Stockholm Marathon

Stockholm marathon was held last Saturday (31 May) in good conditions for both runners and spectators. The track was a circle (of sorts) through the city and the runners did 2 laps to complete the run. I had a bit of time to cheer the runners on and to do a bit of photography. I stayed at the 12 / 36 km mark and caught the tail end – and the front end.

Was this really a good idea?

One of the last runners. At a leisurely walking pace, perhaps contemplating what went wrong with the training strategy. Perhaps the decision to run was based on memories of youth and how fit he was? Or was it a bet? Middle age crisis? This split-second story is a riddle with many possible outcomes.

Ailsa’s travel theme this week is cities – and the yearly recurring marathons are certainly slice of urban life:

Main body of runners passing city hall towards city

Tail end moving up towards city hall

Still happy at 12km

Can’t let a marathon interfere with an SMS

Yea g’day

At a brisk pace

Was this really a good idea?

the leader (and winner) at 36 km

 

Wordless Wednesday (That damned GPS…)

Wordless Wednesday

And also A Word A Week Photograph Challenge – Run

 

Weekend in Vienna

As a part of the photo week with the class in Budapest, we spent the Sunday in Vienna. And on the road. It’s only some 220 km between the cities, but with transfers to and from bus stations it still means one had to get up at a somewhat uncivilized hour and that the evening was late by the time we returned to Budapest.

I must have had ‘park bench’ as a subconscious theme since I ended up with a fair few images of Viennese on their park benches.

The Vienna Marathon was on and there were lots of people about having a good time. The runners were clearly pleased with themselves (and rightly so) to complete the run.

Some were clearly pleased with themselves even if they had not participated in the marathon