternoon, and as there is a direct connection from my office to the airport I decided to have a normal work day an go directly to the airport after work. I left so with the ½ hour travel time with the metro I would have almost 2 hours at the airport before departure with no need to rush. Two stops into the trip we are all asked to exit the train due to technical issues at the station. And then we were stuck with no trains coming or going. Because I wasn't willing to chance that they got things running again in time I quickly grabbed a bus near the metro station and a train (I hadn't had the afternoon traffic in mind so of course the bus was delayed enough that the reason I made it to the train in time was because of the absolutely loads of people getting on), getting me to the airport an hour before departure. For someone who would rather be too early and be bored than cutting it close this trip was turning into a very stressful one - and I hadn't even left the country yet. And the line through security was longer than usual and slow (I considered telling the woman in front of me that this was the fast lane, not the snail lane - and also her home must be really messy because she seemed incapable of putting her 5 (!) baskets away, clogging up the flow for the rest of us). And immigration was equally slow - I don't understand why they don't use the self-service stations they have installed. I finally reached the gate when they had started boarding, and I could finally plonk down into my seat. From then on everything went as scheduled, getting out of the airport was easy (it didn't look like much when taxiing on the tarmac when when we deplaned there was a sign saying 560m to immigration). Got the train to the city and checked into the hotel 5 minutes from the station at around 2000. Kicked back for a bit before going for a short walk in the neighbourhood. The drinks in the fridge in the hotel room are free! And they get restocked! 

View from the hotel room.

 

Friday and Saturday was spent sleeping in and taking it easy in the morning - or rather until almost midday. No need to rush. Friday was started off by picking up my runners kit at the store. Apparently most UK citizens have their numbers mailed to them, limiting the number of people having to pick them up in person. Still, I'm glad I it picked up at the time I did because I can imagine a bit of chaos is that store when more people shows up. Following this I had lunch (fish & chips - I am pretty sure it is illegal to go to England an not have fish & chips) before going on a walk around relatively aimlessly and reached Peel Park before heading back to the hotel. Not because I really wanted, but  the forecast 0-1 mm rain turned out to be an almost constant downpour. Glad they hadn't forecast 5 mm! In the evening I wandered around trying to find a place on eat, after a while I happened by chance by a small nondescript Japanese restaurant with great gyoza and pork katsu. Saturday I headed more eastwards following along Ashton canal, getting away from traffic and ended out at the Etihad stadium, before returning back along Rochdale canal. There were surprisingly many locks along the way but it wasn't until getting closer to New Islington houseboats (that I would assume use them) started showing up. Slowly moving towards the hotel I came past Sackville Gardens and the Alan Turing memorial. 

 

 Just outside the Manchester Cathedral.

 

 Walking along Ashton canal.

 

Sackville Gardens.

 

Leaving on the Sunday morning for the marathon I was taking the tram from a nearby stop out to Old Trafford where the start was. I knew what line I was supposed to take and arriving at the platform there obviously were other runners waiting, too. The first tram that arrived was not "my" line but everyone else got on so I decided just to go with the flow. When I thought we had arrived at the station at the stadium no-one moved, until someone gave out a surprised yelp and exited, opening the floodgates for all the runners in crammed tram left. It's fine going with the flow, but if everyone does that, who decides where to go?

 

The parking lot on the east side of the stadium was reserved for the runner's area, and if you expected anything but very long lines to the lavatories you'd be disappointed. Luckily I was there early enough that I didn't worry about time spent queuing and information about what wave was being sent off was clearly announced over the PA system. When a wave was called they were channeled from the parking lot via the A5081 to Bridgewater Way. Here we were sent off in an orderly fashion strictly controlled every few minutes. And finally my group was sent off. 

 

I was surprisingly enough having fun despite the limited training. 

 

We headed east towards the center along Chester Road until reaching the roundabout over A57 before heading south along Chorlton Road, turning down Stretford Road with a quick detour back to Bridgewater Way running parallel with the first kilometer of the run on the opposite side of the road before bringing us to Talbot Road, Warwick Road and the A56. Except a small detour along Kingsway and Barton Road we stayed on the A56 southwest bound until reaching Park Road at Trafford College where we turned left, reached Timperley where we turned further southwest, circling Altrincham station before returning towards Timperley. From here we split from the previous path and zigzagged through Brooklands, passed Worthington Park and Priory Gardens before coming back to the A56 but only following it northeast until Stretford where we turned right along Edge Road and Wilbraham Road, turning left along Manchester Road, Upper Chorlton Road and back on Chorlton Road. Where we in the beginning went from Chorlton Road to Stretford Road, we reached the same intersection but this time from the south and turning east, towards the center. A couple of turns later, reaching Denmark Road and Oxford road where we turned left, northbound, crossing the finish line. 

