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No Marathon, no Mt. Blanc, no Miami...
did anything go as planned in 2004?
Now some of you may wonder: "Weren't glyn supposed to run a Marathon in 2004?
How come she has not put up a page about it yet?" or equally "I remember something about
a trip to climb Mt. Blanc - did they ever go?" or even "Say, I thought she should be in Miami
now, what on earth is she doing still in Odense, Denmark?".
This is the page to answer all your questions.
Copenhagen Marathon 2004
I started running more seriously (more than once a month) in August 2003. To make a goal
for my training I downloaded a training programme from Netdoktor that aims at running a
Marathon after half a year. I did really well in the programme. I followed it minutely,
and I was actually surprised at how quickly I got in good shape and could run
15 km without being exhausted.
However, in January I strayed from the exact plan. I had some exams, so I skipped a few
runs. I went to Gjendesheim (i.e. went skiing instead of running), but I was still in
good shape. To get some more out of my training I started running on Sundays with
OGF. This was of course a good idea because of the social side, but it turned out to
be a bad idea because of the changed conditions of the routes; we ran a lot on asphalt
paths.
My legs started to hurt when I ran. At first I thought that I was just getting out of
shape, so I continued running, ignoring the pain. I first realised how much it hurt,
when I ran Korup ½-marathon with my sister, and I felt the pain already after few minutes.
It turned out that I had
shin splints.
A very painful inflammation of the shins.
The diagnosis was clear: If I wanted it to go away, I had to stop running. And still
the date for the marathon drew nearer. I made the final decision one week before the
marathon. Even though I was in good shape, it would be foolish to complete the
marathon that could result in a more or less chronic condition of shin splints.
So in conclusion I did not run the marathon, but I followed my sister and father on
bike, and I got some fine pictures.
After the shin splint diagnosis, I took up spinning to stay in good shape
for our trip to the Alps in June-July (see below).
Mt. Blanc 2004
Our goal for the trip was the Mt. Blanc summit
and to reach it, we had made a bullet-proof plan. First we would use two weeks to
climb at least two other 4000m summits, and then we would head for Mt. Blanc.
But ours is not the power to predict the weather. We ended up at the foot of Mt. Blanc
waiting 11 days for good weather and a room available in the hut. As soon as it passed
July 1st, the high-season started with the result that on every day with good weather,
the guides of Chamonix had reserved every room in every hut.
Our best chance was on the first day in Chamonix where we set off for the high hut
hoping for the odd chance that there should be room for us anyway.
The route was nothing less than crowded on the way up, and we called the hut
several times to check if someone should have cancelled their reservation.
We lost hope of accomodation, and in sight of the hut, we decided to return to the
valley before the last train to take us down to town.
This is what the mood was when we stopped our ascent with the hut in sight:
Lot other things happened on this trip, we climbed both Gran Paradiso and Monte Rosa,
and I got a terrible sunburn and we did a lot of excellent climbing in the
Chamonix Valley. I might produce a separate page about these three weeks in the Alps - lets see.
Miami, Florida
I used most of my autumn planning the trip to Miami. As you might know I had
applied for an exchange to the University of Miami
for the spring semester 2005.
I planned courses, how to take care of the apartment in the mean time, and
especially when to leave. For the last part there appeared to be major complications,
because my exam dates for January 2005 exteded beyond the date for the start of
the semester in Miami. I tried to ask for permission from the Miami administration
to arrive a week late, but it took a looong time for the bureaucracy to consider
my case.
I got really stressed, since I had deadlines for some applications and the travel
planning to attend to, and still I got no answer to my enquiry. Finally, a day before
a crucial application deadline, I got the answer from the administration: They had
not yet found out whether it would be alright to arrive a week late with respect
to the courses, but they had found out that the U.S. student visa rules enforces
an automatic cancellation of your visa if you do not arrive at the latest
on the first day of the semester.
So that settled the case. I did not want to postpone my exams for half a year or more,
so I told them that I would not make use of the exchange student grant, and I would
not spend the spring semester 2005 in Miami.
I was really upset for some time after this, because I had to find out what to
do in the spring semester instead. It was rather too late to plan another exchange
visit, so I decided to stay in Odense.
So did everything go as expected in 2004? No, certainly not. But that does not mean
that nothing happened, or for that matter that nothing interesting happened.
The best laid schemes o' mice an' men gang aft agley,
but I am confident that some of my dreams and plans will happen - in time.
Links:
Photos from Copenhagen Marathon 2004
Photos from the Alps 2004
The entire Photoalbum
Present School
Past School
Use the menu at the top of the page to access the rest of www.glyn.dk
-glyn
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