A 7500 km drive, to run a half-marathon. Crazy. An absolutely incredible journey.
June 9, 2023
Today the journey begins. Shortly after 2 p.m., just after work, I packed the last things and went to Oeversee, just over 600 kilometers away, for a stopover at Helena’s place. I know Helena through work and when we spoke recently, she invited me to drop by for dinner and a sleepover. How could I say no to delicious stick bread and marshmallows? I made the trip past Hanover and Hamburg in a record-breaking five and a half hours. We spent the evening with good food and lots of conversation. Usually we only have time to talk about work, so today we didn’t talk about that at all. Around 11 p.m. we went to sleep, after all, my journey continued tomorrow.
June 10, 2023
Without any stress, the day began at 8 a.m. with getting up, showering and eating breakfast. And today we could continue chatting for hours. Unfortunately, at 11 a.m. it was time for me to move on, or rather, to drive. Today I had to drive 650 kilometers across Denmark over the Storebælt and Øresund bridges to Jönköping in Sweden. From the Danish border, the pace was not quite as fast as it is in Germany, but much more relaxed. I arrived at my destination 7 hours later. The first thing to do was to get a few things for the next few days, but then it was time to just stretch my legs and enjoy the evening.
June 11, 2023
The alarm clock rang at 7 a.m. However, I was already awake by then, got ready straight away and set off to run my planned 10 kilometer loop in Jönköping. I walked along the lakes Munksjön and Rocksjön. Very idyllic, with a view of the taller buildings of the city, I enjoyed the morning freshness. Not knowing exactly how my day would end today, I also tackled the strength training and yoga early. After I was showered and fed as well, I was off, heading further north. I hadn’t booked a hotel for today and didn’t know how far I would be going. My first destination was the Tönnebro service area, as I thought I would have to refuel there. But here everything is a bit different. For one thing, I had to leave my driver’s license at the cash register this morning, so I could fill up first and then pay. And because you are not allowed to drive as fast here as in Germany, my car needed about 2 liters less and the tank was not really empty after 500 km. Nevertheless, I took a short break, sat by the lake, ate something and looked where to go next. I picked out a gas station 140 kilometers further, just before Sundsvall. Again to refuel and look how further. I was not tired yet, it was still light and also not late, so it went on. And on. Until I found myself almost 750 kilometers later on a car park at a lake, where I will spend the night today. Beautiful here. So today I made 300 kilometers more than planned. Thus, the next 2 days should become somewhat more relaxed. Relaxed is driving here anyway, you also get much less tired.
June 12, 2023
After the first night in my car, I can only say I miss the half meter my old car was longer, and it is really light at night. I haven’t slept much, but enough to drive on. How far it should go today, no idea. Up to the Lofoten it is still scarcely 1150 kilometers. Which will not happen, as it would be just too much. As the first destination, I have entered a gas station about 450 kilometers away. There my car wants to drink something and I can look what comes next. The distance is clear, the question is only how far, and where do I spend my next night? But first there was breakfast anyway. Once again, a short visit to the nearby bush and then off I go. Kilometer by kilometer, it goes forward. Despite the distraction by audiobooks, it does not seem to go forward. Not more than 110 km/h anyway, and for the most part only at 90 km/h. But even with that, it’s going in the right direction. Somewhere I thought I might take a side road past a lake in hopes of finding a place to stop for lunch. All I found was a rather unpleasant and very dusty ride down a gravel road. Lesson learned. Continue on the E10 again. The next stop I made at the Arctic Circle. I had already the last night not the feeling that it was very dark, but now I know, from here on definitely not. Light 24 hours a day. I really hope the accommodations have good curtains and or that the sleeping mask does its job as well as last night. Almost 12 hours and over 860 kilometer hours later I found myself (like some others unfortunately) on a parking lot at the lake Torneträsk. Here it is already much cooler, there is still some snow on the mountains and there is an ice floe flowing in the lake. It is mainly cold wind, but fortunately I do not feel it in the car. I looked at the paths around the parking lot and got into conversation with a young lady who is traveling with her dog in the bus as long as she can. Great. I don’t think much will be going on with me today. Some reading and then hopefully sleep soon.
