My Malmö Mile

Two weeks a ago, I ran a mil, a Swedish mile. What you should perhaps know, is that when Swedes talk about 'a mile' or en mil (pronounced "meel"), they don't mean what the rest of the world, well perhaps the English speaking world, understands as a mile. They mean 10 kilometres. This can be crucial to know. Before, for example, signing up for one of the Swedish Classics Circuit: the 9-mil cross-country ski race, or perhaps the 30-mil cycling race round Sweden’s second largest lake. 

Saturday morning two weeks ago saw me waking in a state of mild nervous excitement. It was Malmömilen day! The day of my first 10K race. My first race of any kind in more than 15 years. My main cause for nervousness was my dodgy knee, and the weather. All week, everyone was talking about how great the weather was going to be on Saturday. People stopping by to wish me luck before the race inevitably added, “…but at least you’ll have good weather!” I begged to differ. By my definition, the weather was going to be anything but good. It had been forecast to be the warmest day Malmö had seen thus far in the year: 24°C.

I don’t do well in heat. No, just because I come from a country with a tropical climate does not mean that I like the heat. No, it does not mean that I must be used to it either. The last time I was in out in such temperatures under the unobstructed sun, I was uncomfortable for the rest of the day and night. I had a headache and was cranky and disagreeable for the rest of the afternoon. I could barely sleep that night; I was radiating so much heat. I felt like Peter Petrelli at the end of the first season of Heroes, about to explode. I felt like if I jumped into a pool, there would have been a loud sizzle. So yeah, I don’t do well in heat. And oh yes, I classify 24°C as "heat". I’ll come round later in the summer, and look forward to longs days in the sun. But as far as I was concerned, 24°C was way too warm to run 10K in. But still, it would be a bit woosy to pull out of the race just because of that. So, come what may, I was going to do it.

I focused instead on ways to make the heat more manageable. I decided to take a little bottle of water with me, even if it meant I had to hold on to it throughout the whole race. I had a little bandana type thing which I could soak if necessary. And I made sure I was well hydrated the night and the morning before the race.

We spent about an hour in the sun before the race, walking to where we could leave our bags, etc. then just standing with our starting group waiting to start. I was already warm by the time we started, but not uncomfortably so. Not yet.

True to my generation, I set up my GPS and Runkeeper before the race. I was spared from taking a selfie (thank God!) because I had a friend with me to do the honours instead. And off we went!

How do you pace yourself for a long distance run?
I had decided earlier on that I was not going to push it. I did not set myself any goal as far as time was concerned. I wanted to finish, and that was it. My colleague decided my goal was 1:10. It was not a challenging goal, but I was determined that I was not going to be actively aiming for that. Even so, I had decided that 7 min/km would be a good pace to maintain. I had my phone with me and my Runkeeper app at the ready so I could keep track. They had pacers at the race of course, but the slowest pacer I saw was keeping pace at 5:30 min/km. So, not for me.

The thing that I had not realized though, was how hard it was to keep to my own pace while everyone around me are running at a different pace. And I had no feel for what my preferred pace was. After the first kilometer, my Runkeeper update informed me that I was running much faster that I had planned. So I slowed down, not wanting to exhaust myself too soon. At the end of the second kilometer, my Runkeeper update informed me that I was running even faster than before. Again, I slowed down. This went on pretty much the whole race. Every once in a while I’d realize that I had sped up and tried to slow down again. I stopped to walked after each Runkeeper update between kilometers 4 and 7 because I decided I was ahead enough of my targeted pace that I could afford it.

And I had to stop to pee! It was inevitable, really. I had planned to stop drinking too much immediately before the race to avoid that eventuality. But I had been feeling so warm that I couldn’t really stop. So even though I tried to only take small sips and used the toilet every chance I got before the race, I really had to go by about the third kilometer. Thankfully, that stretch was by the beach, so there were a lot of public toilets handy. I spotted one becoming available just as my Runkeeper informed me that I was again, going fast than planned, so I made a little pit stop. 

And of course, I was also exhausted from the heat. I was desperate for some shade. After the first kilometer, there was none whatsoever for about the next four. I wet my bandana but that hardly helped. I was starting to worry that the heat was actually going to get to me. Seeing a girl lying on the ground obviously somewhat disorientated, presumably from the heat, did not help. In hindsight, I think I was mentally working myself up to heat exhaustion. Then I remembered a simple piece of advice given to me before the race: “don’t think about the heat.” And I remembered that I had taken such care to hydrate myself before the race t,hat I was not likely to be in any physical danger. That was a turning point for me. Perhaps it also had something to do with the change of scenery to feature more trees and buildings offering pockets of shade every now and again. I wouldn't say that it was smooth sailing from that point on, but compared to how much I struggled before that point, it almost was. I was pouring water over my head, which helped. 

After the race, with the finisher's medal

And that was that, really. I completed the race in a slightly better time than expected which is not, of course, to say that it was a good time, got my finisher's medal and bought the t-shirt. And much as I loathe the fact that I have become that person, I updated my Facebook status... Sigh...

All in all, I had fun. I am pleased I did it, all the more since finding out that this year was the last Malmömilen. They aren't having it next year. I'm proud that I did it, knee and heat and all. Compared to many others, it's not much. For me, it was a milestone. And I have officially been biten. Whatever hormones or chemicals released during that race were definitely addictive. I can't wait to run another!

Half the race is run in your head.