Wow, where do I start. Quite an unbelievable day, no not the 28-29 degrees from a few years ago, the complete opposite infact; try 4 degrees, rain and a 15 to 20 m/s northerly wind.
Now I'm not looking for sympathy, quite the opposite, but I kid you not, anyone who ran this race would probably say it was the hardest race they had ever done. Let me give you a few examples.
Firstly, the finishing times were 'slow'. The top man came home in 2hrs 19mins, with (I think) 7 of the field having 2hr 9min PBs. The top woman strolled in with 2hrs 40mins. Secondly, of the 21 odd thousand entrants only 11,200 finished. Thirdly, with a record 75% woman entrants, Johanna actually place two better than last year despite running a few minutes slower, so more competition yet place wise, did better than last year. Fourthly, the top favourite Swedish male got to 38km (of the 42.195m) and collapsed; turned out he was suffering from a potentially severe hypothermia and reports say he had a 32 degree body temperature. It's not hard to explain why, because it was just relentless, just numbingly cold, not able to chew the power bars, the bananas mushed up like baby food getting stuffed into our mouths and swallowed. Even the water and sports drink felt like a hot drink. This folks was a nightmare.
In all seriousness, I will not be running in these conditions again. I was cold before I started, I was wet through, shivering like you would not believe, then it got worse. Standing water everywhere, feet like ice, body tense all the time, wind howling and a growing number of people wrapped in blankets in those lovely looking first aid tents.
I'm not exaggerating and people can say yeah, it rained, it was cold and windy, quit whinging. If you have run a marathon before you know how hard it is, even on a flat, 10-15 degrees, sunny, calm day. Add another level, this time not the heat from a few years ago, which is difficult in another way but not like this. You can't find the warmth, you constantly doubt yourself because it's so easy to give up. Brutal is a reasonable word.
The infamous part of the course Västerbron, a near km long lovely curved bridge that exposes you directly to the elements. Lovely when you've just run 34km and crying for the finish line. You see some awe inspiring things when running, such as really old people slogging it out, a guy in a wheel chair with his head down and arms grinding the wheels forward, people running with blood soaked clothes and legs, the full works. Despite the pain, the constant disbelief, the feeling of wanting to stop you still march on. I think people who enter these things probably have a screw loose. The desire to move forward is incredible, many run for charity, for awareness and in Sweden, most run for pride. That's something that takes a lot to be broken, so even if they have to drag their arse over the line they do it. Put them in hypothermic conditions and it really sorts the men out from the boys.
Personally, I am super proud of Johanna. She wanted under 4hrs, a mean feat by any stretch of the imagination. She ran 4hr 7mins 35secs, which again, I can't stress enough is quite unbelievable for the conditions. I ran 3hrs 53mins 59secs, which I am quite staggered with too. We both did great and of course are completely crippled today, haha. The idea of taking the dog out for a walk is less than amusing.
After we finished the race, they make you hand in your shoe timing chip, forcing you agonizingly down a flight of stairs, then actually that was the worst thing; we just couldn't get warm. We were shaking to the point of not being about the open bags, hold water bottles and do simple tasks. That pain is indescribable, aside from the aches and pains. I was still so tense in my stomach, it hurt to just stand, to just be there. We fortunately made it to the subway, shaking away, slowly made it to a local subway toilet, which was like heaven. Johanna took her wet shoes and socks off and put on some fresh. I was struggling with my bowels (another lovely marathon consequence) and just the warmth of the radiators filling the room was just heavenly. Sounds a bit gross but god was it nice in there. We camped out for a few minutes until the saviour of the day came; Niklas (Johannas brother) came and picked us up, had the cars air conditioning set to 32 degrees, complete with two clean, warm hoodies each. I've never felt so great in all my life.
It sounds so easy to run a marathon in 4 hours. For any runner (lets not say club runner, but 'average' sporty person) it's the target. It's a piece of cake to run under 1 hour for 10km, I can do it in just over 40 minutes. I can now run 5 km in 19 minutes and 13 seconds (ok, now it sounds like I'm blowing my own horn), but the point is a half marathon is 'easily' (you know what I mean) finishable. Yet the marathon distance is just something else. Why people do ultramarathons, say 55km and above is beyond my comprehension. As if 42km isn't enough.
I can respect the ironman triatheletes, the fittest guys on the planet. My uncle will be doing his first soon (so I hear). Like those before him, there must be something misfiring in his brain! Or may be not. To find your limit or to see what you really are capable of achieving is one of the greatest things you can do in this life. Some get pets, others have kids, all great challenges, but some just want to taste the blood sweat and tears, and come out smiling the other end.
p.s. go look at the Stockholm marathon website pics and video to truly understand what I'm talking about. I'm English so I'm used to wind, rain and the cold, but I'm not used to running 4 hours in it!
p.p.s the blip in my time is from a toilet trip at 19km which provided me with a nice two minute heat break...mmm.
