Helsinki in 2014

Back to the index


This year I chose to run the Helsinki City Marathon in Finland's capital. My wife and I arrived there almost two weeks before the race and did a lot of sightseeing.

Sightseeing before the race

We visited the Senate Square with its magnificent cathedral:


We went to a lot of museums, like the National Museum of Finland:

The Sibelius monument is a must-see:


We spent a day in beautiful Tallinn, across the Baltic:


We went as well to Turku, the ancient capital of Finland to see its magnificent castle:



Race Day

Then, just like that, it was race day:



The Helsinki City Marathon was on:






I did some stretching...


... and then we were off to the races:



The race track is the worst I've ever seen:


We had people coming and going almost in the same spot. Ridiculous! In some parts we could not pass the slower runners in front of us for fear of hitting the elite runners who were already coming back. Shame on you Helsinki!

Here I am, more than five hours after the start, arriving at the finish line inside the Olympic Stadium:


I celebrated with champagne, of course:


Even though this is by far the worst marathon in terms of race track, I was quite happy to finish in a personal best time. Next time, Montreal! ;-)

Back to the index

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Index

PB list Distance PB Event 5K 23m40s FADOQ 2019 (Montreal) (during the 10K!)* 10K 46m41s FADOQ 2019 (Trois-Rivières)** 3K (march) 18m46s FADOQ 2019 (Trois-Rivières)*** Half marathon 1h52m09s Montreal 2019 Marathon 4h00m50s Munich 2022 * The total distance of the event was 9.8Km instead of 10 Km, so this was not a full 5K; close, but not quite; ** The distance was 9.5 Km  instead of 10 Km, so this was not even close; *** The distance was not even 2.8 Km. Race list Click on the city name to read my full report of the event: Date City Country Race type Time Comment 2011/09/25 Montreal Canada Half marathon 2h52m56s Walking 2012/06/30 Båstad Sweden Half marathon 2h41m21s 2012/08/12 Mont Tremblant Canada Half marathon 2h30m22s 2012/09/23 Montreal Canada Half marathon 2h20m36s 2013/05/19 Copenhagen Danemark Marathon 5h24m33s 2013/08/11 Mont Tremblant Canada Half marathon 2h07m3
Read more

Jeux FADOQ 2015: 5 km

Image
Back to the index Last year I became a member of FADOQ , an organization for people 50 and older. I became a member in order to play ping pong in one of their tournaments. This year I registered again for ping pong and also for their 5 km race, which would happen at the Maisonneuve Park, very close to my house. On the Saturday before the event they called me at home to inform me that because the weather forecast for Monday was full of rain, the event would happen at the Centre Pierre Charbonneau. For me this was even better, because I train there three months of the year, so I know the place. This morning my wife and I walked there with our umbrellas, it was really raining. I received the bib 349. It was a simple paper bib, no chip like the ones we receive at marathons. It's a much simpler event... Little before 9 am the main organizer spoke a few general words about the many events of the day (there would be more running and walking after the main race). Then the per
Read more

Athens in 2023

Image
Back to the index Before the race As part of the celebrations of my 60th birthday, my wife and I travelled to Europe, to Spain and Greece more specifically. We didn't have a lot of time in Athens, so we didn't do  a lot of sightseeing. Our hotel (Mirame) was fantastic! A small, unassuming place, but with a lot of charm. The breakfast was more than we could expect: No trip to Athens is complete without a visit to the Parthenon: Inside the Acropolis museum they had an Acropolis made of lego: Getting the bib for my race was a nightmare, because the subway station near the expo had absolutely no signage, we did  not know where to go. We had to end up taking a taxi to get there on time: We also visited the national archeological museum. It was disappointing as half the place was closed. In 2013 we spent hours in there, there was so much interesting stuff. This time, after less than an hour and a half we were out of there: Race Day The mand atory selfie before le aving the hotel: A b
Read more