The group before the race
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The group before the race |
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For
many reasons this was not a typical marathon. Andy, Doug, Kirby,
Cecilia, and I had just finished a biking trip across half of Scandinavia.
We biked 1115 km over 13 days, starting in Umea on the east coast of Sweden,
and finishing in Tromso Norway. Now, on our 14th day of the trip,
we planned to finish the trip by running the Tromso
Midnight Sun Marathon. Tromso is the largest city in northern
Norway, and is located on an island along the coast at about 70 degrees
northern latitude. The Tromso marathon claims to be the highest certified
latitude marathon in the world. I have heard of other high-latitude
marathons, but none that are likely on a certified race course. During
June there is continuous daylight in Tromso, and race organizers annually
arrange to have the marathon finish under the midnight sun.
Two weeks prior to the marathon, before starting our bike trip, I was
hopeful but wary of providing any guarantees of a marathon finish.
From a training perspective, we had put in the required long runs in combination
with the required long rides, and we felt confident with our abilities.
But even if endurance was not a 
problem,
there was still a risk of injury, sickness, or other trip logistical problems
that could prevent us from even reaching Tromso. What if weather
caused the ferries to delay, and we ended up stuck on one of the Lofoten
islands?
With good luck and perseverance we reached the end of our biking trip
on-time, healthy, and in an acceptable state of soreness from the many
kilometers of riding. Kirby was the only walking-wounded among the
group, due to several strains and inflammations that he had sustained both
before and during the trip. We reached Tromso on Thursday night,
which gave us 48 hours to rest before the marathon start at 8:30pm on Saturday.
We spent Friday and Saturday doing various non-exerting activities, such
as finding boxes for shipping home our bikes, eating pizza, walking around
downtown Tromso, and relaxing at cafes. Saturday afternoon we registered
for the race, and showed up at 8:30pm for the start. Doug, Andy,
and I had registered to run the marathon, Cecilia the half-marathon, and
Kirby the 10K. Kirby originally intended to run the full marathon
despite his injuries, but wisely opted to take it easy during the 10K instead.
Kirby's version of taking it easy ended up being a 41-minute 10K, which
is definitely faster pace than what we expected!
Since we planned to run together and run slow, I decided to carry my
camera. I had always talked about carrying a camera during a marathon,
but had never had such a good opportunity. Doug ended up carrying
the camera in his shorts pouch for most of the race, which made it even
easier! It had been raining all day on Saturday, and continued to
drizzle when the race started at 8:30pm. We ran off the Tromso island
via its large eastern bridge, and followed the coast south until a turn-around
point at approximately 10km. We continued back along the coast until
about 17km when Andy, who had been reporting stomach/intestine problems
for the first part of the race, decided to stop and relieve the problem
next to a farmhouse. We were back on track within minutes, and crossed
back over the Tromso bridge just at the halfway point of the race.
We headed north around the island towards the airport, and crossed paths with the half-marathon race which had just started and would run in parallel to our course. It was a bit disconcerting to watch the half-marathon leaders breeze by us with over 15km left to the finish line. Andy's stomach issues resurfaced around 25km, and required another quick stop in the bushes alongside the course. We continued north along the coast until 32km, when we turned back towards downtown. The rain, which had been on and off during the race, now fell steadily. I was now very happy to have my funny hat, which I had carried in my hand for much of the race. We followed the same route back towards downtown - and crossed paths with Cecilia only minutes after the turnaround. She looked wet but strong - we tried to convince her to catch up to us for the finish, but she would hear nothing of the idea. There were very few fans along the final 10km of the route, and it was quite lonely. I felt the best I had ever felt at 35km, due to the relaxed pace, but I certainly looked forward to finishing.
We crossed the finish line at 4:01, and were greeted by Kirby just after the line. Cecilia finished her half-marathon only minutes later, and we together walked back to the hotel, cold and wet, and ready for a hot shower and some snacks. We had reached the end of all our planned goals, and now merely needed to catch a flight back to Paris and relax on a plane. It was a relief to finish, but also tough to know that we would be back to normal life within 24 hours.
More great pictures from the day:
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