June 13 2023
Today I am also still briefly in a coma sleep and already awake at 5 a.m. Since I knew that I can no longer sleep, I got up, had breakfast and left already at 6 a.m. as the first while everything was still asleep. After already 20 minutes, I reached the border to Norway. At the Norwegian mountains past between great lakes it became even colder, it rained since I am up and more and more snow showed up beside the road. That’s how it is when you get to high altitude (300 meters above sea level). Back at the sea, the sun fought its way through. It stayed at just under 10 degrees Celsius, but with the sun out it was much more pleasant. Around 10 a.m. I had already arrived in Svolvær 8 hours earlier than planned, 5 hours before I could get into my room. So I drove another hour further into Lofoten to do a little hike. For essentially killing time, I was not disappointed. On the contrary. Already the drive there through the Lofoten was pure pleasure, the view from Mannen, a 400-meter-high mountain, breathtaking. Heaven on Earth! Then it was back to Svolvær shopping and then off to the hotel. A bathtub and a cozy bed are waiting for me!
June 14, 2023
Finally, got a good 8 hours of sleep in a bed where I don’t bump top and bottom when I stretch out. I got up much later than planned, but the sleep was much needed. Shortly before 9 a.m. I got out of bed, got dressed and went for a run. Once through the center of Svolvær and out on the island to the statue Fiskarkona. On the way there, I pass the places where fish heads are dried. It is tradition here, but stinks terribly. So quickly continue. I have to move fast anyway. The eight degrees were ok, but the wind added an extra chill. But even that didn’t stop me, after all I was looking forward to running here in the summer at lower temperatures. Afterward, you can defrost right back in the warm shower. Clean and warm again, there was breakfast around 10:30 a.m. Extended and comfortable. Finally, I have vacation time and no urge to be back before dark. So I set off around 1 p.m., a hike to the nearby Tjeldbergtinden. The main reason to make this one today was that I can just leave the car for a day after all the driving the last few days. The mountains here are perhaps not the highest, but with 30% percent incline not exactly the easiest, neither up nor down. But the climb was worth it in any case. Dreamlike view here as well. Down I went at the back of the mountain to walk along the lakes a bit more. Or almost more walking in the lake. The path led partly through a swamp, the feet sank in, they got wet. Happens. For the almost 10 kilometers, I needed a full 4 hours. Beautiful 4 hours with many WOWs in the head. Back at the hotel, I first took a bath. The rest of the evening remained rather unspectacular, with food and relaxing. Today I go to bed late. On purpose. Shifting the rhythm of the day so that I’m not quite as tired for the run in Tromsø. The run starts only at 10:30 p.m.
June 15, 2023
Only at 9 a.m. the alarm clock rang as planned. Also today, although a little later, I went running at first thing in the morning. Almost, as I actually needed something to eat first. Planned was originally a route around a lake. However, it turned out after 2 kilometers, the trail went through a swamp! Quite stupid idea. So I turned around and ran a little through Svolvær. The weather today was not exactly sparkling. 8 degrees Celsius, drizzle and very low-hanging clouds. Neither climbing a mountain to see nothing, nor walking through swamp around a lake, sounded tempting. So I had to come up with a new plan. What I quite comfortably in the bathtub did. Plan for today: to Å, to look around there a little bit, and from there about 3 stopovers back. Alone, the drive here is just great, you can’t get out of the amazement. The pictures should speak for themselves, I think. Around 10 p.m. I was back in Svolvær. That means I was on the road for 9 hours! How the time flies. Today I also had to pack everything again, because tomorrow I continue to Tromsø.
