The Great Norse Run 2021 - Christina's Journal
Yeah, it's really intimidating the idea of running 209 miles. One of the things that really appealed to me was that it was described as something that anyone can do, that this was not a race for elites. This was not - it's not a race.
Am I afraid about it? Yeah. But I also think that if I was going to pick an extreme event, this is the kind of team and the kind of environment that I'd want to be in to do it where it's not competitive. It's about the camaraderie. It's about everybody being in it together and just covering the distance and having a good time. It felt like an adventure that I had to participate in.
I think it's so cool to have new experiences especially landscapes that I've never seen before. So have you seen this place? It's incredible. There's waterfall after waterfall after waterfall. And to like run it, that's the best way to see anything.
This Iceland trip is like three months away. Right now, I'm transitioning to two shorter runs instead of one longer one trying to run in the morning and the evening What's my training been like? Well, you know, standard for my like historically, I don't train. I train sporadically.
This trip is like six weeks away. But it's so hot and so humid here. I'm trying to keep up and not lose all the fitness that I gained from running during the wonderful cold winter. I haven't trained like other people train. I tend to just pull it out of my butt. And I train haphazardly and I usually just get it done, though.
So hopefully it happens this time. It's not the running part that scares me as much as the roughing it. It's going to be really outside my comfort zone to be outdoors for this length of time.
I'm also incredibly excited. We've been planning for a year and a half. To think it's really actually going to happen is is really exciting.
So it's like a year and a half, a year and eight months or so since I originally signed up. So I'd say maybe about 1700 times since then, I've had some doubts about why did I sign up for this? Suitcase carries in Iceland, go Linda! I don't have any camping experience, really. Figuring out the gear to bring was really overwhelming to me. Great Norse Run...
GREAT NORSE RUN!!! This is day one mile 12.5. Got a ways to go to get to the south of Iceland. Feeling pretty good. Yeah, it's still just hard to - I feel like I say the same thing over and over.
It's hard to believe that I'm finally here seeing incredible sights like like this. I mean, this is it's a dream come true. There's very minimal rolling elevation on this leg. Just saw some cows.
Filled up my water bottle. So almost 23 miles. And then there was the sheep that tried to join us. Come on, come with us. Do you think it's friendly? It's coming with me! Oh, no.
Run away, run away. It's just been great being out here sharing miles with people from all over the world, Hungary, Lithuania. U.K. I am getting tired.
My legs hurt a little bit. And I hear there's a really tough 50k tomorrow. But we're going to do it. Look at this mountain with all of its ridges. That's refreshing.
If I can do this, if I can go from being not fit at all... When I think of where I started. Two miles at maybe a 15 minute pace, to running across Iceland. Just think what what anybody can do if they set their mind to it. If you work for it.
I feel like I'm still just fueled by adrenaline. I'm not really sure how I'm still running when I'm 27 miles in and ran 24 miles yesterday. Why am I running on a hill right now? I don't know. Something of the Icelandic moon power. But the issue right now is actually bugs, I didn't think there'd be bugs in Iceland. What the hell? If I slow down, they're going to swarm me. So I am not going to stop.
I trust that the food will be quality food. I just worry that I won't want to eat it. I worry that I'll have stomach issues and I'll only have a bucket to resolve those with. I think that like my biggest concern or like fear or like apprehension is the weather. I have no idea what it's going to be like.
Day four was pretty exciting with the river crossing because it was a little bit dangerous. There was a freezing rain coming down. I just wanted to go because I was excited to do it. And it was really cold just standing there in the cold, freezing Not a bad place to spend a few minutes by yourself in the morning, right? Really by yourself. Day 7, Leg 2. 13.5 miles in
Somebody said, Christina, how are your feet today? If I were at home and I was thinking about going for a 25 mile run. I'd probably say not a good idea. But for here, for being day 7 I have to say, they don't feel so bad. So as we were getting ready to leave camp this morning, it seemed like it was about to rain. And then it turned out that it was just a cloud coming in.
And the next thing you know, we're inside the cloud. Most of us are hurting in one way or another. Now we're in this pretty cool lava field and we can see the green mountains in the distance. It's nice to finally see some green. I see the yellow tents. It's hard to believe this is the second to last day.
Definitely tired of wearing only wet clothes, eating the same food. But other than that, I am sad to think that this is going to come to an end. It has been such an adventure. It's the last day! I don't want it to be over. Me either.
This morning I got taped up by our team PT, she's been very gracious to tape everyone up during the trip. And I finally asked herthis morning. So I'm hoping that it makes a difference. Honestly I'm more sad - I'm way more sad that it's the last day than happy that it's the last day. To me, the only things to be happy about are having dry clothes, being able to eat whatever I want. If we could keep running through this beautiful scenery with these amazing people, I would do it.
I feel like your body adapts. There are things that hurt. For me, the discomfort really hasn't been that bad. It's nothing that can't be managed. Got to see so many awesome things and bond with so many awesome people.
Only a few miles left. Last leg's hard because there's the part of me that is like, this is the final push to run. Part of the motivation for this was to see what I can do. But it's much more important to me to share it. So I found the solution of bombing a downhill and now I'm waiting for my my good friends that I'm super excited to be finishing this with.
So that's a wrap. The Great Norse Run is over. Two hundred something miles. I feel incredibly satisfied.
I feel enriched. There were a number of things that I was really worried about coming in that stressed me out. And those things were really hard, but I did get through them. I think what other hard things might be out there that I could also overcome.
I am so, so grateful that I was able to participate in an event like this. I feel it was it was everything I hoped it would be, everything I dreamed I would get out of this experience, I did. And then some.
2021-09-20 18:30
