Getting sick
With my cold race, I think I may be coming down with something. I woke up this morning with a head cold. I haven't been sick for over a year, so this feels strange. I'm hoping a high dose of vitamin C over the next few days will kill it.
Last night I was feeling a little tired, so I went to take a nap at 7:30pm and woke up at 3:30 still in my clothes and contacts. Guess I'm not quite back to PST time.
Here are photos from the Copenhagen marathon.
Showing posts with label Europe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Europe. Show all posts
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Marathons...why do I do it?
So I forgot to mention that yesterday I saw Hamlet's castle in Elsinore. We crossed over to Sweden and on to cities I've only heard of in books.
So today for the marathon, we were supposedly promised what the Dane's call "picnic weather." I left for the marathon wearing just a long shirt and shorts, a typical marathon uniform for me, but I was freezing! Perhaps the Dane's definition of picnic weather is vastly different from this Phoenix girl's definition. I was very cold, but we started the marathon in this beautiful setting overlooking spectacular buildings that was just a step back centuries in time. The buildings were a myriad of colors and a gold clock in city hall square that rang out just as the marathon started. I had to appreciate all the beautiful people I was running with...Tom Brady look-alikes abound here: small beady eyes and strong Nordic jaws and blonde hair. Everyone was built to run. They were lanky and muscular, but not too muscular--they all looked totally fit.
Then we took off and it was just beautiful scenery, right along the canal banks and colorful buildings and tulips and lavender blooming and the smell of Belgian waffles cooking for breakfast. I felt good and strong and was having a ball running. I kept thinking...this could be my favorite marathon ever. Running through the land of beauty. We ran through a park with Danish families actually having a picnic, so I suppose it is picnic weather. The Copenhagen symphony serenaded us at around kilometer 10, kids played drums and tons and tons of spectators aligned the streets with signs I couldn't understand. It was all awesome. We passed the little mermaid, which was so small I didn't know what I was looking at. We passed people dressed up in Brazilian samba costumes dancing samba through the street. At kilometer 8, however, the skies darkened with ominous looking clouds overhead and by kilometer 14, downpour. I mean a shower. I was soaked. I kept worrying about my camera I was running with and my iPod. So I tried to cover my shirt over my fuel belt and strung the headphones under my shirt. I passed the halfway point at 2:05, on par for a 4:10 finish if I could run the first half the same as the second half. But the rains kept coming and got harder and stronger. People were dropping out with hypothermia. So much for my picnic weather. It was crazy. I have never felt like that in race. I started to freeze and my arms started to go numb. I couldn't warm up. I thought about even backing out of the race. It was awful. I kept thinking...why do people do marathons? This is torture. I did this to myself. It was so cold and I kept wrapping my shirt over my hands trying desperately to warm up, but no such luck. It poured the whole race. I then got a second wind and was able to pound it out at kilometer 39 to 42, but at the finish, I have never felt so sick. It wasn't like the typical legs hurting and tired, but I was just pure exhausted. Someone handed me a gatorade bottle and it was everything in me just to take it. I couldn't get the timing chip off my shoe, someone had to do it for me, and then I had to ask someone else to tie my shoe back up because I knew if I bent down, I wouldn't be getting back up.
I was drenched and exhausted and had no energy left. But then I had to waddle back to my hotel for a mile. I had a mylar blanket around me, yet totally shivered. Delicious looking men were stopping and asking if I was okay. I wanted to say "No, please take me in your arms and carry me back to my hotel." But I realized I was gross and so just smiled and said "yes, I'm fine."
I got back to my hotel and took off my shoes and my left sock was covered in blood. Somewhere along the way, I lost my pinkie toe nail. And I had blisters all over my feet. I had taped up my feet, but the rain washed it off. Every step I took during the race was through large puddles of water, so I was just drenched from the top and bottom of my body. I had blisters everywhere. I brought a first aid kid and Band-aid blister coverings with me and thought that would be enough, but I'm afraid not. I usually don't blister like that. I don't know if I ran harder because of having to run through puddles or what. I even was completely salted. Salt had crystalized on my eyelids to the point it looked like a bad make-up job. I don't even get like that running in 100 degrees in the desert. So what gives?
