Don't cry for me Bergen City

The truth is I never left you....

So it's over. What was supposed to be one of the major racing events of this year for me passed by with me as a spectator and a cheerleader instead of a competitor. Bergen City Marathon took place yesterday. During a practice session in January I had run the half marathon course in exactly two hours, at pleasant pace and while chatting with my training buddy Roger all the way, and hence I was sure that I would have a great new personal best at the race. Well, that was before I had to change plans...

I am superstitious. I take care to try not to say "never" or "for sure". Because life can put you in situations you simply cannot imagine beforehand. But I made the mistake of ending one of my earliest blog entries (about half marathons) this way: "Next year? Bergen, for sure! Oslo, probably not." So I was asking for trouble... I have now learned that things out of my control might affect and slow down my plans, no matter how motivated I am and how hard I work for my goals. On the positive side, life is a continuous learning experience, and I truly believe that I am becoming a better person and a better runner through this experience. A few months ago, just imagining the possibility of having to cancel Bergen City half marathon was unbearable to me. Right now, though, it is OK, as I am completely slowing down to finally heal properly.

The key to keeping up the motivation and the joy for me in this situation is to keep in touch with my running network. I am lucky to have so many caring friends who continuously send me good advice and cheer me up with messages. Yesterday I was happy to cheer them on along the course while they were running marathons, half marathons, or relays during BCM.  Together with several of my friends from Melkesyre we formed a cheerleader gang and placed ourselves on one of the toughest parts of the course, where runners need the most help. Some of us had to cancel plans of participation due to injuries, and some of us just do not like long asphalt runs, but all of us were extremely enthusiastic on behalf of all the participants. It was touching to see how grateful the competitors were to see us; we got thousands of big smiles and hearts. Even if you cannot participate in a race, you can be there at the start and at the finish, meet your friends before and after, and then it is almost like having raced.  While cheering, I was surprised to see how many of the runners I knew! It was so cool to shout out the names of so many people. But even the ones I did not know felt like friends.

It is strange how sharing a passion like running makes you friends even with complete strangers. A few days before the race, I put up my start number for sale, and I got a message from a sweet young man who wanted to buy it. He was kind enough to come all the way to my house to pay in cash, and we ended up chatting for a long while about running, race goals, training, injuries, etc etc, and laughing a lot. After he left, my mom (who is visiting) said "I did not realize that it was a friend who wanted to buy your number". I told her that I did not know the person before he came. She was quite shocked that it was possible to have such a long and hearty conversation with a complete stranger. Well, that's what running does to people. It makes them connect in a completely different way than I knew before. Anders, who bought my number, and I have kept in touch, and he did great at the race! He finished in 1:29.

Another guy who did great at the race was Frank. He beat his time from last year with 9 minutes, and finished in 1:38! Frank let me coach him during the last weeks before the race, and he listened very carefully to all my advice about tapering, carb loading, resting, training scheme, and how to pace his race, something I am really proud of. I predicted that he would do better than 1:40, and although he was reluctant to believe it himself, it worked! In fact almost all of my friends had great records this year. Roger, mentioned above, did 1:36. Just imagine if I had been well enough to continue the training we started together in January! I think I could have managed around 1:50...

"Don't think back; think ahead!" That's what I keep telling myself... I am very motivated and impressed by the achievements of so many of my friends. Bjarte who ran a full marathon in 3:14 (how is that at all possible?), Øystein who brought his half marathon time down to 1:24 (has he found a formula for stopping time, both when it comes to aging and to racing times?), my guardian angel Mats who did 1:23 with an injured leg, my positivity bomb Irene who is 5 months pregnant and finished just in 2 hours, Filiz who ran for the first time in 2:06, and many many other wonderful performances. Cheering on Frank, my friends, and all other runners was great. But Bergen City Marathon was indeed crying. It was raining all the time, really heavily at times, which was a contrast to last year's amazingly sunny experience.

Next year? I hope I'm in...