Having never been there before, I had no preconceived ideas about Stockholm, which is a class city. I was only aware of the cost because the city is renowned for being expensive. Like every nation in the Nordics, I suppose.
I had 72 hours in Stockholm and in that time I might, just might have squeezed in a 42.2km jog. There were some things that stood out to me at first; the race was on a Saturday and started at 12pm. That was abnormal. I wasn't used to that. Still aren't.
It was a tough day at the office.
I had to deal with the heat, lack of shade, the incline, and the lack of training are just a few of the things that I had to overcome. The sheer number of things that cropped up and became an issue is never-ending.
Taking all things into consideration, I was planning to aim for a 3:30-3:40 time and worked out a strategy according to that. It was going to plan until it started to unravel.
Before the race
I had one major hiccup where I unpacked gels, snacks, and waistband to fit something else in then forgot to repack them - I remembered on the runway as the flight was taking off - it turned out to be an expensive mistake. I won't be doing that again.
I flew out on Thursday and checked into my accommodation before heading out for some food. My accommodation was cancelled on me the week before so I had to hastily book a new one which didn't turn out too bad.
The next day was heading to the expo to collect my bib and try to locate some replacement gels and waistband. Had to settle for a belt but beggars can't be choosers. I just had to take anything that would store the gels and my phone for the duration of the race.
I was pleasantly surprised that Swedish TV had several English-speaking channels on my TV (which was lovely). The following morning, I got showered, dressed, and then headed down for breakfast where I stocked up as I wouldn't be eating for the next few hours.
Race day
I looked at the route beforehand, so I knew where the big hills were and ensured that I saved energy for them. A lot of people struggled on them and you could see that they either weren't prepared or gassed out - emptied the tank per se.
You got to see a lot of Stockholm during the race, which was very nice but I didn't have a lot of time to be a tourist.
I was taken out three times during the race and on the second occasion I got injured quite badly when I was coming around a corner onto a straight section and someone stood on the outside of my foot, I tried to loosen it and pull away then rolled my ankle. That was at around 22km, so had around half to go.
From that incident, I couldn't gather any speed and my foot felt like hanging on. I just had to resort to a stable, steady, manageable speed that I could replicate kilometre after kilometre to get me to the finish line.
Post-race
Crossing the line felt rewarding, like I'd earned it. In reality, a sitdown, and some shade would suffice. I was in pain and my body just felt knackered. The heat really takes it out of you. Why it started at 12pm in that heat I have no clue.
I rewarded my efforts with a couple of beers and a burger before heading back to my room to shower. I needed to hit the hay as my flight back was at 7am.