 

Well, maybe not having fun all the time. 

 

The course was actually quite nice; a majority of roads were wide never feeling cramped (it also helped spreading out the starts), quite flat (142m total ascent) and when there was support it was loud and... supporting. In the starting area they kept talking about there being support all the way but that was definitely not my experience; maybe for half or two thirds of the distance in total, but when they were present it was quite the experience. And there were so many people handing out Haribo. Overall the course was relatively easy going.

 

I ended up finishing in 4:18:06, putting me as 14646 out of 28046 overall (top 52,19%), 11650 out of 18770 men (top 62,07%) and 1382 out of 2106 among M40 (top 65,62%). Far from my best result, but my relative place ended up surprisingly better than expected. In spite of that, though, this was probably the run I am the happiest completing. "But Jakob, you ridiculously handsome and magnificent man", I hear you say, "your goal is sub-4 hours, why are you happy with almost 20 minutes slower than that?" Well, I had some issues with my groin which resulted in only 2 short runs in the 4 weeks before the run. So basically I have run a sub-4:20 marathon with practically no real preparation. And the fact I wasn't slower than that makes me very happy, though I was going through a crisis throughout most of the second half and I got very slow towards the end. So yeah, I am pretty chuffed with how it went. 

 

Luckily the finish line was close to the hotel (it's as if I had planned for it to be so) because after crossing the line my legs were sore and I was sore - probably the sorest I have been post run. So I slowly waddled back to the hotel and relaxed as much as possible. Luckily there was a restaurant just behind the hotel so the walk there was manageable in the evening and I didn't have to exert myself to get something to eat for which my legs thanked me. 

 

Flying over Roskilde before reaching Copenhagen. 

 

The following morning I grabbed a train around 0700 - yes, in the morning. It's very much against my principles to get up that early during a vacation (especially the day after a run!) but it was either a flight in the morning or in the evening which would have me back home far too late considering I had work the following day. To my relief the process of getting to the airport and flying back home was a much less stressful experience than getting here. A nice way of ending my extended weekend. While most people wouldn't call a running trip "relaxing", it was nice to get a way for a bit to shut off, but the city didn't impress me much; unless you're interested in football I didn't get the impression there is much to do as a tourist, and especially leaving the old center it gets fairly dull.

 

Full album can be seen here. 

Going downunder

Despite going on multiple smaller trips throughout the year - mostly due to runs - I still try to at least once a year to go on a longer trip that isn't (only) about running. These past years it has been South Korea, Japan and India and I was hoping to do a similar trip this year. And indeed I found a new destination - albeit not completely free from running, which probably shouldn't surprise anyone at this point.

I would have loved to do another big wildlife tour, but my two short trips this year to Spain has to satiate my hunger for that for now.

 

22nd - 27th of August

On the Saturday I fly to Sydney via Singapore where on arrival late Sunday afternoon I'll check into the domestic airport hotel. The following morning (well, midday, I am on vacation after all) I take flight to Launceston on Tasmania where I'll stay before flying back on the Thursday. While there I plan on driving around and checking out the environment, and taking the opportunity to visit a friend I met back in Peru who now runs a truffle farm with her husband. 

 
27th of August - 1st of September

Coming back to Sydney I'll check into a hotel centrally located, not far from the Opera House. This is fortunate because that means it won't be far to get back to the hotel after the marathon. The marathon is on the Sunday (the 30th) and I plan on just doing a bit of basic sightseeing in the city until then - and hopefully meet up with a few friends along the way. The marathon starts at St. Leonard's Park with an almost straight line down to the bridge and across it with the opera house on our left. From there we will cross through Pyrmont, return and run back under the bridge, past Circular Quay and along Pitt Street, past St. Mary's Cathedral and through Hyde Park and all the way south to Kingsford before returning the same way we came, circle around Centennial Park before heading all the way to the Royal Botanical Garden where we'll do a bit of back and forth before finishing in front of the opera house. That evening and following day will be full of relaxing and doing very little.