June 16, 2023
I went to bed at 1am. The alarm was supposed to go off at 9.30 a.m. However, moving the bedtime turns out to be more difficult than expected. Going to bed later works fine. But sleeping for longer is not so easy. Last night I also had a bit of a sore throat. Let’s hope it stays that way and that it doesn’t get any worse before Saturday. It would be a stupid thing to have to cancel the race after almost 4000 kilometers of running. I got up at 08:30. I packed my last things and put everything in the car. There I rearranged my bags. I can leave dirty clothes in the car and don’t need them in Tromsø. I went to bed at 1am. The alarm was supposed to go off at 9.30 a.m. However, moving the bedtime turns out to be more difficult than expected. Going to bed later works fine. But sleeping for longer is not so easy. Last night I also had a bit of a sore throat. Let’s hope it stays that way and that it doesn’t get any worse before Saturday. It would be a stupid thing to have to cancel the race after almost 4000 kilometers of running. I got up at 08:30. I packed my last things and put everything in the car. There I rearranged my bags. I can leave dirty clothes in the car and don’t need them in Tromsø. Now it was time to hit the petrol station for another fill-up, getting back on the road again. 15 minutes. Another stop. Now, that I am leaving the Lofoten, the weather is finally nice. I wanted to stop and take a photo, to show how it could have been. But then, 6 hours of driving followed, almost 400 kilometers. It felt like an eternity, but that’s how it is, while you’re limited to 80 km/h most of the time, sometimes 90 km/h. On the other hand, I now know that my car could run on less than 5 liters per 100 kilometers. Arrived in Tromsø, I immediately went to my room, again without human contact, and went straight into town to get my race number. Tromsø has a lot of construction in the pedestrian zone at the moment, otherwise it would be pretty nice. To stretch my legs a bit, I took the walk across the bridge to check out the Arctic Cathedral. My sense of time has gotten so confused by now. I can’t even estimate where we are in the day. How could I with the constant light? And so I didn’t get to eat until about 22:00. But it still tastes good even then. Mac & Cheese, I have not had it for a long time and it was so delicious. With some sport and senseless lying around, I went to bed at 1 a.m.
June 17, 2023
Today, I managed to sleep until at least 9 a.m. Shortly after breakfast, I left for the city again. Until Trondheim (2 days) no hotel was planned, so I needed to get something to eat and especially to drink. I also wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to look for the start line. They had just started to set up for the race. There was a lot of music and entertainment in town. After the walk, I just put my legs up and relaxed. Even a little nap was in it. At 10 p.m. it was time to have some food again. It is not pleasant to get hungry while running. So I ate all the food that was in reach. At 9 p.m. I had to get dressed. Shortly before 10 p.m. I was off to be on my way. I talked to the Italians who arrived today before I went to the starting line. I was very nervous. At 10:30 p.m. the starting signal was given. It took me a minute to cross the starting line, because I had to start at the back of the pack. I wanted to take it easy at first, but somehow that was over very quickly. And it just happened. With aches and pains all over, but it happened. In the middle of the course there was a very fresh wind along the coast, as expected, and I was very happy to have put on the slightly warmer jacket. And so the miles passed. I admit it: I cried a little while I crossed the finish line. Out of joy, of course! On the one hand, because it was such a strong run, on the other hand, because I had the courage to do this long journey alone! Arrived at the accommodation, I sneaked in shortly after 1 a.m. on tiptoe. I didn’t want to wake up anyone. Only to find out that they were all just coming back. At least, I no longer had to worry about it being too noisy to take a shower.
June 18, 2023
After almost four and a half hours of bad sleep, I packed my last things and left shortly after 10:00 am. For about 11 hours. It was the first time that I was travelling alone and with my car on a ferry. I did not have a ticket. No problem. In Norway the license plate is scanned, if you don’t have a ticket just show your bank card, done. So much nervousness for nothing. Around 9 p.m. I started to get tired and looked for a place to rest. That was not so easy today. But I finally found a place, including a clean toilet and running water.
June 19, 2023
Another night in the car, another very short night. I started already around 8 a.m. I would have arrived at my destination too early, but you can always take a break. Until 12:00 o’clock everything went well, but eventually the tiredness caught up with me quickly. So I started looking for a place to park and lay down on the backseat. It took less than 2 minutes, and I was in the land of dreams. 30 minutes power nap and I continued. I spent the next 2 nights in Trondheim, which I reached today after 2 days, or one thousand kilometers. I went to my room, settled in, and did what you do being tired: I went for a run. A very leisurely one, because nothing more is possible. Nicely along the coast, but I had to look for it first, despite the navigation system in my watch, because I went wrong. It is not breathtakingly beautiful here at the coast. But there are still some things to discover. And it is flat. After 10 kilometers or one and a half hours, I was already back again and did my daily strength training, ideally before taking a shower in order to take up the used calories again afterward. Relaxation and a good night’s sleep followed.
June 20, 2023
After 2 very short nights, it was really good to sleep 9 hours again. Well rested, I set out to explore Trondheim after breakfast. From beautiful views to the Nidarosdom, everything was there. Along the beautiful river, through downtown and the shopping mile. Sometimes it is also worthwhile to walk through the small side streets. Shortly before my return, I went shopping again. Since I was back in time, there was still enough time for a short run. The heat is not making it easy, but it was ok to run very slowly. After coming back from the run, it was the same as yesterday. Shower and eat. And hoping for an equally restful night.
