Lidingoloppet

On Sunday 7th May I ran the Lidingoloppet (Loop of Lidingo) 10km trail race in Stockholm. 

Kata, Ruby, and I were visiting Rachel (founder member of Mostrunningist Year Ever) and Hector in Stockholm where they now live.  When Kata and I were deciding where we should see Depeche Mode on their European tour, the attraction of combining the concert with visiting friends was obvious.  And so it was that I ran 10km around an island in Stockholm. 

Depeche Mode at The Friends Arena - Amazing.

The race was on Sunday.  On Thursday (the day we arrived in Sweden) Rachel and I went out for what turned out to be a 11.5km run around the trails near her home in Lidingo, Stockholm.  It was a good run at a decent pace and I got some idea of the trails I would be running during the race.  We didn't run the race route on Thursday, but some of the trails we ran did follow some of the course of the race.

There were three separate races on the day.  the 50km ultra, the 26km, and the 10km.  Hector was running the 26km and set off at 09:30, half an hour before Rachel and I started the10km.  Kata and Ruby would join us later as unfortunately Ruby was having a rough morning (teething) and kata stayed in the flat with her to take care of our daughter and allow me to run the race.  Fortunately Ruby recovered well and more of that later!

I was asked by Hector on Saturday how I expected to do on Sunday.  I said that I could run 10km in 42 minutes or so and that it being a hilly trail (based on my Thursday run) I'd expect about 50 minutes or thereabouts.  Rachel scoffed.  It "wasn't that hilly" apparently and the terrain "wouldn't make that much difference".  Those words rang in my head during the race as I considered how I was going to confront Rachel regarding her alternative facts :-).  I didn't need to though as after the race, she mentioned it first! 

The race was a lot bigger than I imagined it would be.  I was thinking along the lines of the Winton 10k trail, but it was much bigger than that and much more of an actual race.  It started in a sports complex that was home to a running track and a football club.  The race started on the running track and was preceded by an organised aerobics type workout as a warm up.  I didn't bother, I had done my usual (for a 10km race) 20m - 30m sprints to loosen up my legs and raise my heart rate.

Hector leads the race.  They guy in the green top (in 4th) eventually won.

We set off at the firing of a starter pistol and ran a half lap of the track then out into Lidingo (pronounced Lee-ding-ah).  The first 2km was on pavement around the town.  This was quite straight forward and I was running 4:20/km pace which was fine.  My legs are a bit heavy from my marathon training (I should blog about that later) and my aim when I started was to finish in about 45 minutes.  Once we headed off the pavement and into the woodland trail EVERYTHING changed.  You could call the course "undulating" but that wouldn't really cut it.  It was "hilly".  I honestly can't remember a section when we weren't either running uphill or downhill.  so I found it Tough (capital 'T' intended).  I usually start to feel the effects of the effort at about 6.5 or 7km during a 10km race, but on this occasion it was at about 5km and I was just dragging a dead weight (mine) around for the second half of the race.  The course was very pretty, beautiful forest, blue skies, warm enough with a nice breeze.  It'd be great for a leisurely walk!

I changed my goal about 4 times during the race as each one became unachievable.  First to go was < 45 minute finish.  Then < 47 minutes.  Then just to beat the guy in front of me.  At 7.5km (I checked) there was a ridiculously steep hill that almost but not quite forced me into a walk.  I did push on, I did try my hardest, and when we finally came out of the forest and headed back for the last 1.5 towards the sports complex I dug in and tried to up my pace.  It was flat and on tarmac.  I may have been shattered, but I was in my comfort zone.

Some much appreciated bling.

In the end I finished in just under 48 minutes which is alright.  As I was on the home straight I could see and hear Rachel sheering me over the line which was much appreciated.  I was presented with a cup of lemon flavoured sugary drink by Rachel's friend Sarah-Jane which was VERY much appreciated.  Shortly afterward I saw Kata and Ruby standing at the side of the track, Ruby with a medal around her neck.  Turns out she had won her first medal under her own steam (she was carried around the Toddler Dash thingy in Cumbernauld) and I was ridiculously proud of her. 

Run! 

And.....relax.

