Here's a bit more exoticism for you. On Saturday evening, my husband and I ran the 2019 Winterrun Oslo 10K. This consists of two laps around the harbour and the medieval Akershus fortress in Oslo, which is really uneven, and includes hills, a staircase and cobblestones. It's usually icy, always interesting, and this was the first time it was properly snowy.
It was really hard going this year. We had heavy snowfall all of Friday and Saturday morning. The photo is from one place where things weren't too bad. there were other sections where we had to wade through narrow paths of soft snow as high as the banks you see in the photos. Oh how I regretted not having got myself a pair of gaiters! This was the first time I ran the event with a head torch. You only needed it a few places, but I was glad to have it.
It was really lovely with all the fires and torch candles - I don't know if you have the latter in the UK, but they're heavy-duty candles in metal containers for outdoor use. They were a bit scary because they kept spitting and spluttering as I ran by, so I was afraid of getting burned. They certainly helped keep me running!
I ran about 90% of the distance. I saw no point in wasting energy trying to run up snowy hills. Considering how hard it was, I was happy with the outcome, despite being 7 minutes slower than the last time I did it, two years ago. And this was my longest run since June.
My daughter had asked me to beat my husband, and I did - by a good 2 minutes. He assures me that I actually outran him, which is best of all.
Warning ~ Long Post! Another Half Marathon 🏃🏼♀️and a few tears 😭 with a happy ending 😍
