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.
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.
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.
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).
