I flew out to Sweden to the capital Stockholm towards the end of the summer having spent an unusually wet few months back home training. Autumn had made rather an abrupt presence but regardless of the change in temperature the outlook for the day of the race was mild and sunny with a slight wind mainly along the water front near to perfect conditions for racing.
An Emotional Start
With a half-past four start, well for groups A and B, I had to arrive at the start line in Strombron, the bridge between Old Town Stockholm and City Park Kungstradgarden at a quarter past four. Due to the number of entrants, a record number of 7,000 applications from twenty three countries had been received for the seventh year of the race competitors we were assigned a start group based on qualification times. Having qualified in 02:07:51 in the 24th Tewkesbury Half-Marathon back in May I was placed in group D with which group I assembled after joining in what seemed to me to be a very professional warm up outside the Royal Palace.
In order to avoid a bottle neck the start times were staggered between five minute intervals. First groups A and B were called forward then C and my group group D with group E following. Having waited all day and not ever competed in an event on such a large scale I was in pieces. I no longer felt nauseous but as I started to gently jog up to the start line I begun to feel rather overcome at making my international debut that tears filled my eyes and I was on the verge of crying.