Second Round

On Sunday I ran my second round at Birmingham half marathon. It was very different from the last year's event in many aspects but an equally great experience. It's an awesome event and a race that I really love! Running and atmosphere can't get much better. And I like the distance too. It's long enough so that the pace you run is tolerable but short enough so that you won't get any of those problems you might face on a marathon. 

Last time I was running in the masses with runners in their funny costumes and it was really entertaining just to watch people running around you. This time I got a small number based on my last year's time and started with the elite by a gunshot. It was very different from last year. No pushing or elbows, just flowing along effortlessly. And somewhere after half a way it was so scattered that I was actually wishing to have more backs in front of me to shelter from the wind. What a strange thought.

I had been ill and hadn't thought of breaking my PB but to take it as a good training to test my intended marathon pace (4:20-4:30 per km). To assure that I would follow this plan and not to run any faster I cycled 62km on the day before, which was definitively a long ride for me since I haven't done much of cycling. So not really by the book how to prepare for a race... On the race morning I regretted doing the bike ride because I felt really tired and my legs were aching. I was wondering whether I could even keep up my intended marathon pace. However starting with the elite made it difficult to run slow enough and keep the intended pace in the beginning. After having run the first two kilometers easily under 4min/km pace along with the wave I started to think what a waste it would be to slow down and so I decided to run along and enjoy it as far as it would go. If I hit the wall or got too tired I could slow down whenever I wanted. Nice plan!

So I just ran it with a big smile on my face. I never pushed too hard or struggled, just enjoyed the flow. After 10km (40:43) I could feel my legs getting a bit tired, but by keeping my running as relaxed as possible and avoiding to run too fast, I was able to enjoy it up to 17km. Then came the final climb, which felt pretty awful, but it was so near to the finish that after the ascent I could maintain the pace the final few miles. What an awesome feeling it was to reach the finish line with a new PB (1:26:55) after some lousy weeks and such a poor preparation! I was amazed!!! Results

Feet in the Clouds

It's not my line, I've taken it from Richard Askwith. But it fits well in the subject. After physical and mental recovery from Jungfrau I've had some great time on the British fells, spiced with this inspiring tale about fell running and obsession by Askwith (thanks to Tessa Hill who gave me the book). Everyone who's new on the fells should read it to get some comprehension of the history of this sport. 

A week ago Compass Sport Cup Final, that is British Clubs Orienteering Championships, was held in Teviothead in the Scottish Borders. On my way there I made a stop at Haweswater in the Lake District and went for a long run on the fells in stunning sceneries. I climbed first to Adam Seat, continued the ridge to Harter Fell, then down to Nan Bield Pass, up to Mardale Bell and further to High Street and High Raise, before heading down to the lake again along Kidsty Pike. The weather was windy but fairly clear and I could have spent a whole day on those hills if there hadn't been a race on the following day.

Next day the sunshine was gone and the weather did its best  to keep everyone away from the fells. Only sensible thing to do was to stay home but reckless orienteers went out and confronted the horizontal rain and gale force winds on open moorlands to score points for their clubs. 

Beginning of the course was worst because not only you had to beat the winds but you also needed to ascend 60m on soft marshy ground on the way to 2nd and 3rd controls. My legs felt tired from previous day's long run and I really had to fight to get anywhere. But then it gradually started to ease up and on my way to #5 I noticed that I could keep up the speed despite the climb and the wind. From #7 onwards it was more downhill and I felt like flying. I was determined to orienteer well and had almost a clean run with only a few 10sec bends on controls 7 and 11. When I passed the spectator control (#13) I heard I was in the lead and got some extra kick for the remaining legs and clocked fastest splits on them all. My first real victory here! OD came 4th in the club championship. Results Compass Sport Cup Final

A week later I found myself on the fells again, this time it was my first ever fell race in Britain: Coniston 15km trail race. It's one of the scenic trail races held in the iconic landscape of the Lake District. The course goes along bridle ways and footpaths and climbs only half way up the surrounding peaks (only 400m ascend). It was supposed be an easy start to fells.

It had been raining heavily but the race day was bright and sunny and the atmosphere was great. We gathered to the start and I felt excited. I look curiously around to see what people are wearing. Shorts and tops, of course. I'm happy I changed my long sleeve to t-shirt on the last minute. Old experienced fell runners have Walshes, younger pros are wearing light Inov-8 race shoes, newcomers who've read the instructions have some form of trail trainers and only a few lost road runners wear flat racers. After careful consideration I've chosen to wear Asics Fuji Racers.

