World's Largest Half Marathon

So you know how, as an exchange student, I am supposed to say yes to as many activities/experiences as possible?  Ya, well that led me to participating in the worlds largest half marathon race in Göteborg (Gothenburg).
21,2 kilometers.  2.1 Swedish miles.  13.1 American miles.
Over 64,000 participants and more than 200,000 supporters along the path.

Many of you probably have never heard of this race before (even though it is the worlds largest).  Well me either until January when I lived with the Ström's.  Stefan, my second host dad who I was living with at the time, brought it up one day and I jumped on that idea like a child seeing candy!  I don't think I really thought about what I was getting into.  Sure I have tried to run around Mercer Island or into Bellevue, but I don't think I have ever successfully continuously run a half marathon before.  So I started training… a lot!
    Stefan and I headed down to Gothenburg friday (6 hour drive to west coast).  When we got there we met up with his boss and boss's wife whom (who?) also ran!  We had a friendly gender competition going on during the race as well :-)

Trying to navigate Göteborg and parts of the course

Main street

Friday night we got to do a little bit of site seeing of the city as we went to pick up our number thingy's that you pin to your shirt.  We also ran into Stefan's best man from his wedding/best friend who actually lives in Texas now and his brother who was running the race.  The chances of us running into them were 1 in a million, but we did! And apparently Stefan hasn't seen them in a few years so we had a fun time talking with them and they all caught up on life and all that jazz.

    

 But going back to the gender competition, Stefan tried to cheat a little bit.  He decided it would be a "good idea" to give me a double espresso (his favorite drink in the entire world) Friday night… Let's just say I had a little trouble falling asleep… Haha but never fear! I was ready for the race Saturday even if I only got a couple hours of sleep haha!

Saturday, race day! Seeing as there were so many people running there were a lot of heats (30ish to be clear).  So Stefan and I started in the 12th heat and by the time we started, the first place finishers were already done!!

Anywho, the course we ran was pretty flat.  We ran about 5km and then up and over a bridge to the other side of the canal/river/water.  We stayed on that other side for 10 or so km which absolutely killed me because it was nearly all sun ugh!  But there were apartment buildings there right along the water which would be very lovely to live in!  Then we had to go up hill over another bridge and up the main street of Gothenburg and then through a little forest (with shade!!!) to the finish line.
 As you probably suspect from my description, it was very warm! Too warm for my liking, but hey! I met my goal of not walking and running the entire time!  Except I do need to work on grabbing the water cups and drinking on the move…that I need a lot of practice with!!
As you can see from the pictures I ran wearing a (an?) USA t-shirt.  There were several groups of spectators who I ran past who were also from the USA and cheered for America: it was really cool!


Sorry I know there are a lot of words on this post, but I have a lot to say.  Seeing as this is the world's largest half marathon race a lot of people come out to watch and it is essentially a people party for those not running.  So along the course there were people cheering us on and then there were also people who had gone out a bought individual bags of chips or candy that they were trying to get the runners to take and eat while running! hahaha then there were the college students who might have had a little bit too much to drink who were trying to get the runners to take a cigarette or a beer bottle haha!  It was very entertaining to see all the different people who had come out not just to run but then all of those who were out watching us run.

The feeling of running under the finish sign was amazing!  First off, I did not collapse, no hallucinating, or dizziness, lightheadedness; so that was good! I did have a bit of blood…from my ankle.  The chip that they give every runner (that usually is put around your shoelaces) ya that thing. They gave us two pieces of velcro that we had to put around our ankle to hold the chip and well I did not have high socks so the velcro rubbed against my skin and was very uncomfortable the entire way! So now I have scabs around my ankle…but hey if that was the worst pain I had all race, I would say I did pretty well!

Sunday I was not nearly as sore as I thought I would be.  I had a little bit of pain in my knees and was sore in the neck and shoulders (which I found very strange), but that was it!  

It is cool how after running a half marathon, the next day we were all really craving going out and running again!  We were talking about the next race we are all going to run (I'm thinking Mercer Island Rotary Run Half Marathon).

And I would just like to say that we females won the gender competition! (Take that Stefan!) :-)

Oh and did I mention I was the youngest person to run the world's largest half marathon this year?!! 

I Tallinn. not Italian

This past weekend was a long weekend so my first and second host family took me and their current exchange students to Estonia's captial city Tallinn!  You might ask why my current host family did not take me...well they are in Canada visiting their daughter who is an exchange student there.

 It was the first time I had ever been on a cruise ship (there and back) which was so cool!!

We got really lucky with weather!

Estonia's flag

Dance floor and stage on the cruise

 Oh mom and dad, I um found some homes in Stockholm's archipelago that I would like for my birthday :) Maybe just one will do :)

 We were a little tired after running around the boat and finding dream houses for the first hour

 Dinner was a buffet with way too much food.  I nearly rolled out of there, but it was all sooo good!  

The theme of the cruise was Brazilian (a little ironic I know) but there were some Brazilian foods that were really good!

 And then the next morning we were in Tallinn!!

 We had some good map reading lessons :)

 One of the biggest differences (other than the language) I noticed was that the city had a very Russian/Soviet Union type of feeling with a brick wall around the city and many old brick buildings and cobbel stone roads.

And many street vendors!

In the middle of the city there was a big open square with cobble stone roads and old important buildings and cafés where you could sit out in the sun...And Stefan (second host dad) strutin' down the road :-)

 We went in some old viking stores and found some interessting things...

This church I stared at for a solid 10 minutes.  It is beautiful! 

 Even went inside and it was even more breath taking!

 

 And then the view over the old part of the city was even more breath taking!

This quote was...I don't think I need words to describe it.  Three exchange students and the quote: Perfect!

 Left to right: my first two host parents and then my second host dad!

 Friday night we went to a very old fashioned, traditional Russian/Soviet/Estonian (?) dinner.  I got to try wild boar and moose which were both very good! But I think I liked the wild boar better!

I tried both dried (typ jerkey) moose and normal hydrated moose

The gang!

First host mom, Marie

 

Two of the three best host mom's ever!!

We visited Fat Margaret who was built in the early 16th century.  She is the largest part of the wall around the city and was used to defend the city.

First host mom and second host dad

On Saturday we went to the Occupation Museum in Tallinn.  Now I am not a big fan of history in school, but I really liked going in this museum and reading about Estonian history.  Inside there was information about the first and second Soviet occupations and the German occupation.

People were put in these closets (1 meter by 80 cm) for up to weeks at a time!

The hooligans (two first host dad's)

Another really cool thing about this museum was that the person who orginally thought of the idea to create it and educate people now lives in Renton Washington!! 

What a small world!

They're most definitely up to something :-)

By the way I am sorry if my english grammar and speeling are not up to par...
Hanging out with two other girls from USA we realized that our english is, well, pretty bad!  I am sure it would have been funny for a English speaking person to listen to us talk to eachother.  It was truely bad english on top of swengelska!