Saturday, 3 June 2006
After ~12.5 hours of sleep, we woke up just before 9:00 am. Now, I'd been worried about the marathon's 2:00 pm start ever since we signed up for this race since I'm a morning runner (Bil said a 2:00 pm start was a civilized time :-)). But I must admit that when I woke up, I was grateful for it not being an early morning marathon. Still, as I laid in bed I half-groaned to myself "oh my gosh, I have to run 26 miles today." I didn't feel 100% -- I was still tired from the travel, and my sinuses and throat felt vaguely off-kilter. Oh well, I decided that I would simply run as best I can, since the most important goal was to just have fun. After we indulged in the breakfast buffet set out by the hotel (for a charge; it was not included in the room price, but it was a huge buffet with quite good food), we basically just relaxed and hung out and kept off of our feet. At about 12:30 we changed, pinned on our bib numbers, attached the timing chip to our shoes, and generally got ready to go. We walked up the street to the T and this time we knew exactly which train to catch. Besides, the station is just filled with other marathoners on the way out to the Stadion, so it would have been quite difficult to mess up. And, there was no charge for us on marathon day: the Stockholm subway system was allowing marathoners to ride for free--we just showed our bib numberd as our ticket. Very nice.
Very shortly, we got off at the Stadion station and become part of the river of runners heading for Östermalms IP, adjacent to the stadium, where we had picked up our packets the day before. There, runners can drop off a clothing bag, get some water, or wait in line for a port-a-john. At about 1:30, everyone headed to the exit to move into the start corrals. But it was a narrow exit and there were thousands of us so it took a while to get through. No matter. We noticed a fellow runner next to us with the American flag on his bib number and we had a pleasant conversation.
The Stockholm Marathon has several "corrals" into which participants are placed for the start. The theory is that you put the faster runners in the front and progressively slower runners behind. At the very front are the seeded runners. These are the fast ones with a chance at winning the race. Behind them, runners are sorted into color-coded corrals: Red, Blue, Yellow, Green, and Black, in that order.
The weather was beautiful! Possibly better for spectators than runners though; at least for those of us more accustomed to cooler temperatures. Much like Friday, it was about 68-70°F, blue sky with a few puffy white clouds, and a light breeze. Before we left the hotel, while getting ready in the hotel room, I didn't think it was going to be quite this warm. I had decided that I did not need the sponge provided in our race packet and left it behind. Hmmmmmm....
At 2:00 pm, the gun (cannon?) boomed and the race started. And we in the yellow corral...stood still. A few seconds later, we started walking. It took me 2' 45" to get to the start line.
It was pretty crowded--lots of runners, on relatively narrow roads (compared to the U.S.), and I had no choice but to relax and take it easy. There was lots of talking and chatter around me but I couldn't understand a word of it! That was OK. Mostly I was concentrating on not running into anyone, clipping someone's heels, or getting tripped myself.
Being in Europe, as in Canada, the marathon route is marked with kilometer markers. For those who don't know, the certified, standard marathon distance is 26 miles, 385 yards (or 26.2 miles). In metric, that's 42 kilometers, 195 meters (42.2 kilometers in round). On the one hand it may seem psychologically difficult when marked in kilometers because you have to "count" so much higher. But for me, kilometer-marked races seem to go by very quickly. I think it's because the markers show up so much more quickly...every 0.62 miles as a matter of fact. More specifically, on this day, they would show up roughly every 5.5 minutes for me.
At 5 km (3.1 miles) we got to our first water station...and it was a madhouse! The road was narrow, we runners were still fairly packed closely together, and a traffic jam had occurred as runners slowed to get a cup of either water or the supplied sport drink, Maxim. I couldn't tell which side of the street the tables were on. I wanted water but how do I find it? I was trying to get to the side to a table and other runners were gently pushing me aside in their own quest to get to the table, or they'd already gotten their drink and were trying to get out! I finally got close enough to get handed a cup of something. The plastic cup was maybe 1/4 full (2 oz, tops) and it was the sport drink, Maxim. Whatever, I'll take it. I swallowed it down, then hurried to get out of there, as all the discarded plastic cups crunched underfoot. Whew!
With the aid station behind me, I looked around and saw that we were in a really pretty area of Stockholm, a park area called Gärdet. On this loop, the first of two, we ran around the tall TV Tower, Kaknästornet. Bil and I never did go back to go up to the top and check out the view. Maybe, some day.
