Reykjavik marathon

When I am not working, hiking or knitting I run marathons.
...
Just kidding, I never ran any race. Until yesterday when I ran 10 km in the Reykjavik marathon. I have been planning this since March but I was not sure if it would come true. Until August when I signed up for it. I have been running more or less regularly since March starting with running in slow pace for 25 minutes and now I can run longer than one hour feeling good.
The Reykjavik marathon is the biggest sports event of Iceland and takes place in August every year. There are several distances: a full marathon (42.2 km), half marathon (21.1 km), 10 km, 3 km and shorter distances for little children. This year around 14.000 people had signed up for it and alone in the 10 km race were over 6.000 people competing. Quite a big event!

Reykjavik marathon 2013 (www.visir.is).

Many famous Icelandic persons are taking part in the run and promoting the races to encourage people to take part in it. This is for example Pétur Jóhann Sigfússon, a popular and funny actor doing the main advertisements for the races and taking part in the half marathon:

Pétur Jóhann after finishing the half marathon (www.visir.is).

It was possible to run for a broad range of charities and after thinking a little bit I decided to run for the birds of Iceland collecting money for them. And I managed to gather 6000 Icelandic kronas (almost 40 EUR)! Thank you so much, dear contributors!

Having gathered 6000 ISK for the birds of Iceland.

The 10 km race started at 9:35, so we had to leave early in the morning from Húsafell (it is a 1.5 hours drive to Reykjavik). The weather was very rainy and foggy and I was thinking that I will freeze my ass off in the marathon T-Shirt and the thin trousers. (No need to worry about that, I found out later, when I was running and heating up a lot.) The participants in the races were supposed to pick up their race material (T-Shirt, number, time measurement chip, information booklet) the day before and Gauti's aunt was so sweet to do this for me because we live so far away from Reykjavik. She was taking part in the race herself and treated us with a good runner's breakfast with toast, cheese, bananas, apples and juice. When we went into the city the streets were crowded with cars trying to find a parking space and runners in vibrant neon-coloured shoes. And I was getting so excited! Everybody looked so professional in their tight neon-coloured clothes, headbands, heart rate watches, and belts with tiny water bottles around the hips - and here I came with some thin hiking trousers and socks pulled over the trouser's legs, my pink hat which I wear all the time everywhere, and one half-bloody shoe (from a former run accident where I had hit my little toe on a stone). But nonetheless, the exciting happy atmosphere was very contagious and the excitement made butterflies dance around in the stomach and made my legs and arms tickly and I couldn't wait to start the race! There was music in the start area, happy chatter and laughter, lots of children and volunteers holding big coloured signs with numbers between 40 and 65. Those were the times we estimated to finish the run. Running 10 km in less than 40 minutes is a very very good timing. I knew a bit of my personal times from my training but honestly, I had never run 10 km before and no real idea how much time I would need for it, so I joined the "60-65 minutes" group deciding that this would be a good timing for the very first 10 km race. (And I am a slow runner.)

Me at the 60-65 minutes time estimate mark.

Then all of a sudden there was a shot in the air and the race started and the whole big crowd around started moving. Walking actually, because we were 3 minutes away from the start mark and were walking slowly towards it, the runners in front us were starting to run and I was dancing on my feet because of excitement.

Walking/dancing towards the start mark.

And then the start mark was above us and everybody started running at once, chatting and laughing and waving. It was just great! All of a sudden there was a propeller plane coming from behind flying low over us (landing on the nearby Reykjavik airport) and I was so tickly in my body because of this exciting atmosphere that I started to run faster and faster. ... Until I reminded myself that I had to run 10 km and not waste my energy within the first two km. We were moving as a big mass through Reykjavik and everybody was chatting and laughing ... until the first km mark. Then it became a bit more silent people saving their breath for running and at the second km mark it was quiet apart from the many feet hitting the ground and the breathing of people. We were running through some residential areas and people were standing with their kids in front of their houses cheering for us, clapping their hands, playing music and using big metal candy boxes and wooden spoons as drums. Children were reaching out their little hands exchanging high fives with us runners. The course continued along the coastline giving view on the grey Atlantic ocean. It started raining and the wind blew waves of tiny drops into our faces. Running running running. I kept a rather slow pace for seven kilometres, grapping some water at km number 4. At km number 8 they offered us more water and energy drinks. I usually dislike energy drinks because of their crazily sweet and artifical taste but I was curious if it would feel any different after running 8 km. ... It was. It tasted good. I threw the cup on the street and started gaining speed. The ballons with the "60-65 minutes mark" were at least half a kilometre in front of me and I was zig-zagging between people and overtaking in order to reach the white balloons. 9 km mark! I gained more speed and reached the 65 minutes balloon around 200 metres in front of the finish line overtaking them and running through the finish line with arms raised into the air!

Crossing the finish line with arms raised in the air.

My timing was 1 hour, 4 minutes and 2 seconds which I think is good for the very first 10 km race. They gave all of us who had finished the races medals. This is mine:

Finished the 10 km race and proud of my medal.

Later on when we took a little walk on Reykjavik's shopping street Laugavegur we did a little photo experiment: Icelandic Christmas Lads meet Reykjavik marathon runner. :)

Icelandic Christmas Lads meet Reykjavik marathon runner.

And I do not have more to say than: Great run, great day!