Okay, here’s the whole marathon story from start to finish!
We got to Tromso around 11am on the 21st without a hitch and got our rental car. We also checked into the hotel without a problem. This was a relief because of all the problems we had earlier with a hotel- I had figured we would’ve been without a room for sure.
After checking into the hotel, we went on the prowl for some food but couldn’t find anything that looked good. We checked into the race and got our starting numbers- 100 and 101. We finally settled on a pizza place in town because it was nearing 1:00 and we wanted to make sure we got some sleep before the race.
Unfortunately, service at the pizza place was unbelievably slow. Timmy slept in the booth and Savannah caught a few winks while we were waiting for the food. It was pretty expensive, too- everything here is. The exchange rate is about $1 to 5 Norweian Kroner, so it’s not unusual to see, for example, a hotdog listed at 35,- or a coke for 20,-. The meal cost us around 400,- for just Savannah and I. I don’t think they have any smaller units of money besides the Krone (like a cent, for instance). At least, if they do, I haven’t seen it.
After pizza we went back to the hotel. Timmy wasn’t in the mood to sleep anymore, so Savannah took a nap while I got a shower. Eventually we both got some sleep and woke up for good around 6:00.
The race started at 8:30 and we planned to be at the start line by 8:00. Of course, while it was relatively warm and dry earlier in the day, it was now cool and drizzly. We put the weather plastic over Timmy’s stroller and headed out.
The rain wasn’t bad and stopped right before the race started. As far as the race itself goes, there isn’t much to tell. We ran. The first half felt pretty easy, but after the 21st kilometer, things started going downhill. Unfortunately, not literally. Timmy slept for almost the entire thing, only waking up with a dozen or so kilometers to go. We took a picture
at midnight, but by then we were 3/4ths of the way done with the race and tired like you wouldn’t believe. That’s why the picture is so bad- we thought if we stopped running to take it, we would never start again.
You couldn’t actually see the sun at midnight- it was blocked by the mountains in the distance. It was definitely light, though- If I were home, I’d say it looked like 8:00 in the evening. We finished the race in 4 hours, 51 minutes and 18 seconds. This made Savannah happy because we finished in under 5 hours. We went the whole way running every step- no walking or stopping at all. Timmy needed a bottle with about 8km to go, but he didn’t eat much of it.
Throughout the race, the townspeople line up along the road and cheer on the runners. Their
I think Timmy was the most popular attraction in the marathon. I stopped counting how many
people took pictures of the three of us running at around a dozen. And that was early in the race. There were a couple points in the race when the course doubled back on itself and we could see all the top runners. Most of them gave a smile and a wave when they saw Timmy.
At the end, it was crazy. We finished and got our participant medals, but before we could go too far, there were a half-dozen people waiting to ask us questions and look at the baby. “How old is he?” “Is this his first marathon?” “Did you really push him the whole way?” and on and on. The marathon organizers came up to us a little bit later and gave us a participant medal for Timmy, too. They said he participated as much as anyone else and it would be a good memento for him. We finished the race at around 1:30 a.m.
After the race, we went back to the hotel and crashed. Timmy slept until 6:00, and therefore so did we. Amazingly, we’re both feeling pretty good this morning. We’re going to drive around a bit today and look for some cool photo opportunities.
I’ve been looking for a place where I can buy some reindeer sticks. They’re like beef sticks, only made of reindeer meat. They have one in the hotel mini-bar, but it’s too expensive. I figure I can find one somewhere.
We got to Tromso around 11am on the 21st without a hitch and got our rental car. We also checked into the hotel without a problem. This was a relief because of all the problems we had earlier with a hotel- I had figured we would’ve been without a room for sure.
After checking into the hotel, we went on the prowl for some food but couldn’t find anything that looked good. We checked into the race and got our starting numbers- 100 and 101. We finally settled on a pizza place in town because it was nearing 1:00 and we wanted to make sure we got some sleep before the race.
