1st – 2nd – Post race and return home

I had eyed a steak restaurant close to the hotel for dinner, and it was only possible to get a table for 1730 unless I wanted to wait until 2100 so obviously I went for an early dinner. It has positive reviews so I had high hopes, though I ended up disappointed. Bland risotto, tasty but not particularly tender steak, a pepper sauce that barely tasted of anything, so-so fries but a delicious dessert. The bread & butter and wine was good, though. So that was a great finish to an otherwise excellent day.

Relaxing the rest of the night followed by a good night’s sleep I grabbed myself a full breakfast before checking out and spent some time walking around before heading towards the airport. On the way to the train station I managed to grab some fish & chips before getting on the train and getting to the airport where checking in went smooth. I sat down in probably the smallest lounge ever at tarmac level (though I ended up seeing more rainbows than planes) before boarding on my flight to Amsterdam. Getting through the large airport in an hour was a bit stressful, having to go through security didn’t make it faster, but I finally made it to my next gate – and in time. And then it turned out my connecting flight was almost half an hour delayed. Oh, well.

How I feel about marathons.

Last leg went without a hitch and I was soon back in Denmark. Unfortunately due to the delay I missed my train connection so instead of getting home around midnight I was home around 0115. Bummer.

The view from the lounge at Inverness airport.

Saw more rainbows than planes.

Despite Inverness not being that interesting and getting home later than expected, I really enjoyed this trip. Might have something to do with me having a very good marathon. But that’s just guesswork.

Full album can be seen here.

1st of October – Loch Ness Marathon

The marathon set off at 1000, but as the start is outside Inverness busses had been acquired to get us all out there. And at around 0750 a long convoy of busses were on their way all the way down the western side of Loch Ness, turned along the south point and ended up in nowhere on some very small roads where we all disembarked an hour after departure. It was quite impressive looking around and seeing the long line of busses all around on some otherwise very small roads, most of them not paved. Reaching the main road – and main is meant as the largest there, maybe 4-5 meters wide at best – you started towards the starting area further down the road. Along the way the road was lined with portapotties, equipment/crew vehicles, more portapotties and baggage trucks. After this just a long empty space on the road until you reached the starting line. And all around us was beautiful views of Scottish highland. And here all the runners huddled together in a chilly – but not uncomfortably so – morning with fair weather waiting for the start.

A view of the landscape from the starting area.

And at 1000 we were off.

Until Dores the run was mostly following a road cutting through forest lining Loch Ness limiting our views. We had the entire road for ourselves – 1-1½ lanes paved road winding through the landscape while descending down towards the water level. Around Dores, at around 25-ish km, the landscape opened up all around us giving us views out over the loch, and the road widened to a more commonly used 2-lane road where we were limited to the left side while cars could drive on the other side. All this meant that all traffic was blocked for the first part and after Dores only southbound driving was possible, thus the houses we passed in the beginning were effectively prevented from going anywhere until the afternoon when they’d open up the road again.

Photo taken by Marathon Photo.

The weather was nice  running weather. The sun was mostly covered behind clouds in the beginning, and not until we had gotten warmed up we got a bit of a drizzle before staying dry for the rest of the run. When the sun came out it could have gotten quite warm but running among trees we were in the shade preventing heating up too much. Coming out in the open at that point the sun was out but mostly in our backs.

Photo taken by Marathon Photo.

The course wasn’t the easiest. The first 16-ish km it was mostly downhill from 310m to 20m, with a short steep uphill section midway. From 16 to 28km it was mostly flat – relative to the beginning. It was constantly gradually undulating but it wasn’t too bad in spite of it. The following 4km we had a gentle 100m ascent. It wasn’t particularly steep, especially compared to the start, but it just kept going. That section sucked a lot of energy and the following descent wasn’t steep enough to actually being felt like a descent equivalent of the ascent. 

The face of someone seeing the finish line just across the river but realizing there is still app. 2km left.

Photo taken by Marathon Photo.