The speaker introduces a Japanese runner, an expected winner, and gives some instructions before we start. First kilometer goes through the village and then starts the climb and we're on the trails. There's 100m ascend on the next kilometer and trail starts to get smaller and smaller. I've had an easy start and feel good. Path turns into a small rough mountain path and I catch a bunch of runners. However passing them in a narrow path is difficult. After 4km comes a section that has been described as "runnable only to agile mountain goats". I'm happy to see that I'm one them. I can fairly easily hop from stone to stone upwards while water runs downwards under my feet and between the stones. I gain several places. After a while we reach a runnable plateau (in the picture) and can properly admire the iconic scenery for a while before heading downwards.

 At the first descent I understand that descending on this scramble is not any easier than ascending, rather the opposite. I'm happy with my shoe choice. 6km and another climb ahead. I almost reach the girl on the second spot before the course turns downwards again after 8km. Rest was supposed to be easy but the next few kilometres are the most demanding part for me. Running downhill is usually easy but paths so rough and stony need 100% attention. High speed makes it much more challenging than running in terrain while orienteering. I've got the course map in my hand but there's no chance of reading it while dashing downwards. I have to watch out each step and there's barely enough time to make decision where to place your next step. One bad judgment and you're out of the game.. Those are long miles down and a few guys pass me. When we reach the 10km mark I know the worst is over. Rest of it would be nice and easy gently undulating paths and pastures.

We cross a marsh that looks like a muddy lake. I go slightly around but still wade in knee-high mud. Here O-shoes would be a better choice. A few more pastures and gates, then comes a marshal who warns about extremely sticky descent. Sticky it is, and after the mud comes streaming water and some more loose stones. It feels like running in a river. Finally we get down to the lake and the final spurt can begin. I'm feeling quite alright but notice that my legs are nearly empty after such a rough descent. This was supposed to be a nice introduction to British fells and it's taken all out. Somehow I manage to push the final kilometres and finish 5min ahead of my time goal in respectable third place (21th overall). Not a bad start to fell running. So I'm aiming at highs again!

Coniston 15km results 

Party time!

Last few weeks I've been feeling like Bradley Wiggins after Athens Olympics - without his success though. Just lounging, relaxing, drinking & partying and not training. What an awful life! I can't remember having such an off period for a long time (and in contrast to Wiggo I'm not intending to go on for months). I've been off from training before but I've always tried to live otherwise like an athlete during that time. And I've never partied several days in a row. But that's what traditional old-fashioned academic promotions are all about. You have to be able to stand in high heels three days in a row with barely any sleep and go through dignified festivities that in some point turn into less dignified celebration that goes on until dawn. And next day you should be fresh and ready for sailing! It's hard. But certainly an experience of its own class and a lot of fun too! However, I feel much better if I get my 8h sleep, two trainings a day, and regular meals.

O-reunion. What do these doctors have in common?
Blue dresses, yes, but they are also Venla-winners.

So in order to feel "normal" (however you define that) again, we took a car and drove to Vuokatti for a short training camp in next year's WOC terrains. I even managed to persuade Sami to come with me, which totally saved the day. Driving there alone (6-7h) would have killed me and we also got some nice quality time together (not everyone counts running in the woods with a map quality time but it's seldom we get to travel together, so we enjoyed it). We stayed there only three days but I was able to put together some proper technical training and get a good overview of the terrain type. Thanks to Eva Jurenikova and her comprehensive map archive I could make pretty good plans where to train in advance and make a list of trainings I wanted to do. I could even do some post-training route choice analyses by comparing my routes and times with Eva's. Almost like I'd had a training partner there.

Team mates & Tiomila-winners 2011
(photo by Janne Märkälä)

I had heard numerous praises about the long distance terrain type before we got there but I was still surprised how well the terrain matched its high expectations. I was stunned. It was totally awesome! I was pretty tired when we got there but still felt like flying when running in those terrains. Autumn colors, blueberries, and lingonberries made it even more beautiful. Middle distance terrain in contrast was said to be rough, stony and challenging but I fell in love with that terrain too as soon as I got there. I don't know if it was because of my low expectations, tracks or my state of mind but for me it really felt like a moss-covered fairytale forest. I was happily surprised how easy it was to run in.

