Last weekend I went over to Stockholm to run the Stockholm Marathon (and to have a nice relaxing weekend in Sweden). While the marathon was, yet again, one of my less stellar performances, the weekend was great. Stockholm is a lovely city – lots of water, lots of bridges, lots of ferries, beautiful old buildings (and a few less inspiring more modern ones), and, as expected, it was all very, very clean.
The marathon was one of the better organized races I have participated in. Some nice touches that I have not seen before – color coded cups at aid stations (water in blue cups, electrolyte in clear cups), bagged food and drink at the finish so that everyone gets the same and those earlier finishers don’t get to scarf it all, and, the most unusual thing I have ever seen, pickled gherkins at one of the aid stations. I cannot imagine why anyone would want a pickled gherkin in the middle of a marathon but if you do then Stockholm’s your place. I tried one but its not for me. Judging by the number of squashed gherkins on the pavement, it wasn't for a lot of other either.
The finish of the marathon was a lap around the Stockholm Olympic stadium and that nearly made all the pain and suffering worthwhile. The stadium was built for the 1912 Olympics and has the honor of being the location where 83 Track and Field World Records have been broken (that in itself is a record for a single location). Alas my performance was not quite so record breaking – actually it was a personal worst!
I have a new rule now - no more marathons unless I train for them - train properly that is.
No comments:
Post a Comment