 
1st - 5th of September

As I have visited Australia on previous occasions in 2009 and 2012 I don't need spending much more time here, instead I will then fly out to Wellington, New Zealand. I will be spending a couple of days here dedicated to sightseeing. Priority will be a Weta workshop tour but other than that I am open for what may show up. Being the capital of New Zealand there will be a bit of interesting stuff but time will tell - apparently the cable car going from the quay to Kelburn suburb is quite popular and should give quite the view of the city at the top. From here I will fly to Auckland where I have a single night before joining a tour in the evening. Before that, though, I've planned to do a whale/dolphin safari in the morning.

 
6th - 15th of September

I'm joining a 10-day tour taking me from Auckland all the way down to Christchurch hitting a line of  spots along the way. Starting off by going along the Coromandel Peninsula, reaching Matamata which includes a tour of Hobbiton and following that Rotorua. Here we'll have a day to explore Maori culture, do rafting, kayaking or ziplining through the forests. From here on we will continue to Murupara, Taupo and one night in Wellington before crossing to the south island. Reaching the south island we'll pass through Kaikoura before reaching our destination in Christchurch. 

 
15th - 19th of September

I'll have 5 days by myself in Christchurch before any other plans so there will be time to explore. From what I understand 5 days is more than plenty for the city so I might end up looking into options of exploring outside the city and seeing if there are any day tours out available. 

 
20th of September -  1st of October

After the break and in the early morning of the 20th I'll join a second tour, this time a 12-day tour, starting in Christchurch and ending in Queenstown. We'll cross over to the west coast through Reefton and follow it down along Westport, Kumara and Fox Glacier. The coastline is stunning and we will have plenty of beautiful views of mountainous shore, rainforests and gorges. From here we will go a bit inland through Wanaka and Te Anau where we will do a quick detour to Milford Sound before crossing down south to The Catlins where we will cross to Stewart Island where we will stay a couple of days. With almost the entire island being a national park there will be plenty of opportunities exploring the environment including forests, rugged landscape and plenty of bird spotting. From here we return to Queenstown and end the tour.

 
1st -  6th of October

After arriving in Queenstown I have a few days on my own to explore. I have the impression that the town is fairly small so it is probably a bit limited how much there is to do, but I hope that 3 nights there won't be overdoing it. In any case I will probably need to decompress from the last tour so a bit of relaxation and not having much to do will probably be good. From here I'll fly out to Sydney where I have a single night before flying back home.

 

Talking about wanting to do one long trip a year this will definitely be it. The longest I have been gone previously is less than 5 weeks, and at that point I usually feel ready to get back home, so I'm looking forward to seeing how I'm going to deal with this significantly longer trip. The schedule does feel pretty packed when doing the tours so I doubt I'll even have time to worry about such things. I guess I'll find out!

 

In any case I am very excited for this one. When traveling to the other side of the world you might as well go all in! 

2nd of November - Seoul JTBC marathon

With the race starting at 0800 and the bag drops closing at 0730 today was going to be an early start. I had set the alarm for 0530 (yes, surprisingly I do this voluntarily) but woke up around 0500 and didn't have the guts to go back to sleep worrying I would miss the alarm. I used the opportunity to make it a slow start of the day and left around 0615 out into the still dark city to take the subway 15 minutes to the World Cup Stadium. Along the way runners piled into the train and reaching the destination we were certainly stuffed together. 

Getting to the right place proved a bit challenging as there was a different area for the 10k runners and the few signs that were present were all in Korean. But with a bit of asking around and following the correct flow of people I ended up in the marathon area and the bag drop off. You just chose one of the 40 vehicles to drop off the bag and you got a sticker on your bib with the corresponding number given to your bag. 

I had dragged the drop-off as long as possible, but a bit past 0700 I was on my way to the starting area. The morning was cold - 5-6 degrees with a breeze so handing in my bag also meant I had to say goodbye to my warm shirt and jacket. I had intentionally dressed in a long-sleeved shirt due to the forecast temps but after some time my built-up warmth had gone and it got chilly standing around and waiting. At least the starting area was not directly affected by the wind which helped keeping the comfort level relatively acceptable despite the low temps. 