Promotion sailing (and a typical autumn day?)

One of the highlights in staying at Vuokatti sport centre (in addition to great meals) was sauna and dips into lake in the evenings. What a great place and just what my Finnish blood longed for! Only downside was/is the distance from Helsinki. Can't anyone drag it any nearer? 

Post-training chilling, Vuokatti

Jungfrau marathon

Eiger, Mönch, Jungfrau

Jungfrau marathon celebrated its 20th anniversary this year and gathered together 8000 competitors from 70 countries. What made it special this time was that it was also the World Championships in Long Distance Mountain Running. This assured that the best of the best were there. I got to run for Finland there, which I later regretted. Run starts from 500m in Interlaken, climbs up to 2200m at Eigergletscher and descends then the final kilometre to the finish at Kleine Scheidegg. 42km long course contains altogether 1829m climb with the steepest climb from the valley of Lauterbrunnen up to Wengen. From Wengen there is still 12km to go with 1km climb. The final climb from Wixi to Eigergletscher goes along a moraine with a magnificent view over Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau. It is said to be one of the prettiest and toughest marathons in the world.

Arrival to Interlaken

A Czech elite orienteer Monika Topinkova was the one who suggested that we would do it together. At the same time some of my orienteering friends in Britain recommended the very same thing. I suspected that it was perhaps some kind of conspiracy to eliminate one of the Finnish orienteers. But soon I learned that mountain marathons were something that British and European elite orienteers did. And were good at too. I also learned that fell running and mountaineering are popular sports elsewhere in Europe, they just haven't reached Finland yet. The lack of mountains may explain something.

Start the day before the race

I hadn’t run either a marathon or a fell race before but once I found about Jungfrau I decided to go for it (how mad was that?). I had no idea how to prepare for it but luckily there was plenty of help available when I dared to ask. Big thanks to all of you involved! Monika swore to Lore of Running and Bob Williams training program. It was my base too but I felt I needed some additional strength training and hill work (which I strongly misjudged anyway and did far too little). I also got valuable advice from Swiss top orienteers Simone Niggli and Marc Lauenstein who both have finished in top three on this marathon. British orienteers and fell runners Oli Johnson, Murray Strain, Tessa Hill, and Ray Ward also helped me with preparations. Oli gave me valuable advice and convinced me I could do it, Murray went and spied the route in advance, Tessa accompanied me on one of the vital preparation runs in the Lakes, and Ray provided me a ruthless description of the race as it is. It was important to stop dreaming and know the truth. But did I realize it? No I did not. The truth hit me first after Lauterbrunnen.

 

The first 10km of the course was on flat around the village. I placed myself a few rows behind other elite runners at the start to avoid starting too fast. I just tried to find a comfortable rhythm and ran my own pace as relaxed as possible. I ran the first 10km in 41min, a bit faster than I had planned but it felt slow and easy. I stopped for a drink and continued. Guys I had been running with (one with a name Juergen and a green Asics guy) were quicker with drinking but I reached them again in next ascend. Number 74 was there too (one of the elite girls I kept on seeing). First half of the race is said to be flat but actually there is a 250m climb to Lauterbrunnen, which is considered far from flat around Birmingham. Anyway, next few kilometres were ascending so I slowed down a bit and lapped some 4:30-5:00 kilometres. Others did the same. We followed the river in the valley and there was a refreshing breeze from the water. I was enjoying the run.

Lauterbrunnen

15km lap was still a few minutes ahead of my schedule even though I had dropped the pace a little. From there onwards it was undulating gravel road and very nice to run. Now I was running together with one of my room mates, a British fell runner Anna Lupton, still chatting comfortably. I was a bit surprised she wasn't running any faster but didn't dare to ask why. Afterwards I found out that she always takes it easy at the beginning and is a world-class climber (she was 4th at the final climb and I lost over 30min to her on the last 16km).

I reach the half way mark in 1h34min, still a minute ahead of my schedule, feeling fresh and great. Speaker says my name and country and I get a lot of cheering. "HOPHOP, HYVA SUOMI, YKSI-KAKSI-KOLME, GO ON FINLAND". I smile and enjoy every moment of it. There are a few Finnish spectators too. I have now idea who they are. Anna is now about a minute ahead of me and I see only a glimpse of her every now and then. Number 74 is just a few steps ahead. I've been running with her, Juergen and the green Asics guy pretty much same pace for 1,5 hours now. This seems to be a good gang to run with I think when I pick up the first two gels. I am planning to take one of them just before the steep climb and have the other one for reserve on the way up. Still feeling good and ready for the climb. Just bring it on!

