Stockholm halfmarathon!

It's always the same, I didn't feel ready to run a 21 km race when I woke up Saturday morning at all. Tired, bad night's sleep and heavy legs. But anyway, the sky was blue and it looked like we were in for a very nice day... I prepared a picnic since H and the girls, for once, were coming with me to cheer me on and enjoy beautiful Stockholm. I did a bunch a sandwiches, coffee, packed cookies and soft drinks. I figure I have to take good care of the few fans I have and maybe they want to tag along for my next race too...


I took a warm shower and got dressed, painted my nails so they matched my adios boost, very chic indeed! I certainly believe that I run faster if I look better, make perfect sense - right!?


After lunch I took of to the city to get my number tag and I already felt the pressure on the metro when a man started to chit chat asking me if I was running the halfmarathon, what time I was expecting to run in and so on... I finally reached "Kungsträdgården" and got my number tag and my timechip that I had to attach to my shoe. After that I met H and the girls. The girls tried to do their best to make me taste their incredibly huge icecreams but I resisted and nervously chewed on a small pack of raisins instead...


Then I kissed the family goodbye, waited in line for half an hour to pee and then I had to rush to my start group and that wasn't so easy, it was really crowded! I just made it in time!

Just before the start...

And off we went, the start was a mess, it was so crowded it was impossible to run. Between 1-2 km we ran through a tunnel- "Klaratunneln" - and my Garmin lost it's satellite signal so I wasn't sure how fast or far I've been running. Between 3-4 km the crowd loosened up a bit and I found a nice pace, it felt easy and my legs alert. It was hot and every 3rd kilometer they had a refreshment station with water, I skipped the first station but after that I always took 2 glasses, one to poor over my head and one to take a few sips from.

Around 12 km - running by the Swedish parliament building with a nice feeling...

After running 13 km the track got a bit trickier and steeper, running around beautiful "Södermalm". I didn't exactly know my total time I've been running and my legs started to feel heavy and a bit stiff. Struggling closer to "Slussen" I realized I was going to make it and nothing but an accident could stop me from finishing this race, I had the energy.

Running my last kilometers, enjoying every step!

With the goal in sight!

After finally reaching the goal after 1 hour 51 minutes and 15 seconds off running, I felt that I still had some energy left, I probably could have made it sub 1:50 this beautiful, perfect day but I was to scared of hitting the wall since it was my first halfmarathon I ran and I never, ever ran this distance before. But for sure, I'm going to do it again!

Happy about the day, the race, the crowd, the weather and myself!