Iceland Marathon 2014 Part 3

My blog on my trip to Iceland, Reykjavik and the 2014 Marathon (Part 3)

Continuing on from part 1 AND 2 of my blog on Iceland

Marathon day - 23rd August 2014

So Marathon day finally arrived. It's fair to say I was a little apprehensive as I had a bad hamstring and Solar Plexis injury to my left leg for the past 6-7 weeks which had severely curtailed my marathon training up until that point. However it had began to get better over the past 2 weeks, so I decided to chance the marathon.

Rising at 6am, I showered and had breakfast before getting ready and bringing Graham and Zoe over to get registered for the Marathon and Graham's 10k race. 

Crowds gathering

 Heading down into central Reykjavik, I registered, picked up my numbers and a red marathon tee shirt and proceeded to warm up. The weather was overcast and there was no breeze. This was good running weather.

Soon, they were calling everyone to the cace starting point and just after 8:40am the starting gun was fired. It took me all of 3 minutes to walk to the starting line afyer the starting gun and I could only break into a very slight jog for the next half mile, slowly speeding up as the field thinned out a bit.

Typical Reykjavik Street

The start was great. The people of Reykjavik had come out of their houses and onto the streets and were rattling pots, banging drums, ringing bells and making noise with anything they had to hand. There were saxophonists, guitarists and singers along the route. It was a great spectacle as the friendly islanders cheered us all along. 

The first few miles were very easy as I worked up through the field. Ther e were people of many nationalities. I spotted Fins, Swedes, Russians, Germans, Americans, Canadians, Brits, French to name a few.

Me at the back of group

So as we jogges/ran along, we took in more Reykjavik sights (It really is a good way to see a city). We ran along the coast, through parks, over bridges, past a city farm and its a very green city, considering its Northerly Latitude. 

Still Running

As the race progressed, the half marathon broke off and changed direction while we marathoners took a different direction for the second half. It was at this stage that I saw an Aussie bloke unbelievably running in Flip Flops. I was comfortable up until the 30k mark (approx 18-19 miles) when my hamstring began hurting. My old injury hadnt given up. What to do at this stage - do I keep going. or do I rest it? I decided to keep going as best I could. Its fair to say I had slowed considerably at this stage and it was obvious that some runners were beginning to pass me, however sore, I stumbled on as the finishing line grew slowly closer. Each of the 42Km was marked by a cone and I was counting every one by now...32...33...34...and so on.

Get me to the end...please.

Soon the city centre skyline was in view and this gave some extra encouragement. I jogged on and was soon on the home straight. When I seen the finishing line, I was jubilant. I crossed it, hands praying to God that I'd finished. I was greeted with my medal, some drinks and something to eat and a seat...ahhh, a seat. I had stopped running.

At Last - Crossing the finishing line.

On reflection I had finished the race..418 out of 1200. Not too bad but I was disappointed with the nagging injury and knew I could have been a lot quicker. Never mind.  I soon caught up with Graham and Zoe and made my way (with sore feet) to the guesthouse where I had a nice afternoon nap.

Wearing my Medal

The Reykjavik Marathon 2014 Medal

SATURDAY EVENING


Today was also Iceland's national day. It is a day when they celebrate being Icelandic, so it was apt that we ventured into Reykjavik that evening.

Typical Reykjavik Shop

The Icelandic Alpingi (Parliament Building)

We soon found ourselves upon a nice pub/restaurant where they had some Icelandic food which after a long day's running, we scoffed.

We had a walk around town (Hobble) and there were many things happening and sights to see, Including the parliament or Alpingi which unlike our parliament, you can walk right up to and look in the windows.

Disco in Main Square

. There was a concert on the main precinct, there were DJ's in the central square and the town was thronging with people out enjoying themselves.

Not on my menu I'm happy to say.

Then we came over to the harbour area where there was a firework display due. We gathered with the crowds along the harbour front and were treated to a fantastic display of pyrotechnics with fireworks going off all around us.

Just a few minutes before the display

Fireworks

More Fireworks

Dazzling Display

After the display we wandered back to Loki for a well earned sleep.