Another way of going up

We reach the 25,5km point where the steep zigzagging climb up to Wengen starts (about 500m climb on 2km). 1h50min, I'm right in time. There are lots of people cheering when we start climbing before the road turns into a hiking path and goes into woods. I feel stiffening in my calves and the increasing gradient doesn't help much. Number 74 is pushing now and I let her go focusing on my own run. I try to keep running as easy and economic as possible taking only small steps. It feels like I'm not going forward at all and my calves are hurting more and more. "Just keep it relaxed" I say to myself imagining that running is better than walking. However, when the first walker comes and passes me I change to walking myself too. It feels great and I can keep up with the guy who just passed me. For a while it feels better to work with legs instead of calves. A few skinny mountain runners pass me but I don't care. They seem to weight around 40kg, so it's no wonder that they fly so lightly.

Eigergletscher

The climb is massive and it gradually starts to wear me out. I had certainly underestimated it. It takes ages to reach the next kilometre and I start to understand the brutality of it. My calves hurt, my legs hurt, my back hurts. Pain is everywhere and the climb doesn't seem to end. My back is really bad, it has never hurt so much during a run. I take a few longer leaps to reach the top sooner but it's a huge mistake. On one turn my leap is too long and my right quad cramps. A few steps later my left quad cramps too. Both quads are cramping when I reach the hilltop at Wengen. I take another caffeinated gel and try to shake off the cramps. 29km in 2h33min, still almost in schedule. If I just get these blocks of wood (that is my legs) to work again I can still make it to 4h.

I continue but my quads are getting worse and worse, now they are just cramping continuously. I see signs for massage and feel tempted to go there. But I still feel too ambitious to stop (only afterwards I realize that I could have saved up to 10-15 minutes if I had stopped there for 5min massage). I am determined to continue even if my legs protest. Brain seems to have lost contact to legs no matter what I do. Quads just stop to co-operate and I feel totally helpless. I have never experienced anything like that before. I thought I had strong quads but they're out of the game now. After a while I'm forced to stop and try to shake and massage my legs. I see a few other elite runners by the side of the road, unable to continue. I want to continue but it seems impossible. Somehow I manage to plod forward to Cafe Oberland (32,5km) where I grab a few energy gels provided with extra portion of sodium. My last hope is that salts could help my cramping muscles and I would be able to continue. It is a long shot but believe in placebo effect and manage to trick my brain and legs for a while.

A few more steps

Route from Cafe Oberland to Wixi is nice and fairly runnable stretch on gravel road with bearable amount of climbing but my legs protest to run with me. My way of moving is hard to describe but it's something between walking and jogging, like trying to run with straight legs without lifting your knees. It must have looked awful. Mostly I am just overtaken by other runners but to my big surprise I suddenly catch an Ethiopian girl and pass her! She was one of the two Ethiopians who were running in the leading pack the first half of the race nearly 10 minutes faster than me. They were among the favourites but now she is even more knackered than me. I am delighted to realize that I'm not the only one knocked down by the climb. The other Ethiopian, who was 3rd at 21km, managed to get up to Wengen but spent then nearly as long as I for the last 10km (and that's a lot). With that little mental booze I get myself to Wixi (38km), almost 10min slower than I had hoped. But I'm not thinking about the time anymore. I'm already out of the game, I just need to find a way to get up the final climb somehow.

Finishers

So only 4km left but still awfully far from the finish. I take my second salty gel and I start to feel queasy. I am near vomiting but manage to keep it inside. I remember Marc telling that nausea and vomiting are just normal, part of the game. But did he say something about cramps? I can't remember. I was prepared to feel really bad and struggle but I hadn't thought that my legs would let me down this way. Climb up to Eigergletscher (2205m) at 41km is definitively the worst part of the course. It includes about 350m ascent on 2km. Small rocky alpine path gets smaller and rougher the higher up we get. Normally I would love this kind of path but now I just couldn't hate it more. The final climb is just pure agony and I have to stop several times and let other runners pass. I'm surprised to see still other elite runners. I had thought they were long gone but they keep storming pass me on the final climb. Once I look up to the highest point and immediately regret it. It just seems too much to my legs and I'm very near quitting. Random dog walkers seem to go faster than me and my lap on the final ascending kilometre is 16:50. Could it go any slower? The final kilometre to the finish is downhill but it doesn't help me much. I cannot run and several runners pass me even on this last descent to finish. I reach the finish line in tears and swear not to run a mountain race ever again. Monika comes a while later and shares the feeling with me. She had had a bad day too with a cramping tummy.