I ha been put in starting group B - with G being the last. Despite registering my expected finish time as 03:50 I got put in the group with 3:00-3:30 pacers, whereas group C would consist of the 3:40-4:10 pacers, seemingly more suitable for me. I ended up moving into group C instead, but even then it seemed chaotic; the pacers seemingly placed themselves where ever they wanted so the were no rhyme or reason in which one was in front or the rear, despite it should have been logical based on their finish times. One of the 3:40s even jumped into group B. 

But after all that we started off as scheduled and around 8:10 I crossed the starting line with the rest of group C. Heading east we soon turned south and crossed the Han river for the first time across Yanghwa Bridge before going back north across the Mapo Bridge. Here we went north past Gongdeok (and therefore straight past my hotel) and simply stayed on Saemunan-ro street turning us straight east onto Jong-ro and kept going until reaching Sinseol-dong station. Here we headed south-east along Cheonho-daero all the way across Gunjagyo bridge, making a turn at Gunja station down Neungdong-ro, down Achasan-ro and finally down Jayang-ro before crossing Jamsil bridge, our third and last crossing of the Han river. Here we practically circled the area surrounding Seogchon station before turning down Wiryeseong-daero and crossing the finish line, alongside the Olympic Park.

Especially in the beginning it felt very crowded despite running on broad streets, and it also took longer than usual to loosen things up - my heel still got stepped on around 5km. Passing 10km things were getting easier but even then you still have to pay close attention to those around you for a while. With that said it was quickly evident that Korean runners seem to have no qualms to shoulder check you if they want to pass you and they deem you're in the way. It got pretty frustrating at times, but as things eased up it also helped giving room for the more aggressive runners. The water stations, though quite long, were not announced in advance on the course so if you didn't pay attention (or remember that the information given in the race pack said there would be one every 5km (which wasn't super accurate either)) you would have to make desperate move to get in before it was too late - I almost missed the first one because of this, and I believe it was only one place where they had water on both sides of the streets. At 7,5km and every 5km after that there would be sponge stations - slightly less necessary when the weather wasn't warmer than it was, but it was a nice relief the few times I utilized the offer. There were also barely any toilets along the way - I saw people using toilets at gas stations we passed by; I think I saw 4-5 groups of 3 portapotties along the way, and also barely any in the finish area. And peeing in bushes didn't seem to be a thing. Luckily I was sufficiently dehydrated I didn't need to pee until almost an hour after returning to the hotel (which, I know, is not necessarily a good thing, but from a practical viewpoint it was pretty nice). 

The course wasn't flat - app. 250m up and down - but while the inclines weren't particular steep they kept going for a while, effectively draining the energy, though it was probably also due to me starting too fast (despite moving myself into a slower group) that my pace started plummeting after the mid-way point, and the last 10-ish km I was running around 6min/km, struggling hard. In spite of this I still managed to get in at 3:58:45, just below my 4 hour goal, though it didn't feel particularly elegant. 

The official time and placement is at the time of writing unknown as no data can be found. I suspect it's hiding somewhere on a Korean website but due to a lot of the text is posted as pictures instead of text the browser can't translate it, so I'm waiting for a more internationally inclined website to post the results. It is clear that they are capable of communicating in English, but you sometimes get he feeling they just can't be bothered with anything but the most important. The info magazine that was included in the race pack had the most important information also in English (though much of it seemed either shoddily translated or just put through Google translate). But the rest of the magazine was in Korean only, though some headlines were also in English - but how does that help? 

Crossing the finish line I walked what felt like an eternity to get to my bag, and then all the way back to get to the exit where we passed through the snack area (as they called it) where we were handed a bag with snacks. You have to give them credit of handing out the equivalent of 2½-3 liters of liquids, bananas, a bread (which was a dull disappointment) and a snickers (whoever decided to do this has my undying love). I honestly wouldn't have minded saving a bit on the liquids if it meant more to eat instead. It took an hour of constant movement from the finish line to end up at the nearby subway station, then a 45 minute standing ride before being able to return to my hotel. 