Iceland Marathon 2014 Part 2

My blog on my trip to Iceland, Reykjavik and the 2014 Marathon (Part 2)

Continuing on from part 1 of my blog on Iceland, Some more pictures of Skogafoss Waterfall:

Weather continued to be fantastic. The photo opportunities were excellent. Standing under the falls this close, you could feel the cold spray on your skin. Get too close and you get wet.

 

Photo Opportunity

 The next photo shows Graham and Zoe on the viewing platform where the views over the surrounding plains were extensive and enhanced by the clear weather and brilliant sunshine. We were very lucky with the weather.

Zoe and Graham on viewing Gantry at top of falls

View over surrounding plains from the top of the falls

Top of the falls

 

Walking route to the icecap Myrdalsjokull

VISIT 4 - GEYSIR

Moving on from a great time at Skogafoss, we drove approximately 1 hour to Geysir. Geysir is a wonderful area where boiling pools broil, streams run with boiling water, the smell of sulphur is everywhere and where Iceland introduced the word "Geysir" to the English language.

The Scene that greets you at Geysir

Broiling Hotpool

If you look into the hotpool (where water it trully boiling) you can see coins.

 See the Geysir as it Shoots into the Air. This one goes off approximately every 5 minutes. You can stand right next to it. The spray vapourises and hits you as lukewarm droplets.

 

 

Standing beside Geysir

Zoe beside Geysir

Finishing up at Geysir, we went to the rather nice visitors centre accross the road wher we had ice cream. I nice way to chill and relax after a hot sulphur visit to Geysir. Next stop Gulfoss.

VISIT 5 - GULFOSS

Gulfoss is only about 5-10 minutes drive from Geysir. Having visited it before back in 2005, I knew that there would be a great visit for Zoe and Graham. I guaranteed them both that they wouldn't be disappointed.

Arriving at Gulfoss, we were struck by the moonscape like horizon in the distance which was the centrally located icecap of Langjökull.

The South Eastern Tongue of Langjökull as seen from Gulfoss

 Having admired Langjökull, we descended a purpose built stair/walkway and the view and noise that greeted us was awesome. In the photograph below you can see the layout of the Gulfoss system which consists of several waterfalls cutting through a gorge into a steep escarpment. Again, because of the sunny weather there was a perpetual rainbow on view.

Gulfoss as you first see it.

The falls in motion

Don't want to fall in there.

The falls behind Zoe and me

Cloudless Rainbow

VISIT 6 - ÞINGVELLIR

Þingvellir marks the crest of the North Atlantic ridge upon which Iceland is built. It is also the ancient meeting and gathering place of the ancient Icelandic people where they set up their first parliament, assembly, the Alping back in the year 930. It is consequentially the oldest surviving parliament in the world

.

In the picture above, you can see the valley between the North American Tectonic plate and the Eurasian Tectonic plate. Iceland sits atop the Mid Atlantic Ridge. Its a point where the plates are essentially pulling apart, causing the continents to drift apart at the rate of a few centimeters every year. The North American plate is at the far side (Hills) in the above picture.

The following picture shows the edge of the Eurasian plate. It is a solid wall of rock and is where the Althing sits. It is the beating heart and historical birthplace of Iceland.

So after visiting the Althing, we drove back (another 45 minutes) down into Reykjavik where it was dusk when we arrived. Such a long day.  Tomorrow would be Marathon Day.

Please see My blog on my trip to Iceland, Reykjavik and the 2014 Marathon (Part 3)

Iceland Marathon 2014 Part 1

My blog on my trip to Iceland, Reykjavik and the 2014 Marathon (Part 1)

3:45pm on Thursday  21 August 2014 and my friend Graham Dale, my daughter Zoe and myself meet at my home where my brother George takes us to Edinburgh Airport.

Edinburgh Airport

 All checked in, and through security, we visit Yo-Sushi, which I think was Graham and Zoe's first introduction to Japanese Cuisine.