Reaching Inverness quite a few people had come out to support us along the way – a big difference compared to the course until then. While there were a few out around Dores before then it was mainly only runners out due to the conditions. Reaching River Ness with less than 2km to go you could hear and see the finishing area on the other side of the river which was enormously frustrating knowing you still had a bit to go despite the finish was just over there.

A few 100 meters to the finish line, seeing a new PR on the horizon and still feeling fine (relatively).

Photo taken by Marathon Photo.

Crossing the finishing line and picking up my goodie pack and bag I waited for a bit to meet with a friend who was also running, this being her first marathon. Crossing the finishing line she was tired but obviously very happy doing it and completing. It was a quick hello/congratulations/ goodbye as she was meeting with family who was waiting for her – and that meant I could get back to my hotel to get a what felt like a well-deserved shower and rest. Feeling quite uncomfortable walking around in the sun, tired, worn out and severely dehydrated, a hotel room seemed very attractive at that point. 

Photo taken by Marathon Photo.

The probably funniest part was actually on the way back to the hotel. At the intersection where we were running along the river and had to make a turn to cross the bridge to the final stretch towards the finish there was a restaurant/bar. Outside this was a line of already finished runners, each with a beer in hand and very vigorously cheering runners along. The runners passing by were ones who would complete in 5:15 and later and many of them really needed that final cheering on. And when a runner came walking the onlookers would loudly chant “Run! Run! Run!” which energized them and had them back running, resulting in (even louder) cheers from them. It was a fantastic scene.

The best cheering to be found on the course.

My goal for the run – like with any other marathon I run – was to finish in less than 4 hours. With the course profile being what it is I considered it being a real possibility of not reaching my goal, but as usual I approached the run completely ignoring that fact. My PR is 3:55:34 from my virtual Boston marathon back in September 2020. Or – to be more correct: My PR was 3:55:34 from my virtual Boston marathon back in September 2020. Because in spite of the plenty of uphill I managed to complete this marathon in the official time 3:52:53, an improvement of 2:41. I honestly didn’t expect such a result, but apparently the downhill for the first 16km were nice to me. 

According to results, 3555 people were signed up and 3504 finished. I finished 749 overall (top 21,38%), 638 out of 2172 men (top 29,37%) and 184 out of 554 men 40-49 (33,21%). I crossed the halfway point at 1:49:52, probably the best time I have had for the first half of a marathon (not to be confused by my best half marathon time). In the second half I dropped 58 places – no surprise there due to the lack of lots of downhill and the long uphill stretch. Compared to the rest on the result page (50 results per page, i.e. 701-750) more than half jumped or dropped a 3-digit amount of places on the second half. 

The average time for the first and second half of the run for M40 and men was 1:58:46 and 2:27:04, and 2:00:43 and 2:29:21, respectively. The last person crossing the finish line did it in 8:50:25 but that was both gun and chip time, so I assume something went wrong there. The second to last ran the distance in 8:40:08. The fastest did it in 2:22:04 and fastest woman did it in 2:43:45.

All that taken into consideration I am very happy with the result. Of course, nobody wants to drop positions and I clearly did that on the second half, but considering the race conditions and the fact that I got a new PR I can’t really find anything to complain about. It was, overall, a very nice run.

29th – 30th of September – Visiting Nessie

Going through security my carry-on went through a new fancy machine that didn’t require you to remove anything from your bags – not even fluids. For the first time in a long time my bag got flagged, though; energy gel, basically fluids in small bags, understandably looked suspicious. The employee turned out to be an avid runner and with no one waiting after me we bonded over that for a few minutes before I was let go.

Getting to Inverness required a layover and I had mine in Amsterdam. My connecting flight ended up being an hour late which was annoying but on the other hand it resulted in a perfect connection with the train departing from the airport to Inverness. Though had I known how long a walk it was getting to the train station I would have been much less relaxed on the flight.