Added the 8th of February 2026

I spent a long time trying to find more information on the results online. I also tried mailing the coordinators but it was 50/50 if they bothered responding to my mails. I also asked on reddit, and while that was probably the most fruitful attempt it was still quite limited what I gained from it. My official time ended up being 3:57:39. My overall place was 8500, 2958 in my age group and 2644 among 40's men. Oh, and also 2259th overall in my starting group and 2073th among men in my starting group, but those two numbers aren't really helpful as I was put in the wrong starting group from the beginning. And while all these numbers are fine and good, it doesn't do much good if you don't know out of how many. And... Well, the best I could find was a google translated article estimating 34.000 participants, split evenly between the 10k and marathon. That's it. How useful is that?!

 

Apparently there was (is) a Korean app that had all the results, and assuming I would be able to get some more information there I signed up for an account. Getting through the trouble of guessing based on the UI and back and forth between the app and google translate I got most of the way through until I hit a wall that required me to identify myself with a Korean ID (similar to the Danish MitID). 

 

Also, with regards to photos, a user on reddit referred me to a well hidden page that had the photos. The selection was limited and quality seemed to be so-so (none from the finishing line), and if you wanted to buy any you needed a Korean address, even if you just wanted to download them.

 

I was surprised to find out how Korean-centric this run was. To be honest I got the impression that they didn't really care at all about international participants considering the absolute lack of communication in English. Why do they even let internationals sign up if they don't give a shit?

Keeping south of the north

There are plenty of places I haven’t been to yet it sometimes seems difficult to find somewhere to go on a vacation. The last year to Japan exceeded my expectation so feeling inspired I started looking for similar destinations. I my eyes fell on Korea. The southern variant, not the northern.

I had initially planned a trip but afterwards I realized that the weekend before arrival there would be a marathon in Seoul. I looked into it and suddenly I was the owner of a spot in the JTBC Seoul Marathon. Woops. I had my arrival flight moved and booked an extra hotel in the city.

28th of October – 6th of November

I’m flying out late on the 28th and arriving in the evening the next day, so I felt it would be important to find a hotel that was easily accessible from the airport. But due to the marathon going from west to east of the city I also wanted to find a hotel that had direct connections to both start and finish. To my relief it was actually possible to find such a hotel, sitting at a station near the central station. This means I will have more than 8 full days in Seoul by myself, exploring (eating), running and recovering and basically just relaxing and taking it all in.

 

7th – 10th of November

I’ll be joining the travel group in the afternoon and we’ll spend the first day in Seoul before travelling to Gyeongju by train, a city on the east coast. The city is the old capital of South Korea and we will be introduced to, among plenty other things, Bulguksa Temple, a UNESCO site.

 

11th – 13th of November

We will continue further south along the coast to Busan, passing though several small villages along the way. We will then return to Seoul to spend a day visiting the DMZ.

 

14th – 18th of November

From Seoul we will drive down though the western part of the country that apparently the greener part. We will spend nights in Jeonju and Yeosu before ending up on Jeju, a small island south of the mainland.

 

19th – 22nd of November

Final goodbye with the group before flying back to Seoul and spending 2 nights in the central part of the city to take in the last impressions before I head home after another – hopefully – lovely trip.

With Japan still in recent memory I am looking forward to see the similarities and differences compared to this trip. Looking at the itinerary it’s clear I will definitely have enough time in Seoul when there, but with all the spare time I have in the beginning I will have plenty of opportunity to do other stuff if I already start tiring of the city. I doubt, it though. We will see.

10th – 13th of October – Eindhoven

There were no flights directly to Eindhoven so instead I flew into Amsterdam and then took the train 1½ hours to Eindhoven with a change in Rotterdam. It made getting back and forth a bit more complicated but the trains were on time and it was a comfortable ride, so there was no issue. Arriving in Eindhoven it took less than 10 minutes to locate my hotel where I checked in and claiming my room that turned out to overlook the finishing area of the race, and soon after I left to go to the Technical University where I picked up my bib and shirt. As it was getting late and dark I wandered about for a bit and realized that the city seemed to enjoy Italian and Japanese food, so I ended up in a ramen place where I started off with some Takoyaki before having a delicious bowl of ramen. Not having any desserts (what?!) I left and had a quick visit to a kiosk to bring some back home to the hotel. You can’t have dinner without dessert when you’re on vacation!

 

A striking photo.