I was shivering pretty badly so needed to get out of my wet clothes asap. I felt so sick and nauseated and everything was spinning. I swear I have never had this kind of reaction from a race...not even the Antarctica marathon which was much, much, much colder.
But as soon as I lied down, the sun came peering through the curtains of my hotel room. I looked out the window and the sky was perfectly clear and not a cloud in sight...ahh, here is the picnic weather. I went outside in a t-shirt and I was hot. Say what???? Why did this wait till right after the marathon?
I finished the marathon in a paltry 4:27, not a PR, but honestly, 4:27 was the best I had in me. I don't think I could have even mustered a 4:26. I was disappointed with my time, but Copenhagen, I gave you everything I had. There was nothing in me when I crossed that finish line. However, to look on the bright side, 4:27 is my birthday, so if I'm going to get a bad time, it might as well be that one.
The day turned out to be painful, but I managed to walk around Stroget, a wonderful shopping area and watch the children run after the birds and couples eating ice cream, which just goes to show you how much the weather changed in a matter of an hour. So not fair!
On a side note, Nordic language is very interesting. They take all the letters of the alphabet, add some more, and then make a word out of it. I can't imagine how many pages school books are or the Bible for that matter. It's amazing.
So I forgot to mention that yesterday I saw Hamlet's castle in Elsinore. We crossed over to Sweden and on to cities I've only heard of in books.
So today for the marathon, we were supposedly promised what the Dane's call "picnic weather." I left for the marathon wearing just a long shirt and shorts, a typical marathon uniform for me, but I was freezing! Perhaps the Dane's definition of picnic weather is vastly different from this Phoenix girl's definition. I was very cold, but we started the marathon in this beautiful setting overlooking spectacular buildings that was just a step back centuries in time. The buildings were a myriad of colors and a gold clock in city hall square that rang out just as the marathon started. I had to appreciate all the beautiful people I was running with...Tom Brady look-alikes abound here: small beady eyes and strong Nordic jaws and blonde hair. Everyone was built to run. They were lanky and muscular, but not too muscular--they all looked totally fit.
Then we took off and it was just beautiful scenery, right along the canal banks and colorful buildings and tulips and lavender blooming and the smell of Belgian waffles cooking for breakfast. I felt good and strong and was having a ball running. I kept thinking...this could be my favorite marathon ever. Running through the land of beauty. We ran through a park with Danish families actually having a picnic, so I suppose it is picnic weather. The Copenhagen symphony serenaded us at around kilometer 10, kids played drums and tons and tons of spectators aligned the streets with signs I couldn't understand. It was all awesome. We passed the little mermaid, which was so small I didn't know what I was looking at. We passed people dressed up in Brazilian samba costumes dancing samba through the street. At kilometer 8, however, the skies darkened with ominous looking clouds overhead and by kilometer 14, downpour. I mean a shower. I was soaked. I kept worrying about my camera I was running with and my iPod. So I tried to cover my shirt over my fuel belt and strung the headphones under my shirt. I passed the halfway point at 2:05, on par for a 4:10 finish if I could run the first half the same as the second half. But the rains kept coming and got harder and stronger. People were dropping out with hypothermia. So much for my picnic weather. It was crazy. I have never felt like that in race. I started to freeze and my arms started to go numb. I couldn't warm up. I thought about even backing out of the race. It was awful. I kept thinking...why do people do marathons? This is torture. I did this to myself. It was so cold and I kept wrapping my shirt over my hands trying desperately to warm up, but no such luck. It poured the whole race. I then got a second wind and was able to pound it out at kilometer 39 to 42, but at the finish, I have never felt so sick. It wasn't like the typical legs hurting and tired, but I was just pure exhausted. Someone handed me a gatorade bottle and it was everything in me just to take it. I couldn't get the timing chip off my shoe, someone had to do it for me, and then I had to ask someone else to tie my shoe back up because I knew if I bent down, I wouldn't be getting back up.
