Quick thoughts from morning after the 24 hours: I just slept an uninterrupted 12 1/2 hours. And the last hour consisted of dreams of beautiful landscapes (which I enjoyed with an old lady) and then a woman singing with a gorgeous voice for just my dad and me. It's been a long time since I was reminded of the fact that dreams become more pleasant and fantastic the longer one sleeps.
The setup of the race: 24 hour run either solo or as a relay team. A 2.7 km route through the hilly forest, Rude Skov, and then one trip around the track. I was on a team with 6 other women. We ran with a partner, who we switched off with for 1 1/2 hours, and then got a 3 hour break. Repeat and repeat.
My partner, Henriette, and me (that is my Star Wars first aid kit on my lap).
Highlights in (more or less) chronological hour.
- Finding a barely legal parking space
- All 6 ladies present:Helle H, Helle A, Helle W, Grit, Henriette, moi
- Conversation with May-Britt Hansen. I had some time before I ran, so I was happy to see May-Britt there supporting everyone. She looked completely recovered from running 145 miles last weekend. I had never talked to her in person, so was amazed by what a beautiful speaking voice she had (wondered if she also could sing). We talked and talked and though it wasn't the case, she made me feel as though it was me she came to see. What a cool gal.
- Ran my first loops. Was happy my second loop was in 11:40 and this ended up being the time that earned me second fastest woman of the female relay teams. Maria Damtoft had otherwise the first 7 fastest times. She rocks. And I rock a bit less.
- Conversation with Kenneth Munk. There is a paucity of adjectives a married woman can use to describe this guy. But he is the holder of the 100km Danish record time of 6:57 and is only 29. He told me he has only run 100km twice, never runs more than 25 km in training and his marathon PR is 2:32. He said he's turning back to focusing on the marathon distance. His fascination with the 100km began when he figured it was the longest distance he could run at a decent speed the entire time.
- Massage with brutal Danish woman. My right hip was a bit tight (too much non-barefoot running), so I thought I'd take advantage of the free massage offer. My masseuse had the theory that laying all of her weight and all of her hand strength into my sciatic nerve would loosen things up. Perhaps it did, but wow did I scream, and many times. And every time I lifted my head she yelled at me for straining my neck. Henriette just stood there and laughed.
-Confused skinny girl. There is a girl on our Facebook Løbeklub running club who was quite pretty and quite thin. But the most remarkable thing about her was she was never there when she was supposed to relieve her partner and start running. Multiple times someone had to hunt her down and then she would nonchalantly walk to the start. And then, at some point, we just never saw her again.
- The two stray daughters of Michael S.K. Mortensen. Michael was doing the 24 hour run and parked his 9 and 10 year old daughters in a tent to hang out with our Facebook running club. Once they got over the fact that I talked funny and that I was actually from the land of Disney and Lady Gaga, they really opened up. "Sometimes our dad says he is going out for a short run and then comes back hours later" :). Me "what does your mom say about that?" "Oh, they're divorced". "Our dad just got a new job. He's a chef." Me: "Oh, does he make good food for you guys?" Girls look at each other with extreme confusion. Older girl: "No." Still wondering what that might have to do with being a chef. Couldn't help feeling I would be good friends with Michael.
- Diaperless Lorax. Classic miscommunication between SR and me leaves the Lorax diaperless only to lay a turd in the area under our Facebook tent. Helle H scurried to clean up the turd while we rushed The Lorax to the bathroom to get him cleaned up. Luckily SR would take him to his parents' soon, where his mom (who always thinks of everything!) had diapers.
- My running posture becomes a source of laughter for all. Yes, I look like I'm going to fall over backwards regardless of how fast I'm going. But no, if I trip, I actually do have forward momentum. I guess you've gotta see it.
-Rasmus Nøhr/Delightful Guitar:
accousitic performance by Danish star Rasmus Nøhr. Natali gets an autograph on her favorite white scarf and The Lorax is sure to say to everyone we encounter "dejlig guitar" (delightful guitar) while the performance is happening.- Vegetarian food at dinner!
- Running with SR at night: There are highlights and then there is the REAL highlight. Well, this was it. SR arrived at 11 pm to run two loops with me. He snuck in behind me after I went over the chip mat and followed, though I had my music on. He had no headlamp, so had to follow close behind. After I switched off with Henriette, he said, "I thought I would have to cheer you on, but I actually didn't even know you could run so fast, so I wasn't about to tell you to go faster." Well, if his goal was to encourage me, he certainly did.
- Midnight shower
- sleeping in a gym: 2 hours.
- cheese on bread with coffee. I'm starting to love Danish breakfasts.This is real cheese and bread, folks. The good stuff.
- My total:19 loops: 51.3 km! And it didn't feel like it. Resting is just so crucial.