Further along we were running along a tree-lined street that went past the outdoor nature area, Skansen. It was just so green and beautiful in the late springtime. As we approached the next water station, I saw some troughs of water. I watched as a runner veered over and let his hand run through the water and flip some water on to his head. Stupidly I think, now *that's* an unsanitary way to give us water! Then I immediately realized that they were troughs of water for the sponges they had handed out with our packet pick-up; the one I left back in the hotel. No problem. Next time I saw one I would just dip my cap in the water. This water station was still madcap, but not quite as bad as that first one. I was able to get a full cup of water to drink.
We crossed one of the many small bridges in Stockholm and ran along the perimeter of Gamla Stan then angled right into the Södermalm area of Stockholm, running along the water which was on our right. Along here, near 10k (roughly 6 miles), I finally got to dip my hat in one of the water troughs. I slowed down, then dragged my cap the length of the trough, and plopped it, wet and dripping, back on my head. Oh my gosh. It felt so good! So cool and refreshing.
Also through here, the water station volunteers were playing music and I think it was Guns and Roses; anyway, the lyrics I heard included "...it's so far..." and I had to laugh at how appropriate they were with 20 miles to go in the run.
Only a couple of k's later, we turned left and headed up the road for the most significant climb on the mostly flat course: a short climb up to the Västerbron bridge, then a gentler ascent to the center of the span. The views left and right, up and down the water were fantastic.
On the other side of the bridge we were back on the continent instead of an island and ran through "regular" city streets. We got within a couple of blocks of our hotel, then turned away again. At this point, I felt like I had finally gotten some breathing and running room. But the turn we took lead us onto a very narrow walkway/path that was barely wide enough for maybe 3 people abreast. Back to crowded conditions. But, it didn't last long and soon we were back on regular roads with more space.
We came upon a sign in the road for us marathoners that had 4 lines of text on it. It was obviously some kind of notification for us and the bottom line, the one in English, read "Grape-Sugar". Huh? What the heck is that? Candy was my best guess, and I was right. We turned a corner and there were volunteers handing out small white rectangles of something. One of the rules (guidelines, really ;-)) of marathoning is that you should never eat or drink something during the race that you haven't already tried in training. So, ignoring said rule, I promptly accepted the candy held out to me and was given two pieces. I popped one in my mouth and it was really good! It reminded me of the "Smarties" candy we have here in the U.S. It was sweet and dissolved quickly and easily. Yum. I hoped they'd still have some when we came around again on our second loop.
Otherwise, I simply kept running, dipping my hat in available water troughs, and running through the spray stations they had also set up. Each time, I felt myself perk up. About this time, I noticed a hand-written sign by a spectator that read "Heja {someone's name}". Hmmm, I wondered if "heja" means "go". I started listening to the spectators around me and sure enough I hear people saying something that phonetically sounds like "hey-ya, hey-ya". That's it! I would hear this for the rest of the afternoon. And after I got home, I was told this by a Scandinavian runner from the NoWDead running list:
"Heja" is kind of like "hooray," a general cheer. It doesn't mean anything specific; it's just a version of "Hej," which is "Hey." You'll hear a lot of "Heja Sverige!" (Hooray Sweden) at the World Cup, at least if Sweden starts to play better. (Thanks, Mika!)
Soon, I hit the the 1/2-way point (21.1 km, or 13.1 mi) and I was off for the 2nd loop. This time, instead of looping around the Kaknästornet TV Tower, we cut diagonally through Gärdet, then into the park area known as Djurgården. This, too, was (is!) absolutely beautiful and peaceful. Along here, there were fewer spectators and I realized that most of the chatter from the other runners had dropped way, way off. Not too surprising, really.
We rejoined the first loop course right before Skansen. There was more nice, cold, water for hat dipping thanks to the water troughs. There were more water spray stations. There was water to drink, or Maxim if I felt like it. We wound back around Gamla Stan again, and along the water on Södermalm again. For the second time, we made the climb up to the Västerbron bridge and I got another chance to take in the view from the top of the bridge. We passed 33 km (20.5 miles) as we started up the bridge and I still felt pretty good. I became aware that I was consistently passing other runners. And, there was now less than 10k to go!
We were back onto the streets of Stockholm and I just kept plugging along. I got to the candy volunteers and got a couple more pieces of "grape-sugar". Yum.
