Midnattslöppet Göteborg - A Wash Out!

It is rare for me to pre-enter a race well in advance but as Gothenburg is where our Swedish office is and as lots (17) of my colleauges from that office were doing the Gothenburg edition of the Midnight Race, I kind of felt obliged as the one with the running reputation. After spending a day in the office on Friday and emerging into 24 degree evening sunshine, I thought that Saturday's race could be perfect. Wrong. The rain bounced all day Saturday and as with most cities in the rain, Gothenburg looked (and was) bleak. The fact that I also had the club Speed of Light cold didn't help my motivation through the day as I tried not to expend too much energy and wondered if I should even do the race.

At 6pm I emerged for a 1.5km jog to pick up my number and chip and then a similar jog back. Soaked! Three hours later and it was time to go meet my colleagues beneath the fountain in the park. Sounded like a good meeting point on Friday afternoon but not in the pouring rain. Anyway, there were only 5 of the 18 in evidence and it looked like the company was going to acquire a reputation as a bunch of fair weather runners. Pre-race talk was not what I am used to with the Harriers; how to fix i-Phones to arm bands, whether to walk up the hills or not, whether they would make the midnight cut-off time (2 hours after the start), etc. This was not helping to fire me up! 45 minutes before the start and I thought I should go and leave my gear at the baggage tent and try a warm-up. Unfortunately the queue for the baggage tent was about 10,000 people long and I started to panic, which did help warm me up. Evaluating the options, I decided to run the 1.5k back to the hotel, get changed into my vest and racers and run back. This would be quicker than standing in the queue and would get me warmed up. I was in the elite start group which meant a pole position starting place in the by now flooded starting pen. As the clock ticked down to one minute to go the starter announced that the police were not ready with the city centre road closure and we would have to delay a few minutes. This turned into a half hour delay by which time my warm-up was history. The started announced in Swedish, 1 minute to go and then 5 seconds later the gun went off (accidentally I think) with me facing the wrong way! As my Garmin subsequently shows, the first km into the darkness sent my heart rate to 106% of my theoretical maximum kind of confirming the way I had been feeling. A Kenyan quite literally disappeared into the darkness as is to be expected and I latched onto a pack of Swedish club runners. The race was torture, dozens of 90 degree bends, slippery city centre tarmac, manhole covers, cobbled side streets and tram lines with the added element of surprise brought about by huge puddles hiding pot holes. I went too fast at the start and struggled the last 3k letting a few places slip. In the end I crossed the line in an official time of 35:35 in 29th position out of 14 000 but I was disappointed to see that the course was 300m long. My Garmin shows I went through 10k in 34:16 which I would have been happy with as a season's best.

There were plenty of live bands, cheerleaders and crowds around the course but I still think the Stockholm edition of this race is the original and the best (although I haven't done that one in the rain!).

Postscript: The official results confirm that almost all of my colleagues did in fact take part, they just had more sense than to go to the fountain in the pouring rain. Some official photos of the event here. I was spared having to wear the official orange T-shirt as I was in start group 1A and was flying the Calderglen colours.
Alan