It was a short walk from the station to the hotel and I was soon checked in and settled in. It had gotten dark at that point but I ended up going for a short walk to get a feel for the area. It turns out that the hotel is just across the River Ness from the finishing area (the course passes the hotel with app. 1½ km left after which you cross a bridge over the river and end up running in the opposite direction to the finish line) and it was perfect with a pedestrian bridge connecting the two sides making a nice shortcut for when I’m returning to the hotel after the run. Unfortunately that bridge will be closed for most of the day during the run.

Inverness castle overlooking River Ness and Loch Ness.

The hotel I’m staying at is more of a hotel/apartment place; they own quite a few buildings along the street, so while they have normal hotel rooms they also rent out actual apartments – and at the end of the row of houses they had their restaurant. The main building where you’d find the reception they had several quite large function rooms, and being Scotland they also had their own distillery. 

Fanciest funeral home I've ever seen.

After getting breakfast at their restaurant I went to the runners’ expo and picked up my number before having a walk around town. After walking around for a bit and getting away from the center I must admit that I don’t think Inverness is the world’s most interesting town. To kill time I ended up entering their botanical garden, probably the smallest I’ve ever seen.

After a short break back at the hotel I went out for dinner at a restaurant that was connected to the local golf course. Not because it being my first choice as it was close to an hour’s walk away, but when you try booking less than a week in advance in the weekend of an activity where thousands of runners have signed up in a town of less than 50.000 people, places suddenly tend to get crowded. The walk there and back again were through areas I hadn’t been in previously so that was nice, and the weather was pleasant throughout th entire walk.

Visiting the botanical garden.

Meeting Nessie

It tends to be a bit dangerous being me when I'm bored and looking at future plans because I get very open to suggestions. I was looking for a short trip during the fall to spend some of my many saved up overtime hours from work so I could start using my vacation time. So when I saw a friend posting about her training for her first marathon I felt... inspired. I had a short chat with her and it didn't take long before I had booked my next extended weekend.

29th - 30th of September

Flying to Inverness, located at the northern end of Loch Ness, turned out to be more difficult than I had expected. I ended up getting tickets with a layover in Amsterdam, but not before I had checked tickets to Aberdeen (still needed a layover, and then a train ride after arriving) or London combining with a train ride north to my destination (flights were fine, but the train ride was long and more importantly expensive). I'll be arriving in the afternoon/evening in Inverness so I have a day and a bit to have a look around before the race. 

1st of October

The Loch Ness marathon is a point-to-point marathon, so in the morning we board busses that will take us south along the coast of the Loch, where we start app. 42km outside Inverness and then run in an almost straight line back to the city (town?) before doing a u-turn just before crossing the finish line. The run is considered as one of the most beautiful runs in the world, so I am looking forward to the views. The course is interesting; the first 16km is pretty much downhill from 350m to app. 50m, but around 28-30km we ascend app. 100m over 2-3km followed by downhill again to get us down to 10-20m. It'll be interesting in more sense than one - it'll be a long slog at the 28-30km mark and definitely give flashbacks to Heartbreak Hill in the Boston marathon.

2nd of October

Expecting to be sore I'll probably not get much sightseeing done before flying back out past noon.

I ended up only travelling Friday-Monday instead of the usual Thursday-Monday, mostly because it was hard to find a place to stay at that was close to the center, available and where the showers weren't shared. But here's crossing my fingers that day will be enough to unfold from the plane seat and be ready to run for 4 hours on the Sunday. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

21st – Returning home

Coming back I had my usual sleep/nap before lunch (smoked elk soup!) before packing my stuff and getting ready to be picked up to go to the airport. I had a few minutes where I tried to photograph some of the many birds around the house, but only having a few minutes without being able to hide it never really amounted to anything.

The drive to the airport was uneventful; 1½ hours of pine forest with the occasional lake, but no sightings like the reindeer when I arrived. Kajaani airport is small but having one arrival and departure on most days I guess you don’t need Heathrow-level facilities. There are two gates; one for departures (gate 1) and one for arrivals (gate 2). Hence the security check was just and extension of the waiting area at gate 1 – nothing more was needed.