The next day I had a walk outside the center of the city and realized how correct it was when reading on travelling sites saying that Eindhoven isn’t really a tourist destination. I therefore returned to the center where I spent time visiting the DAF and Philips museum. The former had a bunch of vehicles presented from throughout the history of the company and while there was no real walkthrough of the history of the company itself the descriptive plaques for the vehicles combined gave a fairly good overview of the company, too. The Philips museum focused on the company’s foundation, the light bulb, the later years’ development of hospital technology and more recently the implementation of AI. The average consumer only see a fraction of what Philips do – and the home appliance divisions have mostly been sold off or split into other companies; focus now is health technology (ultrasound, respiratory care, radiography and lots of other fancy stuff). They have also helped found – among other things – ASML which is one of the world’s main suppliers to semiconductor industries around the world, supplying equipment for chip production. It’s some serious high-tech stuff, and together with numerous other high tech industries in the city it has made Eindhoven a major tech hubs in Europe.

One of the vehicles that participated in the Paris-Dakar rally. 

 

Derp. 

The starting area was only a 10 minute walk from the hotel, on the opposite side of the station, on Montgomerylaan. While the street was wide they only used on side for the runners which meant that the starting area was stretched quite a bit. But all was good and we were off on time – just before the starting line we were squeezed together to half width and while annoying and stopping the flow it meant that it helped spreading the runners over a larger distance, loosening up the group and not having a too crowded start. 

The course generally consisted of long stretches with not too many turns which meant it was easy to get into a zen mood without having to focus on constant making turns and positioning yourself optimally. It wasn’t until around 30km we started making more regular turns. Going north on Montgomerylaan we made our first turn down Winston Churchilllaan, circling around Luytelaer before returning west and going up along Henri Dunantpark. From here we headed west until we ran south down along the airport until reaching the High Tech Campus which we circled (the place seemed huge!) before taking a quick nip down into Voldijn before returning north and finishing in the city center, almost right outside my hotel.

The cheering was limited along the course, you met them in groups near stations and intersections, but getting back into the city the energy was high. Also, the last couple of hundred meters we merged with the half-marathon course which suddenly made otherwise nice conditions very cramped. It was manageable considering the relative short distance and you could distract yourself with the onlookers. Unfortunately I didn’t quite avoid the hand-on-shoulder push-you-aside runner a few meters before the finish line – hurray for you, you gained 3 seconds! (he turned out to be a double-dick as he was also the type that just completely stopped the second he crossed the line).

I managed to finish in 3:53:43, a very respectable time, my 4^th fastest marathon time. I came in as 2340 out of 4356 overall (top 53,72%), 2065 out of 3635 men (top 56,81%) and 331 out of 501 M40 (top 66,07%). A surprisingly fast group of runners I would have thought my relative result would have been better. I was a very flat course, though, with 48m up and a little less down over the entire course.

Getting back to the hotel was a completely different challenge, though. I could look right up at it but we got channeled past, split up in half and full runners, and we, the full marathoners had out exit in front of the station. Getting back to the hotel was wild. It was crowded getting out because of all the +1s waiting for runners, and then getting across 18 Septemberplein was nearly impossible as that was where the half marathoners exited, and that was a significantly bigger group of people with their +1s waiting. The down Hermanus Boexstraat which turned out to be the last stretch of the half marathon meaning the sidewalks were packed. It took me close to an hour walking the 1km back to the hotel. It was absolutely maddening.

Had a shower (it was a bathtub with a shower – it’s never fun getting into one of them after a run) before going out and had a pile of fries before settling in in my room and only moving again to go out for dinner.

The following day was spent in the hotel before leaving for the station and taking the trains back to Amsterdam and flying home.

Full album can be seen here.

18th – 21st of September – Oslo

Flying into Oslo it was easy to grab the express train into the center and from there it was a short walk to my hotel. The hotel was intentionally chosen as it was less than 5 minutes from the city hall in front of which the marathon would start and finish. It turned out the hotel entrance was facing the warm-up area which was an extension of the starting pens. I could barely be any closer.

Checking in I left and went to the expo – located in the starting area – and picked up my shirt and bib. Here I also met with my sister and her husband where we had a short talk and planned for meeting for dinner the evening before and after the run. She would be running the half marathon, starting 4 hours after the marathoners would be sent off.

Floating saunas. 

 

Art installation called "Eyes". I respectfully disagree. Those are not eyes.

