Not content with trekking across over 100km of northern Sweden, the invitation and subsequent inability to reduse the Malmo half-marathon would come to haunt me.
I had planned this expedition many months ago and only when booked did I receive the offer of entrance to the inaugural half-marathon in Malmo, an offer I felt unable to resist despite being well over a 1000 mile further north. So today was the day, I've run many half-marathons previously but the previous week pave this one a special feel.
I arrived in Malmo at about 9pm last night and immensely enjoyed the benefits of a comfy bed and a shower, a full buffet breakfast this morning was a treat that I have been unfamiliar to for too long.
Needing to collect my race number, I arrived at the start area at 1pm (2 hours before the actual start), the next couple of hours consisted of wind, rain, wind and rain and all of the previous in various constantly changing combinations. I shall brush-over the next 2 hours, they were particularly uncomfortable and I have no real wish to mention them further, I recorded at time of slightly under 1 hour 50 mins, 7 minutes slower than my best but a good time under the circumstances.
I felt completely destroyed and broken in every way, but this was never a trip designed around comfort and relaxation - more a test of my stamina and resilience. I achieved what I had hoped to achieve and despite outrageously sore calf muscles and general exhaustion it was a victory for persistence and stupidity.
I enjoyed a couple of beers this evening and sitting down with a good book was the only sensible thing to do. The living daylights in Swedish was a real treat
I slept well!
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