The flight home went almost as expected – with the exception the second flight was almost an hour delayed. At least I had access to the lounge during the wait, and my dad was very nice to pick me up at the airport – had I not been so lucky I would have been looking forward to a 3+ hour trip home by bus.

Knowing full well that wildlife does what only wildlife wants, doing photography trips like this can be very hit or miss. Having generally had luck previously on my trips I did have fairly high expectations – especially because I would be hidden most of the time instead of out in the open in a vehicle. Therefore I can’t help be a bit disappointed by the limited number of bear sightings throughout the week – though the mother and cubs on the Monday and the sighting Sunday morning definitely helped. I was surprised by how many wolverine sightings we had – but that was just positive. I would have liked to see wolves, but alas. It would have been amazing to see lynx but I was fully aware that wish was a stretch – also due to them preferring live prey (smaller mammals and birds) so the lures put out was not what they would be looking for. And my guide confirmed that seeing them would be near impossible. she had seen one 3 times in the last 18 months – all from the car when it was crossing the road, only photos were from trail cams, and earlier than that only once in 8 years. Wolverines are more curious and are happy with getting close to unknown objects which means that they are much more commonly seen. 

In Finland there are app. 400 wolverines (which means we saw 1-2% of the population depending on the number of unique and repeat visits) but 1000s of bears, lynx and wolves. Chances are that we technically have seen lynx with them sneaking around and hiding in the bushes and shrubbery in the dark at a distance. We could have looked straight at one without being able to see it. I should post a photo of a bush with the caption “There’s a lynx, it’s totally there, you just can’t see it because it’s hiding”.

Full album can be seen here.

15th – 20th – Hiding in hides

The original plan was to have two days (from afternoon to next day’s morning) in the hide (Monday-Tuesday), a rest day and then another two days back in the hide finishing off with another rest day before returning home. While I was the only one who had signed up for the 8-day tour, with the exception of Thursday I was joined by others who had signed up for a single day trip to the hides. 

A bunk bed is located just out of frame to the right.

When returning from the Tuesday outing I was told that people usually preferred a break at this point and spend a day doing something else instead which was why the schedule was what is was, but if I wanted I was free to go back to the hide on the Wednesday if I wanted. That was a very easy decision to make. It wouldn’t be possible to do the same on the last night (Saturday) as my hostess would be leaving and her replacement wouldn’t arrive soon enough on the Sunday to be able to pick me up at the hides. That was the plan – which I wasn’t unhappy about as I had already gotten an extra day compared to the schedule – but on the Saturday a pair of one-day hide tour French guys arrived in their own car (and therefore drove themselves back and forth to the hides) which meant that I could hitch a ride with them on the Sunday morning when leaving and therefore not having to depend on my hostess at that point. This meant that every single night after the night of arrival was spent in the hides – that was definitely felt like a big victory (and it was the hostess that offered, and no increase in payment, so I was definitely happy about that development).

Great spotted woodpeckers.

Black-headed gull.

The daily routine would be fairly simple; leave the house around 1430 for a 10-15 minute drive and short walk, get settled into the hides while lures are put out and around 1530 we are on our own until we are picked up again at around 0730, and around 0800-0830 I’m fast asleep. Lunch at 1300 or 1400 (depending on if the hostess need time to brief 1-day’ers who aren’t repeat guests), repeat daily. You were given a pack with sandwiches, snacks, hot water, tea/coffee/soup to keep you going for the night. You were allowed to bring your own if you wanted but there were (obviously) rules about smelliness and noise of food (so no crunchy chips!). The lunches were delicious; a hot meal with a small dessert. Some examples are Spaghetti Bolognaise (but instead of beef it was smoked elk), salmon/rainbow trout soup, meatballs, shredded potatoes & ham with small savory pancakes (or something similar). 

Brown bear.

