Getting a life?

I admit I am slightly single-minded at times. When one not only thinks but dreams too much about running (ie waking up after a nightmare that I am caught behind someone slow at a race), perhaps the obsession has gone too far.

I've started tapering for the Copenhagen Marathon so I decided to do a combined swim-bike with my Herlufsholm Tri-Club. I was really nervous about it since I've never been on a cycle ride with anyone but SR (but I mean, come on, I need to get a life outside of my house, my retinal photography room and my running routes!). We did a 45-50 minute fairly intense swim followed by a 45km bike ride in the cold rain. I loved it. It was one of those mornings where I repeated over and over in my head "yes, today I am alive and this is my life". I cycled most of the time with a Danish woman veterinarian, who is currently living in Liverpool, but is moving back to Næstved. We had such a great time, despite the fact that it was embarrassing for me to be the slow one. And then I got a flat and didn't have an inner tube along and didn't know how to change the tube Sif had along. Luckily the head of our club, Stig, came to the rescue. What a cool aspect of cycling, though, that you have to be a repair woman. Despite Sif living in Liverpool, it was much easier for us to understand each other in Danish. The midwest American accent is just too much for a Dane to handle when they're expecting my words to come out in British. I had to actually spell "Trans Alpine" before she could understand what I was saying. It's those "a's". Anyway. I could get into this Tri thing and I had better if I am seriously going to do an Ironman this August.

SR and I had another great non-running experience this weekend. Our little city, Næstved, turns 875 this year. And this of course deserves a little musical celebration. We saw probably the biggest-name musician in Denmark right now who sings in Danish, Rasmus Seebach. Anyone can clearly see from my flag counter that most of my readers come from the US, so most people who read this will never have heard of him. Living in the US, it is extremely hard to be exposed to music sung in a foreign language. And Rasmus Seebach will never be famous outside of Scandinavia as long as he keeps singing in Danish. But that is also part of his charm. Once one gets over the fact that he is a tall and awkward man, one can't help falling in love with his perfect-pitched voice, often in falsetto, and his sincerity. He is a real talent, who came out of nowhere at age 30, not breaking any musical barriers, but writing beautiful and melodious pop songs. A great concert experience I'd recommend to anyone.

Now, for all of the runners, who are sick of my asides, three fun things have come to my attention in the past few days. First Kim and Andy Holak from the midwestern US have developed a series of stage races, the first in August of 2010 in Minnesota, US. Each year they will have a race at the which covers around 100 miles over 5 days. We will not be there this year, but perhaps in one of the coming years. Maybe it's something for you. http://queststageraces.weebly.com/the-races.html. Second, they also arrange adventure running trips to many places in the world, including one of my favorite places, Lago de Atitlán in Gautemala. You can find more info about their trips here http://www.adventurerunningco.com/toursraces.html.

Third, I was sent an email link from Ellen Zapato to an article in London's The Times about how women's athleticism often improves after childbirth. They discuss everything from how women used to be told to never run more than one mile a day while pregnant to women in East Germany who used to get pregnant and then have an abortion just to benefit from the increased haemoglobin from their pregnancy. It's really an interesting read. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/features/article6831281.ece (thanks, Ellen!)


Bike riding song of the day: Tel 'Em by Sleigh Bells