48:25!

The big day was here and of course I didn't feel ready at all. I had a bad nights sleep (or rather 4 years of bad nights!), my knee was hurting (still is unfortunately) and my whole body felt heavy... But I was in a good mood, in good company and it felt like even if the race didn't turn out the way I wanted at least I was going to have a good time. Here we are, a few hours before the race, excited and a bit nervous:


It's funny how everything turns out to be about food "what should we eat before the race?", "What should we eat just before the race, or shouldn't we eat??" and most important "What should we eat after the race - just chocolate and sparkling wine or chocolate, sparkling wine and salty peanuts???"... I baked bread containing all kinds of healthy goodies including "Chia seeds" that's suppose to be one of the reasons that made the Tarahumara indians to become one of the worlds best long distance runners and the bread turned out to be really tasty, I had it with a spicy thai soup for lunch before the race:


The kids joined us to look at the festivities around "Runner's corner" before the start:




At 09:35 pm we took off into the dark streets of Södermalm in the heart of Stockholm. The first thing that hit me was how dark it was to run, even if we ran in the middle of the city, partly I could hardly see where I put my feet. The first kilometer was crowded and I felt frustrated unable to find my own rhythm... Struggling on the second kilometer went a bit to fast and also the third. Then the track took a turn and got more tricky and we slowly closed up to the feared hill to "Sofia kyrka". It was steep, hard and long... I think my fifth kilometer also was the slowest one... After this I could relax a bit and enjoy the race. It was mostly men around me and I got both pushed and "elbowed" a few times... But the atmosphere was amazing with live bands playing along the route, disco lights and smoke, partying people cheering us on. It was extra fun to run in my old neighborhood (it was around here H and me lived before moving to Canada) but it all looked strange in the dark with the crowd surrounding the streets and I found myself wondering where the h-ll I was more than once... When I reached the last hill, between 8 and 9 kilometer, I still wasn't sure if I could make it under 50 minutes and this hill, climbing up to "Mosebacke" was harder than I anticipated. Many runners around me gave in and started to walk. That only made me more stubborn and I found myself running like a crazy person up and almost there I thought I was going to throw up but then the Russian folk music band reached my ears and I knew I was almost home... Running the last kilometer was so much fun and painful in the same time and when I saw the goal, far ahead, I realized that I just might reach my goal and I took the time to raise my hand to the crowd, taking in all the ovations.

After the race it felt amazingly good with a hot shower, sparkling whine, chocolate and salty peanuts in nice company. And of course we had to keep celebrating today, for lunch we ate a lovely vegetarian buffet:


And for dessert Stockholm's best Baklava:


To sum it up, this was an amazing race, probably the best and most entertaining one I ever ran. My knee still hurts, which makes me a bit worried, but I'm so happy about my new 10K personal best... Holding on to this feeling for a while longer...