Fjällmaraton
Peak Performance Vertical K Race report
The Fjällmaraton week was in full swing as I got home. During the week there is a 27 k, 12 k, 8 k , sprint, kids run, 100 k, and a 45 k. I signed up the day before, taking the flights from my aunt in Halmstad to Östersund and I came to Åre the day of the vertical, which is always held on the evening. Women starts 20 minutes before the men. (Yey!).
The race is one of my favorites. You better do it! It is a 5 k vertical race with 1000meters of elevation. Parts very steep, but mostly runnable and very “open”. You get the feeling of being on a 2000-3000meters. That is the cool thing about our mountain Åreskutan which measures only 1400 meters of elevation. But it is pretty cool damn mountain we have with thousands of possibilities and endless adventures.
I have run it 2 times before, but last year it was only halfway up the mountain due to heavy winds. This was though a clear day with sunshine and dry land. I was very excited for the race, but my day hadn’t been good at all. My whole “me” felt weird and I just wanted to cry. Some personal stuff had happened during the week, I had lost a close friend, and Lina was climbing Mont Blanc during the night, and day so I was also worried of her, I had some other personal life issues, so my mind was just completely off.
But I tried to be positive and have fun. I wanted to be on the start line and get that feeling of running hard up the mountain with other strong ladies. Be happy to meet friends and so on. But the race was just not fun at all. I got no endorphins in my body as I remembered the other years. I couldn’t help it, but I didn’t enjoy it as I had hoped for.
I have just not so much to say about the race more than that I hadn’t anything to push with. But as I stumbled in under the finish line and sat down on the top of my favorite mountain. Everything just went off me. I felt relieved and happy. And I really enjoyed just sitting there for several minutes. I’m glad I entered the race anyway. The light of the sun beams from dark clouds in the distance, over the other mountains by the horizon was so beautiful I got so sentimental (after doing something hard it is so easy to be sentimental, isn’t it). And it was funny to see other stupid people doing their very best and laying down on the rocks in the finish line breathing hard with a grinning face. By the way, I finished just after top 10, (11th). My best result is 4th 2022.
It was fun to cheer on all the men and the girls who were still on the course, as I went down, and talk to many friends I haven’t seen in a long time. Very fun to race at home even though the race itself didn’t feel good.
You can take the cable car down to the village again. But a friend of mine ask if I wanted to join him and his dog running down. And why not? It was very fun, now I felt good and happy. Love this part! Halfway down though I let them run alone. My stomach cramped and I had headache. But I felt so good running down there. I went slowly and needed just to breathe in silence. It felt like a meditation. I smelled home, satisfaction, relief and some kind of safety around me.
How ever. Pizza was served by Flammans Skafferi, Lena Flaten with company at the square. And I chitchatted with some friends before biking home in light rain. And fell thereafter asleep, totally exhausted in the sofa.
