Returning north

Due to the pandemic travels are heavily restricted (with good reason) and not being able to go anywhere is starting to get on my nerves. With 8 trips originally planned this year it is starting to feel mighty empty by now, having reached August and only having gone in January. 

A few international destinations have started opening up but making a relatively impulsive decision I wanted something a bit easier to handle and less likely to get cancelled. Cue the Faeroe Islands putting out a PR video reminding us they are part of Denmark and therefore not under same restrictions as most countries. So the decision was almost made for me.

22nd of August

23rd of August

Only a few days after booking the flight on Saturday the 22nd I received a mail notifying me that they had cancelled my flight and instead moved me to the departure the following day. No issues there apart from while originally planned on leaving in the afternoon the departure time was now in the early morning. On arrival in Thorshavn you will be tested for Corona and asked to self-quarantine until you receive the test results (usually sent same evening) so I'm crossing my fingers I'll be able to check in early at the hotel - but considering the low number of tourists I'm thinking that it should be possible.

24th - 28th

I have booked a spot on a small group tour with a local professional photographer who will be bringing us around to see all the "right" places during 5 days. There is no set schedule as the weather forecast will decide where we will be going, but Vestmanna bird cliffs, Saksun, Klakkur, and Klaksvik will be just a few of the destinations we hopefully will be visiting.

29th - 31th

Nothing planned for my last three days so it'll either be relaxing walking around or trying to go somewhere that wasn't covered by the past week. I'll just see how things develop until I fly home on the 31st in the afternoon.

Of course, all these plans will fall through if it turns out I get a positive test result on arrival, but I see no reason for that (then again, you aren't necessarily symptomatic if you're infected, sooo...) so I am not expecting any issues on this trip. Most of all I am just looking forward to seeing the Faeroe Islands again and not least much more of it than what I got the chance to last time I visited. 

Update on Chicago marathon

Chicago marathon was planned to be in October but due to the pandemic it has been cancelled - not being postponed but just downright cancelled. With the current situation I can't blame them for that decision. As opposed to Boston, though, they let you defer your spot to one of the future runs in 2021, 2022 or 2023. No big issue, when signups open for a run you just sign up and refer to your application from 2020 and you are guaranteed a spot, so they say at least. Easy.

My plan is to sign up for next year (2020), but if this are still going significantly downhill with regards to the pandemic I am free to wait another year or two. The extra freedom seems smart in this situation.

No date has been formally announced, but they usually have the marathon some time in the middle of October. They don't even know when they'll open up for applications for next year's run so there is still quite a lot in the wind yet.

This year is turning out very anti-running.

Second update on Boston Marathon

The Boston marathon was, as previously mentioned, moved to September this year due to the pandemic. I also expressed my concern what would happen with my spot if the run was further postponed or cancelled. Needless to say, the run has now been cancelled and we have been informed that all spots would be refunded and there was no possibility of being transferred to a future run.

Well, that sucks.

I contacted the travel company that I had gotten the spot through, and they informed me that while BAA (Boston Athletic Association) refunded all tickets they would transfer all their participants for this year for the run next year. Of course we shouldn't miss out on this after waiting, just because of a pandemic.

Great success!

While no dates have been presented for the trip next year, the run is on April the 19th. 

With that aside and secured, BAA offered all of this year's participants a spot on a virtual marathon; if you run the marathon distance between the 7th and the 14th of September you'd be getting a goodie bag and medal. So I signed up for that, if for nothing else then to have something to aim for in the near future. The location of the run is where ever you want so it'll be easy setting up. Get dressed at home and start running. Couldn't be easier. Except for the running part, obviously.

Second update on the Superhalfs

With already one update to the Superhalfs' dates I was hoping that that would be it, but as we all know by now there is no sign of the pandemic slowing down and giving us a break. This means that all the planned runs have now moved their dates for next year. The runs are therefore now planned for the following dates next year:

Prague - March the 27th

Lisbon - May the 9th

Copenhagen - September the 19th

Cardiff - October the 3rd

Valencia - October the 24th

Here's to hoping that the dates won't change anymore, but I guess that just by writing that I've already jinxed it. On the plus side I am still able to do all of them in the first year the Superhalfs in going on but that is the only positive I can see from all this.

