Season summary and future prospects

Summarising the season it was difficult and not what I expected but still one of the bests in a way since I gained my best ever World Cup placing, being 6th in the World Cup long distance in Spain. That’s much more than I could have dreamed about in January when suffering from a pelvic fracture and unable to do anything. What I regret most is that I was again the first to drop out from the WOC team and didn’t get to run the race I had prepared for for a whole year. I really would have loved to get that chance. To EOC I got a last minute call and placed twice in top 20 there. I had aimed higher but didn’t have much left after WC and qualifications. After only two months of training 6 races in 10 days was just a bit too much at once. In Venla relay we climbed back to the podium placing 2nd after the flying Danes. That was perhaps the biggest highlight of the year and something I will always remember. It was very special since it was probably my last Venla with the wonderful Punahilkka team (girls’ team in Tampereen Pyrintö). About 10 years ago all former stars left Pyrintö and we were only a few girls left in the club. But we kept training hard, supporting one another, and built this amazing new team, that was able to win Venla in 2010 and Tiomila in 2011. Today, the group is much bigger and has several competitive teams. I will miss them all, not only the first team, but the whole bunch of them. There are always more runners behind a successful team than those standing on the podium. But since I’m living now more or less permanently in Sweden, it’s time for a change and new challenges.

What comes to my future plans (ta da, now comes the big news…), next year I will be running for OK Linné and competing mostly in Sweden. And hopefully in Scotland too! After spending three years in UK, heather covered hills and moors feel like my playground. But Swedish Champs in Stockholm will be another great target and challenge to me. I’ve still got a lot of work to do in order to master that kind of detailed terrain but I’m really looking forward to all technical training that I can do here in order to improve my rusted orienteering skills. Getting a few things right can mean minutes off from your race time. The training milieu in OK Linné is fantastic and I’m really looking forward to get fully integrated to it. Tisdagsbanan has already started and the Winter training première is just around the corner. Tisdags...what? Tisdagsbanan. It's a well-known concept in Linné, a special form of winter training since time immemorial (read Cat's wonderful description of it here). Winter Training Première on the other hand is a serious start of winter training, described as a ritual ceremony with epic proportions. We also had a small kick-off for the season in a form of Tiomila training camp a few weeks ago. It was a great weekend with plentiful high quality O sessions.

I also want to acknowledge other local clubs who have warmly welcomed me to their trainings and helped with various things. You have made me feel like home here. Tack!

And obviously I want to thank Pyrintö and all wonderful people there who have been there for me all these years! You will always have a special place in my heart. I still get tears in my eyes when I think back everything. 

Some flashbacks from the time in Pyrintö...

Tiomila 2006, 8th

Venla 2006, 4th

Smålandskavlen 2008, 2nd

Bonding

Venla 2009, 3rd

Hey babes, let's take a limo!

Venla 2010, we did it!

High heels instead of spikes - an unusual sight

Tiomila 2011, 1st

25manna 2011, 1st

Athens Marathon - The Authentic

A week ago I did something historic. I followed the footsteps of a legendary Greek messenger Pheidippides who, according to an ancient legend, ran the stretch from Marathon to Athens to deliver the news of victory against the Persians in the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC. Shortly after delivering the message he died. Who would have thought that tens of thousands of people would be voluntarily running a 42.195km road race in his commemoration thousands of years later? Well, we do, and not only in Greece but all over the world! 

Anyway, running this authentic route from the first Olympic Games in 1896 was something special. I like to have purpose in things I do and I when a close friend suggested doing this it wasn’t hard to find a purpose for it. Another friend who had done it earlier said immediately that Athens is legendary but not a potential PB course. Rather the opposite. Looking at the course profile, it became quite clear that it wasn’t a PB course (see the picture below). That affected my motivation somewhat and I kept finding various reasons to skip my marathon workouts. I knew I would have the base to run it through anyway, so I happily changed my pace runs to O-intervals and my long runs to half long trail runs. I did 95% of my training off road which may not be optimal preparation for a road marathon. And instead of doing 5-6 long runs (which I consider the minimum amount), I settled for 3. When we came to Athens I slightly regretted for skipping all marathon training but hoped for the best that my legs would carry me injury-free the whole way. 

The course was the original marathon course from Marathon to the Panathinaikon Stadium in Athens and the profile looked like this.

We were slightly worried how the transport to Marathon would work but it worked just fine. Out of those three marathons that I’ve run, this was probably the best organised event. There was a lot less hassle to get to the start block than in Valencia or Florence and the road at the start was so wide that I got no signs of claustrophobia this time.

I went out quite fast and clocked the first 5k in 20:20. I had found a nice comfortable rhythm but slowed down a bit as the climb begun, trying to keep the effort steady. 10k went fairly easily in 41:40, about a minute ahead of 3h schedule. I knew that the long wearing climb up 31km would definitively slow me down but it was still interesting to follow the splits. I was trying to run by the feeling, in other words not pushing too hard and enjoying the run. To run with a smile on my face, as a friend had advised me (not sure how beautiful that smile was at the end of the course though). 15k in 1:04:11, still in schedule and feeling relatively fresh. But then came the real climb that went on and on and on...up to 31km. 

It was a struggle but I was able to hold a decent pace up to 20km. However, around there my survival instinct took over and I had to slow down. I passed the half way mark in 1:31:58. Still pretty good, not much off the schedule. But soon after that I had a mental breakdown. I was boiling and for a moment I wished it had rained. Forecast had been heavy rain but it was clear blue skies and full sunshine. Temperature was at +26C and there were no shadows whatsoever. Kilometres between 23 and 25 were awfully long and the climb just seemed to go on forever. I had been running most of the race behind a guy with an ancient flag. Like Pheidippides 2500 years ago. I thought he was the messenger and that I had to keep him in sight. Got to get the message to Athens. 

Finally I reached 25k in 1:50:53. Another milestone achieved. I took my second gel and bit the bullet. Only 6km left to the summit now. You can do it. I did but my pace dropped dramatically on the last bit up. 30k in 2:15:16. Almost done now. I was incredibly happy to finally reach the hilltop at 31k but realised that my legs were too tired and empty to a rhythm change. So I end up jogging down the hill about the same pace I had climbed it up. Pathetic but what else I could expect with the training I had (not) done? I knew I would be suffering on the last 10km, so it shouldn’t have surprised me. Still I had hoped that gravitation would be on my side. Unfortunately it was just making fun of me. I lost quite a lot of time and a few places on the way down but still I couldn't help but smile when I arrived to the iconic Panathinaikon stadium filled with cheering crowds and crossed the finish line. Very emotional. 20th place and a sub 3:15 time on this course. More than I deserved.

I had barely walked from the finish line when I saw Amy flying in. I looked at my watch. What?! She’s got to be kidding me. Nobody does a PB on this course! But she does it with style, smashing her PB by 6 minutes. Amazing. Hard work pays off they say… Still, Berlin is made for records, Athens is not. Look at the times. But I guess anything is possible if you truly believe it. 

Kenyans took victories in both classes. Felix Kandie set a new course record at incredible time 2:10:37 whereas Maiyo Naomi Jepkogei won the women’s class with a time 2:41:06.

Results

Pre-race view of the finish at the Panathinaikon Stadium

Proud finishers and the Parthenon 

It's ok to feel dizzy in front of Greek goddesses

Mesmerizing views from the Acropolis