June 21, 2023
After a good 8 hours of sleep, my alarm clock rang at 9 a.m., so I could have breakfast and finish packing. At 11 a.m. I went off again, further south. After a good 2 hours of driving, I arrived at a hill with a path leading up to it that immediately called out to me. So I parked my car and walked a few steps. There are no trees here, but it is not bare either. Something other than forest is also nice. After that, I went on and on, stopped once to refuel. At some point we crossed a pass at an altitude of more than 1300 meters, where there was snow, it was raining, and the wind was blowing. Arrived at the accommodation, which was basically the same as in Trondheim, both youth hostels, but here only half as expensive, I got quite right to the food. Meanwhile, a group of 3 German motorcyclists arrived. At least theoretically, they were on their way by motorcycle. Practically they had a rental car, because one of the bikes was in the workshop and that on the first day of the trip. It was a very sociable evening, which I had to leave shortly before midnight because I was too tired.
June 22, 2023
The alarm rang at 9 a.m. I got dressed, had breakfast and off I went. Today I have 2 destinations to visit, and they are the reason why I’m in this corner at all: first the Borlund Stave Church and second Stegastein. Both tourist hotspots, but not without reason. You don’t see a black wooden church every day, and the view from Stegastein is beautiful. To get away from the crowds, I walked up the road and a small path to a remote viewpoint. It was worth it. The view was even better, and I was all alone. The mountain next to it would have been nice as well, but without any food, I did not want to risk the two to three hours extension. After that, it was just shopping and back to the lodge. Shower, eat, chat. Today I have to go to bed earlier, tomorrow it will be another 7 hours of driving.
June 23, 2023
08:00 the alarm clock rings. Once again, packing and breakfast. Once again, in the company of the motorcycle group, which is mobile again and continues its journey towards the north today. Once again everything packed, goodbye and off I go; first to Oslo, and on towards Göteborg. It was the first time in 12 days that I saw a traffic jam. In Tromsø there was also a bigger traffic jam, but that was because of us runners, which did not bother me so much. At least it went on the highway through Oslo, even if not very fast. And because the traffic jam show was so great, we did it again along the way. My destination today was about 50 kilometers before Göteborg in a small village. Nice and quiet and rural. Perfect for a little run. Not quite as flat as I had hoped, but still beautiful. As always, I did a strength workout and shower before going to bed after dinner and yoga.
June 24, 2023
Today, the alarm clock rang at 8 a.m., because breakfast was at 8:30 a.m. Dressed, everything packed and off I went for a leisurely breakfast. For the first time, I did not have to prepare it myself. Just before 09:30 I left for the next gas station. From there I headed south to leave Sweden in Malmö over the Øresund Bridge. Hardly arrived at Danish soil, traffic jam. I lost about half an hour, but it was not that bad, because I was on the road for 10 days without any traffic jam. Today’s destination: stopover, Helena. Actually, I wanted to spend the night in Denmark to run in another country, but I changed my plans a few days ago. So today I was here a good hour earlier than expected. The main thing is to arrive in one piece. We made ourselves comfortable on the deck chairs and I told her about my adventure. For dinner, we had a delicious homemade pizza. Super tasty. A little bit earlier as the last time we went to bed around 10 p.m.
June 25, 2023
At 7 a.m. sharp, the day begins. The last leg of my trip. But before I get into the car, I have one more run in mind. It is so peaceful and green here, which I already noticed on my first visit, that I could not resist running a lap here. After the 10 kilometers around the lake, I was satisfied. Freshly showered, we had breakfast outside because it was already too hot again. We could have talked for hours, but at 11 a.m. it was time for me to start the last stage. Trusting my navigation, I pressed ok in good faith, knowing a shorter route. It led me through some funny places, and it was nice to know that there is a place called Herzsprung (heart jump), but at the place name sign Berlin the fun ended seriously. But I made it through there somehow. Around 6:30 p.m. I was finally done. Back home again. Cleaned out the car, got food, shower, bed.
Done.
Finished and done.
And proud. Especially proud!
And just happy!