On the Friday – the day before the run – I went for a walk in The Vigeland Park – a park filled with sculptures by Gustav Vigeland. The sculptures were weird, funny, a lot going on, but what they all had in common were fantastically expressive faces. You could spend hours looking at the individual statues, the fountain and the monolith just to be sure you got all the details. 

 

Haven't we all at some point been tempted to do this?

 

Standing in the car shop Carl realized he had misunderstood his friend 

when he said that he had gotten a new car for his two kids.

 

Having the marathon starting at 0900 the following morning I strolled out of the hotel around 0830 and walked maybe 100 meters and found my spot in the starting area. I had registered my finishing time around 3:50 and my start group covered 3:45-4:15. Standing maybe ¼ from the front I was therefore surprised seeing both the 4:00 and 4:15 pacers set up in front of me. Oh, well, I would just spend the first few km to pass them and put some distance to them.

The first groups were sent off on time and a few minutes later I also crossed the starting line. I started aiming for passing the pacers and the groups that were amassing around them, but I realized that the course was surprisingly narrow – especially in the beginning. We started west from the city hall with an early turn to the left and zigzag through a quiet residential area before coming out on Munkedamsveien followed by Drammensveien and after a bit turning right onto Halvdan Svartes Gate. From here we circled almost the entire Vigeland Park before coming back the same way and reaching Drammensveien we turned right and turned towards the water, turned east and ran along the E18 until we could turn onto Tjuvholmen, through Aker Brygge, pass the city hall and the start/finish area, past Akershus Fortress before turning up trough the central part of the city with quite a few sharp turns, reaching Pilestredet, Holbergs Gate and Sofies Gate before doing a u-turn on Martinus Lørdahls plass and taking the same way back (with the exception of circling inside Bislett Stadium) until past Pilestredet where we did a different zigzag and ending up in front of the town hall. And then doing it all once more as that was only a half marathon.

The course was generally narrow; most of the time we had half a street while we parallel with E18 stayed on the side walk and bike path. It also meant that it could be difficult at times to pass other runners, especially in the beginning when we were all crammed together. Also, the course was not flat and consisted mainly of two hills; the first from about 3km up to halfway around the Vigeland Park from 5 to 60m and down again towards the water, and then again from Akershus Fortress at 5m to when we did the u-turn before entering the stadium at 45m. Due to the layout and the visibility of the road ahead the second hill fell significantly worse than the first, even if it was smaller. But it helped knowing that you would be running down again the same way so you had something to look forward to. 

Despite the hills and narrowness I still ended up finishing in 3:55:21. That put me as 2340 out of 4356 overall (top 53,72%), 2065 out of 3635 men (top 56,81%) and 331 out of 501 M40 (top 66,07%). I’ll admit I was surprised how slow I was compared to the rest of the runners, but I assume it’s because Norwegians are outdoorsy people and therefore generally not in bad shape. And regardless, I’m still happy with my result, getting (another) sub-4 hours run.

Instead of the more common procedure of entering your race number and then getting your photos in return I had to upload a selfie. I didn’t have high hopes for the success of finding that many, but within seconds it came back with almost 200 (198 to be exact) photos, all with me in varying degree of in focus. I’ll admit: I was pretty impressed with both the response time and quality of some of the shots.

I made it just in time to see my sister off and give her a bit of heads up on the course before walking the long 200m back to my hotel and had a much needed shower. One of the last zigs (or was it one of the zags?) on the course passed by 50 meters from the hotel entrance, at the end of the street opposite of the starting area, so I managed to get out and cheer my sister along when she passed by, and then wobbled my way down to the finishing area and saw her finish, too.

Before meeting my sister and her husband for dinner I managed to meet with a friend I met on my trip to Madagascar and hadn’t seen since. We met at a wine bar (where she was already meeting with other friends) where we had a glass of wine and had a quick catch up before I continued to the Japanese and Chinese restaurant which turned out to be just around the corner. I am pretty sure my slow walk afterwards wasn’t due to the marathon but rather due to the amount of food eaten. It was a delicious izakaya-style restaurant. 

 

View of the waterfront from the Akershus Fortress.

My flight the following day wasn’t until the afternoon so I had a slow walk around town and checked out the Akershus Fortress before heading back to the airport.

Full album can be seen here.