Last sleeps at the Hotel Borg. Last morn of sweet pastries & Skyr.
Bags packed, clothes readied – it’s marathon day. Time flies when you’re hiking volcanos, mineral springs soaking, riding Icelandic ponies. Lamb dinner. B-I-G life 🙂
City Hall welcomed. Passed my bags to Michaela. Thousands of upbeat accents, stretching, ready to run Iceland’s capital city. Paparazzi camera blitz – M snapped lotta quality shots. Very much appreciated! Generally, I solo-travel with an iPhone lens. Thanks kiddo.
Runners queued, bunched closely together. Walked over the start line (literally). Soon after, a jog. More space/less congestion, on-pace a half-mile in. Cool temps, sunshiny skies. Beautiful North Atlantic day. City sights with the Halfers. Perfect run weather.
Easy flat course; windy ocean breeze. Race second-half: bike path, city park, suburbia roads. Downtown looped last 10k. Mile 20 burst of MUSIC, renewed energy/spirit. Two quick miles, then steady to the end. Push, PUSH, PUSH (I’ve got a plane a catch – HA!).
Moscow, Dublin, Milan, Reykjavík. sub-4:30 time, my 4th European FINISH. Not bad for a kid from the sticks.
Shower, bus transfer, clock-race to the airport. Life of a weekend marathoner. So many spots on the Globe – but I’ll be back.
Goodbye M. Miss your smile, your love of LIFE. See ya December, Christmas in Connecticut – no scary YULE CAT, please ❤️
Reykjavíkur Maraþon Íslandsbanka 2019
1430 Keenan Haga USA
00:27:48 (5 km) 00:55:09 (10 km) 01:31:55 (16,4 km) 02:02:50 (21,1 km)
02:58:46 (29,4 km) 04:00:27 (38 km) 04:29:02 +01:41:46 04:27:56
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- Hotel Borg ✔️
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- Iceland’s finest
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- queued & READY
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- Start Line walk (literally)
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- 4th European FINISH
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- Ísland Maraþon 🇮🇸
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- North Atlantic goodbye
Reykjavík Marathon
Day 3. Íslenski Hesturinn, the Icelandic horse.
Met M & Eli downtown (Bus Stop #3, across from City Hall). Destination: Hestar Stables. Shorter & stockier than their American cousins. Genetic relative to the Mongolian ‘Genghis Khan’ breed. Long way Mongolia to Iceland – how did that happen?
Jacket, pants, boots. Safety video & a helmet. Go, go, go! Probably not the best pre-race activity (saddle sore) but 100% wanted a try after Ash & Tom’s 2017 vacation pics. Beautiful day. Dug the lava-scape, view of Mount Hekla. And lucky for us – no RAIN!
Bib pickup at Laugardalshöll Sports Hall. Lamb dinner & Christmas shopping.
Learned of the 13 Lads who help Icelandic Santa & YULE CAT (Jólakötturinn), an evil Christmas MONSTER cat who eats kids that don’t get new clothes. Think I’ll stick with ‘cookies-n-milk’ American Santa & his high-flying reindeer. Yikes! 😲
Run day tomorrow: Reykjavíkur Maraþon 2019
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- Hestar Stables
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- pony PAIRING
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- ready, set, RIDE
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- Mt Hekla lava-scape
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- an Iceland MUST 🇮🇸
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- vacation WOW pic ❤️
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- Laugardalshöll Sports Hall
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- marathon bib pickup
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- pre-race DINNER
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- local LAMB & seafood 🍴
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- Christmas shopping
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- holiday Yule Cat? 😺
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- eats kids, yikes!
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- Icelandic Santa 🎅
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- Christmas gift or potato?
Íslenski Hesturinn
Icelandic Christmas folklore depicts mountain-dwelling characters and monsters who come to town during Christmas. The stories are directed at children and are used to scare them into good behaviour. The folklore includes both mischievous pranksters who leave gifts during the night and monsters who eat disobedient children.