I was drenched and exhausted and had no energy left. But then I had to waddle back to my hotel for a mile. I had a mylar blanket around me, yet totally shivered. Delicious looking men were stopping and asking if I was okay. I wanted to say "No, please take me in your arms and carry me back to my hotel." But I realized I was gross and so just smiled and said "yes, I'm fine."
I got back to my hotel and took off my shoes and my left sock was covered in blood. Somewhere along the way, I lost my pinkie toe nail. And I had blisters all over my feet. I had taped up my feet, but the rain washed it off. Every step I took during the race was through large puddles of water, so I was just drenched from the top and bottom of my body. I had blisters everywhere. I brought a first aid kid and Band-aid blister coverings with me and thought that would be enough, but I'm afraid not. I usually don't blister like that. I don't know if I ran harder because of having to run through puddles or what. I even was completely salted. Salt had crystalized on my eyelids to the point it looked like a bad make-up job. I don't even get like that running in 100 degrees in the desert. So what gives?
I was shivering pretty badly so needed to get out of my wet clothes asap. I felt so sick and nauseated and everything was spinning. I swear I have never had this kind of reaction from a race...not even the Antarctica marathon which was much, much, much colder.
But as soon as I lied down, the sun came peering through the curtains of my hotel room. I looked out the window and the sky was perfectly clear and not a cloud in sight...ahh, here is the picnic weather. I went outside in a t-shirt and I was hot. Say what???? Why did this wait till right after the marathon?
I finished the marathon in a paltry 4:27, not a PR, but honestly, 4:27 was the best I had in me. I don't think I could have even mustered a 4:26. I was disappointed with my time, but Copenhagen, I gave you everything I had. There was nothing in me when I crossed that finish line. However, to look on the bright side, 4:27 is my birthday, so if I'm going to get a bad time, it might as well be that one.
The day turned out to be painful, but I managed to walk around Stroget, a wonderful shopping area and watch the children run after the birds and couples eating ice cream, which just goes to show you how much the weather changed in a matter of an hour. So not fair!
On a side note, Nordic language is very interesting. They take all the letters of the alphabet, add some more, and then make a word out of it. I can't imagine how many pages school books are or the Bible for that matter. It's amazing.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
The land of models
So I awoke early at 5am and couldn't go back to sleep, just as I suspected I would. But I did have a tour to meet at 9:45am to go to Sweden.
We took a bus to the top of Denmark and drove next to all the cruise ships and beautiful cottage like mansions. They were incredible suburbs, like Bel Air. Cottage mansions I called them, if that's not an oxymoron.
We then took a quick 20 minute ferry ride across to Sweden to the city of Lund. Sweden is the land of beautiful people. Tall, good-looking people everywhere you turn. The men are gorgeous and the women are all so sophisicated and trendy and high-class shops are everywhere you turn.
We were dropped off at a beautiful cathedral in Lund and watched a christening taking place. Then we had free time to roam around the city. All I really did is gawk at the beautiful people and the way they are perfectly coiffed and the men are gorgeous. But then, I walked past a food store that had the infamous symbol of magnums glowing in the storefront...then I saw an advertisement for the new white chocolate strawberry magnums...say what???? Chilled heaven is starring back at me, but I'm in Sweden and I didn't have any Swedish currency on me. Torture! I walked past the store at least 4 times trying to telepathically tell the employee to feed me, feed me, but alas, it didn't work. So then I thought maybe I could flirt and smile my way into a free ice cream bar. I wouldn't normally stoop to such a level, but this is the new strawberry magnum, so drastic times call for drastic measures. But then I remembered that I am in the land of models and my granola face certainly would have no effect on any man. So my dreams of eating a strawberry magnum were shattered.