Kleine Scheidegg

My room mates Anna (10th) and Jo (18th), both experienced mountain runners, tried to cheer me up saying that your first marathon/mountain race is always a challenge and it seldom goes as you hope and that I should be proud of myself. After a while I start to understand how right they are but it's still hard not to feel disappointed and frustrated after being forced to walk far before feeling tired enough to do so. Maybe 4h time target was too ambitious but I really feel that I could have gone near that if my legs had let me try. Number 74 who I ran with the first 25km had a solid race and finished in 4h4min. My positions on the other hand dropped dramatically from Wengen onwards. It's hard to say if I had been able to finish stronger if I had started slower but I guess the climb had knocked me down any way at some point. I should have run much more hills. Long hills.

If I forgot to mention, the route was pretty and the views were stunning. But you can get there by train too.

Results

London Olympics

Is there anything better than home Olympics? I doubt. British athletes who competed in the Games would probably agree with me. As well as people who took part to it in one way or another. Many were involved as volunteers whereas others just picked the cherries and enjoyed the best of it as spectators.

I was barely excited about the Games before it all began but I had no idea how overwhelming it would get. I remember dad telling me how big it was 1952 when Helsinki hosted the Summer Games but the world has changed a lot from those days. I've never been to Olympics before and had no idea that it would be such a big thing. But based on my 16 days' empiric research it seems to engross the whole organizing nation. For the past two weeks everyone lived the same big dream and there wasn't much else in the world than the Games. I was lucky to experience it so near. 

I got my first glimpse of what it would be already a month ago when the torch came into town. For me it is quite normal to get up 7am on Sunday morning for a morning run but I was surprised to see thousands of people on the streets an hour before the torch came. They had their portable chairs, coffees, thermos, flags, and team GB t-shirts and they had occupied the streets. It was then I started to realize that it was going be something extraordinary. 

Opening ceremony was a spectacle per se. Even the Queen herself took part to it after James Bond went and picked her up with a helicopter. Only after the opening the nation came properly into life and on the following day everyone was ready to cheer Mark Cavendish to victory in the men's cycling road race. Instead it was a Kazakh Alexandr Vinokourov who stunned the crowd and took the gold. It appeared to be the first and only setback for the home nation. After that nearly every athlete came up to their maximum and only the colour of the medal brought up some tears to a few individual athletes. But as a whole the team GB shone and the favourites kept their expectations. 

You may see me as antipatriotic as I'm admiring the host nation's success. But it's not that, it's just living the beat and the atmosphere around you. As much as I wanted to see my compatriots to take medals I couldn't help admiring British athletes to come and smash the Games despite huge pressure. Instead of breaking down under the pressure they just seemed to break their PBs. That's surely admirable. I was proud of the Finnish success in sailing and jumped up and down of joy when the medals were clear in women's RS-X and Elliott. In javelin we could have taken all three medals on a good day. Instead a nobody from a small Caribbean island came and threw himself to the world map. 

One of the highlights was to see Mo Farah taking the long distance double and joining the prestigious club of previous double champions Hannes Kolehmainen, Emil Zatopek, Vladimir Kuts, Lasse Viren, Miruts Yifter and Kenenisa Bekele. I also admired Tirunesh Dibaba's outstanding sprint on women's 10,000m and Stephen Kiprotich's strike on the last kilometres of men's marathon after struggling and being left behind. Out of nowhere he produced a phenomenal spurt and pulled away his rivals against all odds.

But the Games wasn't just about Bradley Wiggins winning the time trial and his seventh Olympic medal, Sir Chris Hoy winning his fifth and sixth Olympic gold, Ben Ainslie winning his fourth gold and fifth medal in his fifth Games, Andy Murray beating the unbeatable Roger Federer at Wimbledon or Jess Ennis, Greg Rutherford and Mo Farah claiming gold on the same sensational evening in front of 80,000 spectators at the Olympic stadium. It wasn't just about Usain Bolt, making history, or striking world records. It was it all. The whole spirit and atmosphere around it. Excitement and emotions. Tears and joy. Frustration and failure. Triumph and glory. Thousands of people sharing a moment and a friendly marshal smiling and wishing you good morning in a morning rush. 