The figures are depicted as living together as a family in a cave and include:
Gryla and Leppaludi – Gryla is a giantess with an appetite for the flesh of mischievous children, who she cooks in a large pot. Her husband, Leppaludi, is lazy and mostly stays at home in their cave.
The Yule Cat is a huge and vicious cat who lurks about the snowy countryside during Christmas time (Yule) and eats people who have not received any new clothes to wear before Christmas Eve.
The Yule Lads are the sons of Gryla and Leppaludi. They are a group of 13 mischievous pranksters who steal from or harass the population and all have descriptive names that convey their favorite way of harassing. They come to town one by one during the last 13 nights before Christmas (Yule). They leave small gifts in shoes that children have placed on window sills, but if the child has been disobedient, they instead leave a potato in the shoe.
Chose my ICELAND HIKE months ago, Thórsmörk Valley. Nameworthy, the land of Thor (Norse thunder god believed to have struck down his hammer Mjölnir and formed the depression). High mountain trail, glaciers, fitness requirement (Difficulty: Challenging) & a VOLCANO.
10 years past Katla’s ‘best by’ date, town of Vík schedules regular evacuation drills. When this one blows, large glacier above (Mýrdalsjökull) expected to flood residents with end-of-day water levels & mountain debris. Tick, tick, time bomb. Sign me up! Life’s all about second chances 😊
Hour-half drive to Básar Cabin in a tricked-out SUPER JEEP. Dirt road, lava field, multiple water crossings & a well-timed pit stop where I purchased some quality take-away. Reminiscent of I-70 hikes & Georgetown burritos (2 hours in a pants pocket, heats like any microwave). big GRIN.
up, UP, UP. Mile climb to our first overlook. Walls stamped green. Waterfall views (just a teaser).
2 craters: Magni & Modi, formed by 2010’s massive Eyjafjallajökull eruption. Snow-cap peaks – all volcanos, active & brewing. Island’s tectonic plate-positioned between continents. Averages 3 eruptions a year! Mile-wide scar exposed northwest of Reykjavik (Thingvellir National Park).
20-minute lunch break on a high table mesa. North Atlantic wind, GLACIERS, ice-melt waterfalls spraying from exposed rock walls. No words. Stop, sit, breathe. Get small. STUNNING.
Fimmvörðuháls Pass. 2 stayed behind, rest of our group – UP. Thin trek anchored with cables kept us on trail (not far far far below). Crossed one-at-a-time. Last hour similar to a 14er hike. Lotta boulder, broken rock. Less switchbacks than Colorado but same happy UP. Thick fog greeted, blanketed soon after SUMMIT SUCCESS. Cold, windy, quiet. Sheets of old snow; stretches of new Earth (2010 lava remains). WOW!
Jeep regrouped. Quick stop at Seljalandsfoss (while our driver added tire-pressure for the highway ride to Reykjavík). Ever walked BEHIND a waterfall? 16km hike, 14-hour day. Volcanos, glaciers, waterfalls. Gotta/hafta/MUST. Highly recommended ✔️
Tomorrow’s adventure: Icelandic ponies 🐎
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- valley of THOR
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- up, UP, UP ⬆️
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- Thórsmörk Valley
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- LUNCH break
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- Mýrdalsjökull Glacier
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- Fimmvörðuháls Pass
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- far, far, far below
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- cable-anchored, one-at-a-time
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- top-of-world SUMMIT
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- SUCCESS!
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- LIFE shared 🙂
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- Seljalandsfoss
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- 60-meter DROP
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- BEHIND the waterfall ❤️
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- heart SMILE
Thórsmörk Volcano Hike
Vík lies directly south of the Mýrdalsjökull glacier, which itself is on top of the Katla volcano. Katla has not erupted since 1918, and this longer than typical dormant period has led to speculation that an eruption may occur soon. An eruption of Katla could melt enough ice to trigger an enormous flash flood, large enough to obliterate the entire town. The town’s church, located high on a hill, is believed to be the only building that would survive such a flood. Thus, the people of Vík practice periodic drills and are trained to rush to the church at the first sign of an eruption.