Then we drove to Malmo, which is quite possibly one of my new favorite cities. It is perfect. Perfect shopping everywhere. All so clean and beautiful and beautiful people everywhere. I found my favorite shops and a mall with models all working there. I had a glorious time window shopping and I am not just talking about clothing...I'm also referring to the men. I would walk past restaurants and just stare. But then, lo and behold, I walked past a shop that said they took Danish currency, so I stopped in and glistening in the ice cream freezer was a shiny strawberry magnum. I immediately ran to the employee and said "Is it true you take Danish krones?" He answered yes and I grabbed a magnum and gave him the money, even allowing him to keep the change.
I walked out and sat in a plaza with the sun shining and blissfully ate away as I watched the perfect people pass by in a perfect city as I ate a perfect ice cream bar. Life felt so sweet, both literally and figurately.
We then came back and saw all the green and large amazing homes in southern Sweden. The homes around here are just gorgeous. We didn't take a ferry back, but just crossed a bridge by bus and were dropped off at the city square.
It is a great day. Sweden is absolutely beautiful in every way.
It stays light so late here. Being so far north and so close to the summer solstice, it doesn't get dark till 10. I forgot what's that like. But I didn't forget what the weather is like...wet and a little cold. Just like Seattle where I grew up.
So I awoke early at 5am and couldn't go back to sleep, just as I suspected I would. But I did have a tour to meet at 9:45am to go to Sweden.
We took a bus to the top of Denmark and drove next to all the cruise ships and beautiful cottage like mansions. They were incredible suburbs, like Bel Air. Cottage mansions I called them, if that's not an oxymoron.
We then took a quick 20 minute ferry ride across to Sweden to the city of Lund. Sweden is the land of beautiful people. Tall, good-looking people everywhere you turn. The men are gorgeous and the women are all so sophisicated and trendy and high-class shops are everywhere you turn.
We were dropped off at a beautiful cathedral in Lund and watched a christening taking place. Then we had free time to roam around the city. All I really did is gawk at the beautiful people and the way they are perfectly coiffed and the men are gorgeous. But then, I walked past a food store that had the infamous symbol of magnums glowing in the storefront...then I saw an advertisement for the new white chocolate strawberry magnums...say what???? Chilled heaven is starring back at me, but I'm in Sweden and I didn't have any Swedish currency on me. Torture! I walked past the store at least 4 times trying to telepathically tell the employee to feed me, feed me, but alas, it didn't work. So then I thought maybe I could flirt and smile my way into a free ice cream bar. I wouldn't normally stoop to such a level, but this is the new strawberry magnum, so drastic times call for drastic measures. But then I remembered that I am in the land of models and my granola face certainly would have no effect on any man. So my dreams of eating a strawberry magnum were shattered.
Then we drove to Malmo, which is quite possibly one of my new favorite cities. It is perfect. Perfect shopping everywhere. All so clean and beautiful and beautiful people everywhere. I found my favorite shops and a mall with models all working there. I had a glorious time window shopping and I am not just talking about clothing...I'm also referring to the men. I would walk past restaurants and just stare. But then, lo and behold, I walked past a shop that said they took Danish currency, so I stopped in and glistening in the ice cream freezer was a shiny strawberry magnum. I immediately ran to the employee and said "Is it true you take Danish krones?" He answered yes and I grabbed a magnum and gave him the money, even allowing him to keep the change.
I walked out and sat in a plaza with the sun shining and blissfully ate away as I watched the perfect people pass by in a perfect city as I ate a perfect ice cream bar. Life felt so sweet, both literally and figurately.
We then came back and saw all the green and large amazing homes in southern Sweden. The homes around here are just gorgeous. We didn't take a ferry back, but just crossed a bridge by bus and were dropped off at the city square.
It is a great day. Sweden is absolutely beautiful in every way.
It stays light so late here. Being so far north and so close to the summer solstice, it doesn't get dark till 10. I forgot what's that like. But I didn't forget what the weather is like...wet and a little cold. Just like Seattle where I grew up.
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