David Currie

It was back to Sognsvann yesterday evening for my second crack at the lake. I had a chat with the organiser beforehand and he remembered my e-mail and said he would have another look for my time from last week although he looked a bit hassled. My legs weren’t as fresh as last week and it was bitterly cold (my hands didn’t warm up until after I’d finished). I didn’t have anything left for the sprint finish this time and slipped down in to fifth place. I looked at the results the next day as they weren’t giving out any times and could see why the organiser might have been a bit stressed. There appears to be just one guy listed! However, if I search the database for my name, then someone with approximately the right name, appears to have completed zero laps in 11:17. I timed 11:26 on my watch (as I wasn’t taking any risks this time) so presumably it took me just 9 seconds to do the one lap?

Thanks to the Coombses who, as well as being very hospitable, have acted as our unofficial guides to outdoor activities in Oslo, I found myself lining up with about 90 other runners on the shore of Sognsvann for the second Sognsvann Rundt Medsols of the year on Wednesday evening. This is a weekly race taking place until the end of October which, as the name probably suggests, follows the pretty flat 3.5km trail around the edge of Sognsvann. You have the choice of running 1, 2 or 3 laps with most people opting for just one (as did I).
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In order to complicate our departure from the UK as much as possible we headed over to the Forest of Dean this weekend to meet up with my mother-in-law’s family for their (almost) annual assault on the trails half marathon. Pre-race preparation wasn’t ideal with Emma screaming her head off for 90 minutes or so in the middle of the Saturday night (perhaps something to do with not getting fed in the night as of the last few days). This wasn’t conducive to getting up early for that vital pre-race breakfast. The conditions weren’t all that great either. It seemed not to have stopped raining for the proceeding 24 hours although it did finally let up about half way round the course.
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