Boston and Mexican beer

With the Corona virus ravaging the world these days it was no surprise that my plans of running the Boston marathon would also be affected. Having the run on the 20^th of April put it right in the middle of the pandemic so there was no hiding. But instead of it getting cancelled it got moved to September instead. 

The marathon is normally run on a Monday, on Patriot's day, which will obviously not happen this year. But they will keep with the tradition of running on a Monday so we will be going on the 14^th of September. This is the day after the Copenhagen half marathon that is run on Sunday the 13^th of September, but despite me looking forward to that, Boston marathon takes priority and all I can say to the Copenhagen half in the situation is "suck it".

Apart from the date change not much will change from the original plan.

12^th – 13^th of September

Flying to Boston via Reykjavik and arriving in the early evening. We have the Sunday for ourselves where we will be going to the Expo where we get to pick up our bib-number. I have never been in Boston so it’ll be interesting to have a bit of time to explore the city.

14^th of September

Race day. The run is on a point to point course so we will be picked up by busses near the finish area at Boston Public Garden that will bring us out to the starting area, and pickup will depend on what starting wave you are part of. The race starts in Hopkinton and brings the runners through the suburbs Ashland, Framingham, Natick, Wellesley, Newton and Brookline before arriving and finishing in Boston near the Boston Public Library in Copley Square.

15^th – 16^th of September

We have a full day on our own in Boston (the 15^th) so another day to explore. I have no plans, but considering the Red Sox stadium is close by I am tempted to go to a baseball match just to see one of those now that I have the chance. On the 16^th we will fly out on the evening before coming back to Copenhagen on the 17^th mid-day.

There is another small change, though. Previously we were supposed to be staying at a hotel only a block away from the pickup and finishing area. Now we have unfortunately been moved to a different hotel, maybe 2-3km away from the finishing area. Won't be as comfortable getting back as was originally planned, but at least we are still (relatively) close by and not at the other end of the city.

I am very worried about what will happen if the race has to be cancelled/moved again due to Corona still being present in September. By grabbing this late cancellation I lost my guaranteed spot in 2024 so if I lose this spot for one or another reason I fear I'll be back at the end of the queue and have to start all over trying to secure a spot. Stressful times we are living in.

Canada postponed indefinitely

The trip to Canada was one I was really looking forward to - the country is beautiful and we would be spending close to two weeks driving through numerous national parks and getting to enjoy the sights along the way.

And then Corona happened.

First the marathon in Calgary got moved to the fall at a yet unknown time (so practically cancelled for me), and then the travel company cancelled all departures globally until the end of June. And then the airline crapped itself over the situation, too. 

So my trip to Canada has now been shelved for an unknown period of time. 

There seems to be no end to this.

Superhalfs pandemic update

As mentioned previously I have decided to participate in the Superhalfs - 5 half marathons in Lisbon, Prague, Copenhagen, Cardiff and Valencia, two in the spring and three in the fall. You can complete them over 3 years from the first run to get get into the Superhalfs hall of fame. And originally my plan was to power through all 5 in one calendar year.

And then the Corona pandemic happened.

It pretty much ruined all my plans for the first half of 2020 (after coming home from Antarctica). The organizers were forced to cancel or move the runs, and therefore my schedule has changed quite significantly. The schedule now looks like this:

Lisbon (September 6^th)

Prague (March 27^th 2021)

Copenhagen (2021)

Cardiff (October 4^th)

Valencia (October 25^th)

Lisbon got moved to the 6th of September, and a week later Prague was moved to the same day. A lot of criticism was voiced on the Prague HM facebook page, but apparently the organizers couldn't find another day that would fit everybody's schedule (city, organizers, etc.). So my Prague run will be postponed for next year. And I have had to postpone my run in Copenhagen until next year, too, as the Boston marathon got moved to the Monday the day after, and that run takes priority by a wide margin.

So here's to hoping that no more delays will happen, but I guess nothing is certain these days.