At most of the aid stations, besides the water or the Maxim, there were volunteers handing out bananas. I could never handle those during a run and I never took one. Then, somewhere near 37 km (23 miles) I came to an aid station that was handing out pickles. Yes, you read that correctly, pickles. Dill, I think. Oh my gosh, I thought bananas sounded bad? Blech. Even worse were the dropped and squashed pickles in the road that we had to run over. This was one new food in a marathon that I would definitely not try...ever.
One thing about 37k, though: I had just 5k to go. And it went by surprisingly quickly. I was at least holding my pace and I was pretty sure that the second half was going to be faster than the first half for me.
I passed the 40k sign. If there was a 41k sign, I missed it.
Now, for the finish, the course routed us back to the stadium. We went through an entrance gate onto the grounds and ran along the outside of the stadium. We turned right, went through an archway and we were inside the 1912 Olympic Stadium. It was soooo cool. We passed the 42k sign on the track and ran the 1/2 lap to the finish line on the opposite straight-away. What a wonderful place to finish a marathon. Especially when things go well. I crossed the finish line with the clock reading 3:53:something. But that was my "gun" time. Take off the ~2' 45" it took for me to get to the start line, and my "chip" time is 3:50:something.
For the elite runners, the winner of the race will be determined by gun time--he/she who gets from the start line to the finish line first wins. But for those of us in the rear crowds, the chip time will be our official time so that we aren't penalized by how long it takes us to get across the start. So, officially, my Stockholm Marathon time was 3:50:47, for an average pace of 8:48/mile.
I was definitely a happy camper! Anytime I can run under 4 hours, I like it. At my age and gender, sub-4 (hours) is a Boston Qualifying time.
It was now almost 6:00 pm and that felt so strange! It's usually 11 am or close to noon when I finish a marathon. The weather was still fantastic. We are given our finisher's medallion (no ribbon, just a 3"-in-diameter medallion) while still in the stadium. We are then "encouraged" to fall in with the flow of runners leaving the stadium and to head back over to Östermalms IP. Here they removed the timing chip from our shoe and we could pick up our finisher's t-shirt, and get a small food bag. Runners could also get the clothing bag that was dropped off before the start, and/or use the port-a-johns. If you didn't mind the wait, you could also get a brief, free, massage. But I was too impatient to wait. I got my chip removed, picked up my t-shirt and my food bag, then made my way back to the stadium to wait for Bil.
Bil thought he'd finish around 5 hours and he was almost exactly correct. His official time was 5:00:59. With his finisher's medallion now in hand, I walked with him back to Östermalms IP so he could also get his chip removed, etc. We retrieved our clothing bags, I made an urgent pit stop at the port-a-john (no lines, thank goodness!), then we started making our way back to the subway for the ride back to the hotel.
The subway was packed and it was standing room only but somehow, everyone on the platform squeezed in. We got off at T-Centralen as usual, but this time we knew which street exit to take--and we were back to our room for a wonderful, hot shower.
My final race data:
| Bib no | K769 |
| Name | Donna Rode |
| Born | 1960 |
| Group | Kvinnor |
| Team/Country | USA |
| Position | 312 |
| Time | 3.50.47 |
| Gross time | 3.53.28 |
| Average pace | 5.28/km |
| Distance | Total time | Lap time | Pace | Pos |
| 5 km | 0.28.21 | 28.21 | 5.40/km | 624 |
| 10 km | 0.55.27 | 27.05 | 5.25/km | 585 |
| 15 km | 1.22.54 | 27.27 | 5.29/km | 562 |
| Half marathon | 1.57.05 | 34.10 | 5.36/km | 539 |
| 25 km | 2.17.56 | 20.51 | 5.20/km | 497 |
| 30 km | 2.45.00 | 27.03 | 5.24/km | 433 |
| 35 km | 3.12.38 | 27.38 | 5.31/km | 379 |
| 40 km | 3.39.35 | 26.56 | 5.23/km | 326 |
| Finish | 3.50.47 | 11.12 | 5.06/km | 312 |
Some quick math shows that I was right that I ran the second half faster than the first, 1:57:05, then 1:53:42. Negative splits. My position throughtout the race is for the women's race; the Stockholm Marathon keeps the results separate. So, my final position was 312 out of ~2,814 women finishers.
It was a really good day. And as of now, we were no longer marathoners, we were tourists.
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