Thanks to Rachel for inviting us along to the race.  Thanks to Kata for looking after grumpy Ruby and letting me run, and also for entering Ruby into her own race.  Well done to Hector for finishing 2nd in his race in an incredible 1:38:52.  He and the race winner were well ahead of everyone else with the finisher in 3rd nearly 14 minutes behind Hector.  Thanks also to Hector for giving Kata and I one of his prizes, and awesome 2XU running belt.  Thanks to the supporters that lined parts of the route  and shouted "Hey Ya!" a lot.  Thanks to the race organisers for such a well organised and marshalled race and for providing my first piece of bling in recent memory (and a bag of delicious bread rolls).  It was a good day and it's always fun to race abroad.  It's exotic!
 

Everyone's a winner.

Winton Trail Race

On Saturday 8th April, I ran the Winton Trail Race. 

I have never taken part in this race before but I had heard good things.  We started at Winton Castle on a beautiful Spring day.  There was a 10km race, a 5km race, and a 3.5km family event.  I took part in the 10km.  I arrived early with Kata and Ruby and we were able to take advantage of the beautiful castle grounds by sitting about and soaking up the sun.  Happily we bumped into our friends and fellow Hunters Bog Trotters John McManus, Mairead McManus, and Robin Thomas. 

Winton Castle.  Nice day for it.

This was a low key, fun event, and I set off on the race in a relaxed frame of mind.  The route was very picturesque and was mostly through wooded trail.  It reminded me quite a bit of the woods around Nemesvamos.  I pushed as hard as I could, and I overtook Mairead at about 3km.  I told her when I passed not to worry because I couldn't keep this pace up.  Surprisingly, I did keep the pace up.  Mairead said to me later that she was pleased I overtook her because before that she had settled into a plod and my passing her gave her an incentive to up her effort. Glad I could be of some help :-)

Spring has sprung.

So it was fun.  And sunny.  There was a downhill and straight back up again when we went across a bridge over a stream.  There was a steep uphill just at the very end but apart form that it was pretty flat. 

Ruby was camera shy.

The organisers were so friendly.  The finishing medal was a biscuit!  On a ribbon!  A biscuit medal!  Afterwards Ruby was given a spare one by a friendly helper and Ruby then inserted a biscuit the size of her head into her face. 

Biscuit medal.

Results are in and I finished in 44:39, 31st out of 243.  Not bad.  It's under 45 minutes which is always a good target for me when running a 10km race.

Well done to John McManus who won the race in a fantastic sprint finish with the guy in second and in a time of 36:52. 

Most Runningist Year Ever - Day 1000

On the 2nd March 2017, I completed Day 1,000 of the Most Runningist Year Ever.  I achieved this feat on a skiing holiday in the French Alps.  Thanks again to Kata for making it special for me, preparing my deck chair and beers for my return.  The runs in Peisey were tough due to the altitude and the inevitable running up and downhill in the snow.  I felt really pleased to have completed 1,000 days though. 

1,000 Days, beers chilled. 

Once I got back from holiday, the Hunters Bog Trotters made the effort to tell everyone in the pub about my landmark and invited everyone to come to training and then have a beer with me to celebrate.  Very much appreciated and thanks to Kata (and then Captain Sarah) for organising it.  Beers in The Stockbridge Tap were great and a lot of people seemed genuinely interested to hear about how I ran for 1,000 days in a row.

I never considered when I started this madness that I might actually complete 365 days never mind 1,000.  The first two of The Most Runningist Year Ever was agony.  It was when I was 4 months in that I thought that I might actually do this, and only because I realised that stopping now would mean that I would have to re-start and 4 months of running is a lot to make up.  Then I kept going on the hard days because so many people were interested that I couldn't face telling them that I wasn't doing it any more.  Now running every day is like brushing my teeth, except there are probably some days when I don't brush my teeth! 

When I started this 1000 days ago in 2014, Ruby wasn't even an idea.  Now I am father to a wonderful, beautiful daughter and husband to a wonderful beautiful wife.  Throughout the most significant and astonishing period of my life, I have ran every day.  Kata was in labour with our daughter for three days - I ran every day, even managed to get a run in when I got home from the hospital on the day our daughter was born.  I ran on the morning of our wedding day.  Thank you to Kata for supporting me in doing this. 

It's an adventure and I am certain it has made some difference to my life outside of running.  I just don't know what.  I'll think about it sometime.