Around this time last year I came to Uppsala with a friend to check out Rosendal Day - a day organized by the neighborhood I had just bought an apartment in. On the walk to Rosendal from the station I realized it was also the day of the 2024 Uppsala (full and half) Marathon, the runners and spectators gathered on the route through the middle of the city.

We went on to have a nice day at Rosendal Day and walked past the apartment I had just purchased but had yet to get the keys to. We stood in the inner courtyard, looking up at soon-to-be-my-balcony - it was the first time I’d been back since all the contract paperwork had been signed and approved.

Then I went home to Täby. At that point Täby no longer felt like home anymore - I was in a holding pattern there, just waiting, mind fully on the upcoming move to my new city. I was physically there but not really there. I got the keys to my apartment on November 21 (a quest in itself, with the first massive snow day of the year having me trudge through knee-deep snow to get to the real estate office and then to walk to my apartment because the buses were down), and the rest is history - moving here on a whim turned out to be one of the best decisions I’d ever made.

Uppsala Half Marathon

When I started running toward the end of this July, I pretty quickly thought back on that day and thought how cool it might be to run the same race this year, marking about a year since that visit. I also liked the idea of running my first half marathon in Uppsala specifically - have my new hometown be the first. But there were only about 3 months left and I had never run that far - hadn’t run in general in over a decade. I wasn’t sure there’d be time to train for it properly.

But last Saturday, I did it! I finished the Uppsala Half Marathon in 1 hour and 49 minutes, coming in 193rd out of 963 women. The race started and ended at Uppsala Slott, the last km being an intimidating uphill towards the castle.

As a caveat, due to a security issue in the city not related to the marathon, the course had to be rereouted 15 minutes before start time and the route ended up being about 350m shorter. So not exactly 21.1km!

The goal

I had no idea what to expect. My tentative goal was to finish in under 2 hours, but that seemed like it might be overly ambitious. I’d been feeling various niggles and aches in my legs for the last couple of weeks (later learned this is called ’taper tantrums’ and is actually common…), as well as having some hints of shin splint pain coming on that was worrying me (I’d rested a few extra days the other week to temper this as much as I could before the race). Plus, it was the coldest day I’d run in - I think the temperature in the morning was 4C.

The experience

It turns out far from being too ambitious, I actually could’ve gone a bit faster. This was not only the first time I ran this distance, but also the fastest speed I’d ever maintained for a longer run. I held myself back, having read about how common it is to go out too fast on race day and burn out before the end. Determined not to do that, I stuck with what felt like a very manageable pace and just hoped I’d survive.

But I did survive, and even had gas in the tank to really sprint up that last castle hill to the finish. After the end my breathing and heart rate recovered pretty immediately and I realized I could’ve kept going - an indicator that I could’ve pushed myself more through the race. Pace-wise, I ended up with a negative split.

Having said that, I’m glad I took it easy this first race. It made my first half marathon - and probably the most important one for me, due to its sentimental value - feel satisfying and fun.

The recovery

On the walk home from the castle, the exertion really set in. I got cold very fast as my body temperature dropped, my ankles felt tight, my calves were already aching. For some reason my elbows were aching (???) I basically hobbled.

My calves were really sore the next day. By the second day post-race I felt pretty much fine, with just some tightness in the morning. Overall recovery was really good!

The next race

I’ve already signed up for the Midnight Sun Run half marathon in Tromsø, Norway, above the arctic circle next year. The run is at night during a time of year when the sun never sets. I’m so excited!

In the meantime, I think I will just go into ‘maintenance mode’ for a while. I really don’t like running in the cold and winter is coming, so I figure I’ll hibernate and just run 3 days a week, maybe on a treadmill, until spring rolls around to start another training block. Maybe I’ll work up the discipline to do some cross training and focus more on strength building in the meantime, which has fallen by the wayside lately.