Raven.

There were 4 hides, all were more or less lined up next to each other; one larger for 3 people and the reaming for 2. I got to have my own hide which I was very appreciative about as the toilet facilities were very basic; two of them had a small chemical toilet hidden behind a curtain, while the third hide was a bit smaller and there was only room for a large bucket lined with a plastic bag with a toilet seat lid with a bit of dirt in the bottom (and a smaller bucket next to it with more dirt which I assume was to cover up your… product), and no small alcove and curtain to hide behind. I guess if you share the hide with someone; if you didn’t know them before you would definitely get to know them during the stay. There was also a “gentlemen’s toilet” which was a 5-liter water jug with a (large) screw cap which you’d empty outside when leaving in the morning. Other than that there was a bunk bed, two chairs, sleeping bags and pillows, a shelf for your stuff you’d need during the stay (food, snacks, etc.) and a desk with a flexible and very stable mounting system so you could mount a camera anywhere along the length of the hide and removing the need to use vibration reduction (which saves a lot of battery power). Above the table there were 6 square holes covered with a tarp with an adjustable hole through where you’d put your lens so you had nothing between you and your subject while not opening up and making you visible to the wildlife. Above those there was a narrow acrylic window spanning the length of the hide so you could always have a relatively good view of the surroundings. And there you’d be confined for 15-16 hours in silence, hoping something interesting would pass by.

Wolverine.

Herring gull.

Black kite.

While one should remember these are wild animals and you can’t decide where they should go I was a bit surprised at how little activity there actually was after the first 3-4 hours when the gulls reigned with a few guest appearances of wood peckers, ravens, a few crows and a black kite. After that the best odds were to see wolverines and a single bear popped up Monday and Tuesday. Thursday no mammals at all showed up which resulted in a very long night. There was also a chance of seeing wolves and lynxes though both are quite shy and therefore rarely show up. It’s worth mentioning my hostess in the last 1½ years had seen lynxes 3 times, and all times when she was driving and seeing them crossing the road. All the mammals are present in the area, the wolverines are the rarest (we ended up seeing maybe 1-2% of the total population in Finland) and there is app. double the number of wolves and almost 10 times as many lynxes and bears. 

Owl of some kind. 

The weather – or rather the temperatures – varied quite a bit. There were a few evenings we had a few showers but it was otherwise dry. On the Thursday it was around 10 degrees when arriving at the hide and during the night it dipped below 0. Crawling out of the bed after my 1-2 hour’s nap I should have known immediately when I could see my own breath instead of some time later when I was wondering why I was feeling so much colder than previously and then realizing there was frost on the grass outside. On the other end of the scale on Saturday it was 20+ degrees on arrival and past 2000 I was still only wearing short sleeves. When getting there on the Monday there were still fairly large patches of snow in the area outside the hides, but when getting to the weekend it had all cleared up completely. 

The last few days a couple of mosquitos got caught inside the hide. Easy to get rid of as there were only a few, but I can’t imagine how big a pain they’ll be getting further into the summer.

I ended up with 100+ photos of blur, backgrounds in focus and/or 

empty shots to get this single photo of a woodpecker in flight. 

Being a bear tour it was a little disappointing to only see a single bear twice from the hide Monday and Tuesday (even if we did see the mother with 3 cubs from the car Monday morning!). The two French guys enabling my extra Saturday hide visit were going on their 3rd visit; they had done Wednesday and Friday, none of them giving much other than a few wolverine visits. They therefore had decided to go for one last chance to see bears before having to continue on their trip. Throughout the evening, night and early morning we had multiple visits from wolverines. I assume there were at least a few different but it could probably also just be the same one returning multiple times. Then, 1½ hours before leaving, a large male and female bear showed up. They wandered the area in front of the hides for maybe 15 minutes finding all the leftover lures before meandering off again. Running close to deadline they were very, very happy to finally get to see them. I was obviously also very happy with how the morning had developed, but not nearly as much as they were when seeing them exiting their hide having huge smiles on their faces. 