Croeso

Croeso in other words Welsh 6 days orienteering week was a perfect way to spend holiday, enjoy wonderful scenes, get sunburn (yes quite unbelievable but true), dip into refreshing seawater, and get some quality training and hill work for free in stunning landscape just by taking part.

Four of the six days were on open moorlands on scenic hillsides and the maps were more or less just yellow interspersed by small lakes here and there. It basically tells you all about it. Some of the hillsides were rough and included numerous rock and contour details, offering thus great technical challenge despite the visibility. Had it been foggier, it would certainly have been even more challenging but unfortunately we were totally spoiled with great clear weather every single day.

First day in Gwanas was terrific and maybe the most difficult one. Especially when still full of energy and with light legs it was so easy to run too fast to keep yourself on the map. I just enjoyed rushing forward so much that I forgot to read the map and got totally lost on a few longer legs. So I got a few kilometres extra running but I didn't mind. Perfect training anyway! Second day in Foel Goch reminded the first one but it was more runnable. I had learned my lesson and didn't waste any time on mistakes.

Third day in Hafod forest was the first and only day in forest. Courses went on steep hillsides on both sides of the river Ystwyth. It was totally different from the preceding two days. It reminded of old good short distance races in a way that there were only very short legs with lots of turns. 23 controls on 3,7km course was a lot of fun and you really had to focus 100% all the way through.

Fourth and fifth days were both in Llynnoedd Teifi but it was such a great area that there was enough to see for two days. I thought I had adapted well to the mountain orienteering by then and as I had no problems picking the controls I just concentrated on enjoying running in the picturesque scene. The course of the day 4 looked quite straight forward to me and only afterwards I noticed that I could have avoided some 100m extra climb. Well, better training for the Jungfrau, I thought. On the fifth day I went more around along contours and had overall better flow but took again bad route choice on the long leg, losing a few minutes there. 

Last stage was an urban event in Aberystwyth. After five days of climbing in rough marshy terrains it was nice variation to get to run on hard surface. I wasn't so amused by the first part of it in brambly forest but the urban part of the course was great indeed and a lot of fun. Overall an awesome O-week! 

Running along a historic canal line

The old good BCN Main Line (Birmingham Canal Navigations Main Line) from Wolverhampton to Birmingham originates from 18th century and the time of industrial revolution when a water route from Birmingham to coalfields of Black Country was needed and constructed. Some hundreds of years later local runners came up with a brilliant idea to utilize this beautiful water route for another purpose: an off road half marathon from Black Country to Birmingham.

The race started from the British Waterways Boat Yard in Wolverhampton and followed the canal side all the way to Brindley Place in Birmingham city centre. After some typical English summer weeks of heavy rain and flood alerts the route was thoroughly soaked and muddy, adding some extra challenge to it.

I started in a small group of elite women and after a while three of us had a clear gap to the others. We started quite hard and my hamstrings felt tight from the strength training the day before. I wished I hadn't done that. Moist bricks were worst and I kept on slipping on them. Fortunately most of it went on small grassy footpaths that were a hundred times better than slimy bricks. After 6k there was a 360 yards long dark tunnel that provided some extra excitement to the race. It was described as an entertaining feature enjoyed by some, hated by others but remembered by all. And that's what it was: a truly memorable moment. Because of its curved shape and slippy, uneven surface I was afraid of hitting my head to the ceiling and forced to drop my pace. I was lucky and didn't hit my head or fall into canal but I was anyway extremely delighted to see light at the end of the tunnel.

Run continued and brought some more rain, some loose dogs, locks and a number of bridges. I got tired, dropped behind my contenders, cheered up again and passed one of the girls in front, got caught by some male runners who'd started in a wave behind us, passed some elite men who'd started before us, got close to the leading girl but was totally finished a few kilometers too early and lost sight to her again. I struggled the last kilometers to reach the finish line but got there finally tired, soaked, muddy and sticky (covered with sports drink). Tough run but I was happy to have it done and to finish as 2nd woman. Just a thought of another 13-miler with 1500m climb after the finish line felt frightening. Having second thoughts? No, not really (=yes, every day), just happy to have a few more months to get the work done.

Results