The Midnight Sun Half Marathon

On Saturday night (22nd June) I ran the Midnight Sun Half Marathon, a 21 km run in arctic Norway that takes place at midnight in the middle of summer. The event includes just under 1000 participants who make their way, en-masse, most of them at speed, from the centre of Tromsø (at 10:30pm) along the south-west coast of Tromsøya, to the airport, and then back again. There is also a 42 km marathon version of this... maybe I'll do it next year, or maybe not. As it turns out, it wasn't as much a midnight "sun" marathon, as a midnight "cloudy and rainy" marathon, and therefore puddle navigation was an essential skill. Luckily running in winter in Cape Town had prepared me for this. Below is a photo of the start of the 10km race prior to the half marathon.

Photo of the start in the main street in the city centre, showing the 10km race setting off before the half marathon. Photo courtesy of MSM facebook page. 

Running in the middle of the night in the light is a strange and surreal experience, and contrasts significantly to the typical race story of getting up ridiculously early, in the dark, and making your way, half asleep, to the start of a race, where it takes at least the first 3km for your body to even register that it is no longer slumbering, and is required to perform impressive physical feats when it should be quietly eating breakfast. I must say, I definitely prefer this running at night thing. It's significantly more civilised. 

The overall experience was absolutely spectacular. The race starts in the historic (spectator-filled) main road of the city, loops through the downtown streets next to the harbour, and meanders through suburbia to the southern-most point of the island (Sydspissen). The majority of the race then winds its way along the coast, providing runners with views of rolling green fields on one side and panoramic views of the sea and snow-capped mountains on the other. Runners finally reach the airport on the western side of the island, and then turn around and follow the same route back to the city centre.

Half marathon and marathon runners returning to the city centre along the coast after the turning point at the airport. Photo courtesy of MSM facebook page. 

My experience of the race was absolutely amazing. I had done a fair bit of training beforehand, and I think all the walking I've been doing around Tromsø (being without a car and all) has improved my endurance more than I realised. The first 11km of the race flew by, and I ran personal best 5km and 10km times, improving upon previous times for these distances by several minutes each! I got to 15km feeling fantastic, and wondering why previous half marathons had felt so hard, and then I hit the 16km mark and my significantly faster than normal running pace caused my body and mind to go to war with one another. This is a phenomenon that most runners will have experienced at one point or another. My calves began to cramp, my hamstrings started to feel tighter than over-tightened guitar strings, and self doubt hit me like a bus. 

Kilometres 17 and 18 continued like this, with my legs feeling worse and worse, and the war between mind and body eventually culminating in two options just after the 18th kilometre. Option 1) give up and stop, or option 2) push beyond what I perceive to be my limit. One of the reasons I run, and probably why a lot of other people do too, is the addictiveness of the feeling one gets from reaching this point and choosing option 2. When you manage to push through what feels like your limit, your mind ultimately wins over your body, which is an extremely powerful feeling. Everything goes a bit numb, and you start to feel like anything is possible. This time my mind beat my body so thoroughly into submission that I completed the race surfing a happy wave of endorphins, through a crowd of spectators lining the main street in the city, and finished in 2:03:18, a 12 minute improvement on my previous half marathon personal best. It was an absolutely amazing race, and like none I have ever experienced. It is easy to see why this is such a popular event and I will definitely be doing it next year!

Just before the finish of the race, at about 12:30pm, looking happy about getting to the end.