The bears on the last morning.

14th – 15th of May – Arrival in Finland

Recently there have been issues with the air controllers in CPH airport as their employer believes their contracts require them to take extra hours (whereas the controllers disagree) as they are understaffed and need to fill shifts. This has resulted in numerous delays and cancellations. I noticed that my flight’s departure a few days ago was app 2 hours late, a minor inconvenience if it hadn’t been for my 1½ hour layover in Helsinki.

Fortunately the departure today was on time without a hint of delay and we were off on an as expected uneventful flight. Finland seem to like blueberries – the only free option apart from water was “Finnair’s signature blueberry juice” which was surprisingly good. After the layover in Helsinki the flight to Kajaani was boarded, a small 2+2 seater plane with an overhead compartment just large enough to be able to contain my bag. With a bit of fiddling around I finally settled into my seat and realized to my joy I had an empty seat next to me. Until 3 people were asked to move to the rear due to balancing the plane – me being one of them. So I quickly scrambled to gather all my stuff (my bag was at least easier to pull out than shove into the compartment) and moved to the back row – getting seated next to a very large man who didn’t seem to enthused about the situation either as he had also been moved from where he had had an empty seat next to him. There was no more room in the overhead compartments but I was allowed to keep my bag under a seat at an empty seat despite part of the luggage hold was accessible from the rear of the cabin. Apparently “camera equipment” and “batteries” are magic words to letting you keep your bag with you.

Apart from it was another uneventful flight – stocking up on more water and blueberry juice – and we arrived in good time at Kajaani; basically a single building and a landing strip. Close to arriving I noticed that there was snow laying around on the ground which was surprising to me as the forecasts had said it would be up towards 20°C during the days and 3-6°C during the nights. I assumed I had been looking at forecasts in a different area until exiting the plane and feeling the warmth. Apparently they had gotten quite a lot of snow in the beginning of May and thus the weather was still working on melting the remains. 

I picked up my checked in bag – it was literally the last one out, but also maybe the 10th bag so the waiting time was limited – and was met by a short French woman who turned out to be the owner of the place and company I had booked with. Reaching her car she recommended getting my camera out as “you never know what you will get to see along the way” and off we went. The 1½ hour drive did end up being a bit longer than planned as we along the way ended up seeing forest reindeers and a bunch of birds at such a distance, I wouldn’t even be able to recognize them even if I was reminded of their names. 

Forest reindeer.

Frogs. Toads? Frogtoads. 

Apparently I’m the only one who has booked the entire 8-day tour, but I will be joined by others who are doing single nights at in the hides.

On arrival my hostess spent around half an hour to dish up with a delicious chicken/mushroom risotto around 2100 before I excused myself and left to my room to get some much-needed rest. The stairs to the first floor ware probably the steepest I have ever experienced. Have to be careful walking up and down to make sure you don’t put your weight wrong on your feet. On the other hand it ensures you always get down – one way or another.

The following morning after a quick breakfast we went for a 3-hour drive-and-walk to have a look around. 20 minutes by car we had to stop abruptly as ahead on the road just turning the corner towards us we saw a mother bear with 3 cubs from last year. I got to shoot couple of quick photos through the windshield and a few out the window before she spotted us after which she turned running into the forest and with the cubs following (after showing a bit of curiosity towards us) following along. The last we saw of them was the adult’s back when racing away among the trees. Apparently people can live in the area for years without seeing a single bear, and I had only been here for 15 hours so far. 

Mother with cubs. Shot through the cars front screen, hence the quality - or rather lack of it.

One of the cubs trying to figure out why mom suddenly starting running into the forest.

During the walk we didn’t get to see any animals, but I was introduced to the local fauna; lichens, birch, pine, blue-, black- and lingon berry bushes. There were no bears on the return to the house and lunch was homemade falafel on a bed of roasted eggplant and potato salad. Half an hour or so later it was time to leave for the hide.