Prior Varvet

Today is the day of "Varvet" or the Round. About 40,000 runners gather and they estimate about 150,000 as specatators. That's quite an event! The weather is perfect. There will be rain later tonight or tomorrow. I think I've done everything I can in my preparation. Yesterday I managed to stuff myself wiht 840 grams of carbohydrates, puh. The largest single intake was the lunch spaghetti (170 g). My laboratory background helped me in my strategy, I used a scale and read the list of nutrient declaration of everything I ate, then I recorded it in a table with time of intake and grams of carbohydrate. I had everything from toasts, a lot of still drinks (cranberry and lingonberry juice), fruit compote, sandwich cake and finally blueberry pie with ice cream. This part in preparation will be no problem in the future, it was quite enjoyable...

I wish all my colleagues at work luck with their Varvet running today, and for those being "virgin" half marathon runners: - just doing it and finalising it is a great success!

One remarkable thing about runners is their very, very high interest in one single fact. I mean, when somebody (who is running) gets to know that you are about to run a half marathon, what will be their first or second question? "- What time do you expect to achieve?" It is not a competition, and you don't get extra medals for a respectable time. But what is this about? Can it be a substitute for your other shortcomings in life (career, salary, type of car or immaterial status) and that you want to make yourself confident with your own goals? Or is it just a question of trigging the other person you are meeting with, to get behind their shell and and then share this "secret". My evidence for the latter would be that any other people (not being runners) that you meet is interested in this. It is probably a kind of "password" into the runner's silent community, being member of this group of people. A year ago, I noticed something else that gave an indication of this. I had just purchased my first pulse wrist watch and was wearing it daily. I was attending an international conference, and one person I've met in the past approached at the lunch buffet and said: - Are you running? I couldn't understand why he was asking this, and why here at the buffet? He pointed at his watch, and then I understood.