Unfortunately, service at the pizza place was unbelievably slow. Timmy slept in the booth and Savannah caught a few winks while we were waiting for the food. It was pretty expensive, too- everything here is. The exchange rate is about $1 to 5 Norweian Kroner, so it’s not unusual to see, for example, a hotdog listed at 35,- or a coke for 20,-. The meal cost us around 400,- for just Savannah and I. I don’t think they have any smaller units of money besides the Krone (like a cent, for instance). At least, if they do, I haven’t seen it.After pizza we went back to the hotel. Timmy wasn’t in the mood to sleep anymore, so Savannah took a nap while I got a shower. Eventually we both got some sleep and woke up for good around 6:00.
The race started at 8:30 and we planned to be at the start line by 8:00. Of course, while it was relatively warm and dry earlier in the day, it was now cool and drizzly. We put the weather plastic over Timmy’s stroller and headed out.
The rain wasn’t bad and stopped right before the race started. As far as the race itself goes, there isn’t much to tell. We ran. The first half felt pretty easy, but after the 21st kilometer, things started going downhill. Unfortunately, not literally. Timmy slept for almost the entire thing, only waking up with a dozen or so kilometers to go. We took a picture
at midnight, but by then we were 3/4ths of the way done with the race and tired like you wouldn’t believe. That’s why the picture is so bad- we thought if we stopped running to take it, we would never start again.You couldn’t actually see the sun at midnight- it was blocked by the mountains in the distance. It was definitely light, though- If I were home, I’d say it looked like 8:00 in the evening. We finished the race in 4 hours, 51 minutes and 18 seconds. This made Savannah happy because we finished in under 5 hours. We went the whole way running every step- no walking or stopping at all. Timmy needed a bottle with about 8km to go, but he didn’t eat much of it.
Throughout the race, the townspeople line up along the road and cheer on the runners. Their
I think Timmy was the most popular attraction in the marathon. I stopped counting how many
people took pictures of the three of us running at around a dozen. And that was early in the race. There were a couple points in the race when the course doubled back on itself and we could see all the top runners. Most of them gave a smile and a wave when they saw Timmy.At the end, it was crazy. We finished and got our participant medals, but before we could go too far, there were a half-dozen people waiting to ask us questions and look at the baby. “How old is he?” “Is this his first marathon?” “Did you really push him the whole way?” and on and on. The marathon organizers came up to us a little bit later and gave us a participant medal for Timmy, too. They said he participated as much as anyone else and it would be a good memento for him. We finished the race at around 1:30 a.m.
After the race, we went back to the hotel and crashed. Timmy slept until 6:00, and therefore so did we. Amazingly, we’re both feeling pretty good this morning. We’re going to drive around a bit today and look for some cool photo opportunities.
I’ve been looking for a place where I can buy some reindeer sticks. They’re like beef sticks, only made of reindeer meat. They have one in the hotel mini-bar, but it’s too expensive. I figure I can find one somewhere.
Pictures from top to bottom:
1) All three of us right before the start
2) Savannah and Timmy right before the start
3) Doug pushing Timmy somewhere in the middle of the race
4) Midnight!
2 comments:
The marathon organizers are right.. that is an awesome experiance for Tim, even though he will never remember it.. he can say he's done a marathon so he'll never actually have to do it on his own.. :)
I'm so proud of you and Savannah I'm not sure I would've been able to take that sort of a trip with a little one not to mention running a marathon!
You should check the local papers, even though you guys didn't win I'm sure your picture is in there someplace with a caption "youngest marathon contestant" (meaning tim)
SEE YOU WEDNESDAY!! WE CAN'T WAIT!!!
this has nothing to do with your blog, so you can read and delete this.. but would you mind if me and the girls came up north and were up there friday later afternoon? I know you and savannah were going up there alone until mom and dad came up friday night.. LMK if it would put a kink in your plans..
Post a Comment