I decided to run the Polar Half Marathon in Norway quite by accident. A Facebook friend was interested which drew it to my attention. I already knew I was going back to Czech so I booked it hoping my mum would travel there with me. I did a few short runs in the cold as a prep for it (2 x 5km races), one in Prague which had an awesome medal and one in Pilsner where I realised my body is no longer accustomed to the cold. That’s what happens after 14 years in Australia.
I did a few more runs just under 10km after I landed with the coldest temperature -5C and I hoped for the best.
I only bought my new trail running shoes in Europe as I didn’t want to pack them and when I bought them I was fairly sure I wouldn’t need spikes. I was wrong! As we flew into Tromso on Friday night my host informed me that there was ice on the ground and the compacted snow could become even more icy with the fresh snow just covering it up so that you can’t see it. That’s exactly how it was in the race and I was so pleased I ended up buying the spikes to just put over the soles of my runners.
I was very excited about the run! I have done a few half marathons before just never in that cold. There was about 2000 runners with the event also hosting 5km and 10km runs. We had 3 hours to finish the half marathon. My aim was 2.5 hours. It was a bit ambitious as the cold was something I wasn’t to keen on but off I went.
It was already dark even though we started at 3pm, it was pretty much dark all the time… We saw the clear green northern lights from the plane but as it needed to be very clear to see them on the day of the run unfortunately they were not visible. Nevertheless we all enjoyed the experience and I think it’s the biggest run in the cold that Norway hosts.
The course was mainly on a foot path along a water front towards the airport and back. I was doing really well, I kept telling myself how much fun I was having and how cool it was. The track was lit up by small candle torches which made it feel like a fairytale.
Up until km 16 I was doing absolutely fabulous times and could have finish in 1:55, however I didn’t realise I was now back to the non protected water front with a very strong wind blowing right into our faces and no option to hide from it. The cars on the road right next to us didn’t help either as they were making the snow join the wind.
I started to slow down and thought my secret time of 2hours (which no one knew) wouldn’t happen. I also realised we were running up a slight hill which I didn’t notice earlier. About 3km to go I also realised my face was frozen to the point it was hurting.
I ended up running the half marathon in 1:59:35 and was absolutely stoked. I loved every metre of the run but am not sure I would do it again any time soon…