- We ran to through the finish as a team, taking second place, with a total of 275.4 km. Here is Helle A on the homestretch
, us waiting for her
, and then the exciting race to the finish. 
- We all received a 400 kr. gift certificate to Puma. Sweet. Here are all the results.
- Friends. Well, I too am human and love having friends. Moving to a new country and living in a new language has made it a bit harder for me to make friends. But feel extremely happy and fortunate yesterday to have wonderful friends, who are crazy running gals, too.
Left to right: SLG, Henriette, Helle H, Helle A, Grit, Helle W
18 comments:
what a neat event! well done!
How many couples in Denmark are Rasmus and Helle? Half?
It's nice to do things like that occasionally, hanging out with friends.
Tak for en vidunderlig weekend, Tracy. Og tak for et herligt makkerskab.Tak for en skøn (som altid) beretning der (igen) fik mine tårer til at trille ned af kinderne af grin.
Jeg var virkelig udmattet søndag. Og det at skulle til Sverige mandag tidlig morgen var (pardon my french) sat'me hårdt. Men nu er jeg hjemme igen og glæder mig til at sove x- tra længe imorgen.
Det var en af mine bedste løbsoplevelser hidtil og vi var seje, synes jeg.
Vi ses i Slagelse om to uger.
Mange hilsener
makker Henriette :o)
That does look like a fun event.
I couldn't help but notice in the pictures that you had a running skirt on. I was actually just debating today whether I want to buy one. Do you like it? It looks really cute.
Relay races sound like fun!
So is Helle like Danish for Helen? That must be where all the Helens are then :)
Great report - that sounds like a very neat event. There is something very intoxicating about 24hr races - I spent several hours at FANS 12/24hr races over the weekend here.
Well done on your time and distance. Hope you are recovering well.
BTW - that guy abandoning the 2 kids to run for 24hrs - funny!!
I am going to pretend that I have not read your comment on my blog...
Steve Q, I'm sure this is not the answer you expected, but it seemed like a fun challenge (emphasis on challenge since I made a mistake in the math above and am trying again). Approximately .53% of all Danes are named Rasmus. That means about 1.06% of all males are named Rasmus. About .63% of all Danes are named Helle, thus 1.26% of females Helle. A rough estimate. So, to get the chance that one would marry the other, one should multiply the population frequencies together .0106 x .0126and one gets .00013. SOOOO, if the names Rasmus and Helle are equal in the weddable and non-weddable ages (which they are not, but let's pretend), .013% of all couples in Denmark are made of Helle and Rasmus. So 50% was quite close. I don't know any of those couples, but they must exist.
Henriette,
Mange, mange tak til dig for din sød hilsen. Jeg kunne simpelhen ikke haft en bedre partner end dig. Hvor var det sjovt og du var altid glad og morsom og du klager aldrig! Og du løb for mig da jeg skulle på toiletet. Det glemmer jeg aldrig.
Ja, vi ses i Slagelse!
Diana,
Yeah. I LOVE the skirt. In 2001, I ran all the time in a skirt and then got away from it. But now (thanks to Olga, who gave me the skirt) I've been reminded of how nice it feels. But they have to be made out of a nice thin material with a thin material for the lining, too.
Helen, Yes, this is where it gets confusing. As far as I understand it, Helena is the Danish versio of Helen and Helle is the short version of the Nordish name, Helga (meaning "the holy").
Mmmonyka, I'll then pretend I'm not mad :).
Helen, could I have made more typos in my response to you? Let me try again:
Helena is the Danish versioN of Helen and Helle is the short version of the NordiC name, Helga (meaning "the holy").
Thank you for a lovely description from the race. And thank you so much for companionship. I would love to team up with you another time.
Helle is not from Helga, - it's from Greek, meaning peace (believe it or not). And I think it's also short for Helen. Btw - I have never had a boyfriend named Rasmus :)
Hey Helle,
It was good to get an expert in on the Helle discussion. But now I am confused. I have actually read that Helle IS short for Helga. See here for example: http://www.denstoredanske.dk/Samfund,_jura_og_politik/Sprog/Navne/Danske_fornavne/Helle.
But, since you have the name Helle, I'm a bit more inclined to trust you :). Plus, you're a sej sild.
Oops, Helle, here is the full link: http://www.denstoredanske.dk/Samfund,_jura_og_politik
/Sprog/Navne/Danske_fornavne/Helle
It was a great pleasure to finally meet you and Henriette :-)
I ran the relay two years ago, and it is hard work, because you have to run at high speed everytime it´s your turn! And it is not an easy route...
Hope to see you again soon :-)
Re: Helle and Rasmus. I expect there's assortative mating, rather than random mating (which, frankly, sounds like it only happens at Christiania in Denmark), so 50% could still be true, at least among runners and musicians.
Post a Comment