Filled with some Japanese beer and ample plates of soup and food, we made our way to the Easyjet for our planned 6:30pm flight to Keflavik, which was bang on time. After a very comfortable flight, and clear conditions, we could see the plane follow the southern Icelandic coast over the Icecaps of Vatnajökull, Mýrdalsjökull and Eyjafjallajökull (see map below). This was my first visit to the island since 2005 when I trekked over the pass between Mýrdalsjökull and Eyjafjallajökull. Eyjafjallajökull is where the 2010 volcano erupted that interrupted aircraft for weeks over the Northern Atlantic.

Major Icecaps of Iceland

ARRIVAL AT KEFLAVIK

8:00am approx. An interesting Airport architecturally from the outside. We were surprised to find it extremely quiet. If I'm right, we were the only plane in at this time. I had heard before that most planes at Keflavik arrive and leave every 4 hours. So by the look of the airport we were the first arrival. Picking our bags up, we quickly went to pick up our hire car (a Kia something or other). It was a sunny evening, clear and calm. We proceeded to exit Keflavik airport and drive off to Reykjavik.

Keflavik Airport

ARRIVAL AT REYKJAVIK

The car journey to Reykjavik is very simple. Its a quiet road all the way and with Reykjavik being the only city of notable size on the island, all roads lead to Reykjavik. We arrived at approx 9pm. It was still light, but the sun was setting behind long Orange shadows. We knew our guesthouse Loki 101 was adjacent to Reykjavik's Hallgrímskirkja Cathedral so we drove to this very extrordinary and prominent landmark and parked up approximately 200 metres from the guesthouse adjacent the Cathedral. It is quite some sight.

Reykjavik's Hallgrímskirkja Cathedral

 

Loki 101 Guesthouse

UNPACKING AND EXPLORING

After unpacking our bags, and a cup of tea we went out to grab some food and for a wee nosey in town. Reykjavik has many bars and restaurants and seemed busy on a Thursday night. However wuth the Marathon 24 hours away, we went for some Pizza and then returned for a relatively early night as we had planned an itinery for tomorrow that would see us explore the south west of the island.

22 AUGUST - EXPLORATION DAY

So we had 1 day to kill before the marathon. We planned that today would be a great chance to explore and being so close to the race, we were not doing any running today, so we got up early, had breakfast, went to the supermarket for packed lunches and set off in the car.

VISIT 1 - SELJALANDSFOSS WATERFALL

Journeying along the route 1 highway, our destination was initially Skogafoss. However approx 1 hour into our journey, we diverted to take in the falls at Seljalandsfoss. The weather was sunny and rather warm.

Paul and Graham at Seljalandsfoss

Seljalandsfoss

Paul and Zoe at Seljalandsfoss

This waterfall is 60meters tall, it looks beautiful as it falls down from the cliffs. You can walk behind the waterfall and see the water falling down like a mirror which makes it one of the most beautiful places to visit. Graham did just that. Below the falls, is the river Seljalandsfoss which flows out into a large expansive glacial flood plain as per the photo below.

River Seljalandsfoss

VISIT 2 - EYJAFJALLAJOKULL ICECAP AND 2010 VOLCANO

Eyjafjallajökull Icecap and volcano

Stopping at the edge of the road, we spotted Eyjafjallajökull on our left. It was very prominent from some distance as we travelled highwah N1 as too was Hekla, some miles behind it.  I was fortunate to walk over it in 2005 before it went boom. Quite an impressive sight.

Eyjafjallajökull Icecap and volcano

Eyjafjallajökull Icecap and volcano

VISIT 3 - SKOGAFOSS WATERFALL

Heading on from Eyjafjallajökull, we eventually arrived at our first planned destination of Skogafoss. The waterfall was set against a huge cliff which you could climb to a viewing platform set into the cliff on a metal stairway.

Skogafoss Waterfall as we walked from carpark

We originally stood at the foot of the falls and from a distance you could see the striking foaming tumult and its rainbow residing alongside it set against the wonderful blue skies. In 2005, this is the base from where we began our 9 day walk accross the nearby icecaps into the Porsmork valley and beyond (well worth the challenge all you hardy walkers).

 

Standing in front of Skogafoss

 

Walking to the falls