Day #153 - Stockholm - Drottningholm

Drottningholm Palace

The gardens and Drottningholm Palace

Boatride back to Stockholm

Sunset over Lake Malaren

The finish of the Midnattsloppet 10K

Saturday, August 14th

I got a late start today after sleeping in. I headed back into central Stockholm via the train. I went ahead and signed up for the midnight run on-line, because it stated you had to have a t-shirt and wristband to get into the starting corral. I had to pick-up my registration bag at a store in town. It took me a little while to locate this place.

After securing my running gear, I headed to one of the many boat docks throughout the city - I had plans to visit the island of Drottningholm (means 'Queen's Island'). Drottingholm is the year-round home of Sweden's Royal Family (King Carl XVI and Queen Silvia). I had talked with the Swedish family I stayed with about their Royal Family. They told me it was similar to how England was setup, except not nearly as prestigious in Sweden.

I took a 1-hour boat ride across Lake Malaren to get to the island. Spectacular. It was a great, sunny, Saturday afternoon and people were out in droves on the shoreline and on the water. I enjoyed just sitting out on the deck taking in the scenery. When we arrived at the island, Drottingholm Palace (actual residence) was the first thing in view. I jumped off the boat and toured around. This place was magnificent. I walked around the Palace and it's remarkable gardens. You could walk forever between the water fountains and schrubs which extended beyond the Palace.

A couple unique places on the grounds were the Drottingholm Court Theatre and the Chinese Pavilion. The Theatre was built in 1766 and still host operas and ballets today by some of Europe's premier talent. The Chinese Pavilion is one of the world's best-preserved rococo (Late Baroque) environments with Chinese elements. The building was completed in 1769 and exhibits a blend of East and European objects.

I spent about 2-1/2 hours on the island just walking around. Definitely a good day trip from Stockholm. I boarded the boat and headed back into town as the sun was fading in the sky (see pictures included).

Once back in Stockholm, I decided to head back to my hotel and change for the run tonight.

Here's when the day gets embarrassing. I decided to go back into town about 10pm - that would give me a chance to get to the starting area and figure out where I'm supposed to go for the midnight start.

Ok - this run I'm going to do was called Midnattsloppet. It's a 10K mid-night run that has been a tradition in Stockholm for years. This year the total number of entrants was over 21,000. I saw this advertised in one of the local tourist books - so I just went with it. It's 6.2 miles, not so far, and I thought it would be alot of fun.

They gave us a fluorescent yellow running shirt for the event. All participants were required to wear the shirt to enter the starting gates. Once I got into Stockholm, I had to take a subway to an area of town I had yet to tour around. Now - I've done a few runs before. It was around 10:30pm - I didn't see anyone in Stockholm with the yellow shirt. RED FLAG! With 21,000 runners, where are all the people?? I had a VERY bad feeling.

I took the subway for about 10 minutes to my stop - arriving just shy of 11pm. I get off and start to walk up the stairs. I immediately see a few people with the shirt on. Whew - I'm in the right spot. Wait - these people are sweating. Their shirts are completely drenched. Then, a couple younger guys from the train I was on said: "Dude - are you ready for the run, are you going to win this thing" They were just laughing. I look up and see several more runners walking down into the subway I just had gotten off.

It was at this time, Flashbulbs went off in my head. "Son, you are a complete idiot. The run started at 10pm - not midnight". I made it to the top of the steps, out the door, thousands of runners. All with sweat-soaked yellow shirts. Eating bananas, drinking water, laughing, telling tales of their run. I had just pulled off one of the dumbest things one could imagine. Why didn't I ask someone to confirm the time. But, it was a midnight run!!!!! But then think about it. Why is midnight mass held at 10pm in my hometown? Why does the Big Ten have 11 teams? Why do things at the Dollar store not always cost a dollar?

People are coming up to me: "Hey man, you look like you could run this thing again - you're not even sweating". I couldn't take it anymore. Head and shoulders slumped, I went back down the stairs I had just climbed and took the metro back into central Stockholm. Now what? Well, I prepared to run for 1 hour tonight - that's what I'm going to do. I headed out into the streets of Stockholm, by myself, at 11:30pm on a Saturday night. I just started to run. People are like: "Dude, you can stop running man - the race is over". My reply: "Yeh - I'm just trying to cool down". Which, was exactly what I was doing.

Interesting. Running through the streets of a major city between 11:30pm-12:30am on a Saturday night in a neon yellow running shirt. I got so many comments, it was amusing. I deserved to be mocked and ridiculed. The city was spectacular at night. The run was great - therapeutic.

Once I finished running, I made my way back to the subway for my return train to the hotel. I started noticing everyone looking at me at the train station. Specifcally, people were looking at my chest. Why are people staring at my chest? I look down to see that I have blood on both sides of my chest. Fantastic! I won't go into details, but a new running shirt, combined with a long run, combined with a big chest, can lead to problems if not prepared. Embarressment #2 on the night. Can I find a hole and jump in it? Oh well - I basically hid myself behind some pillars - pretending to look at a map until my train arrived. Back to the hotel at 2am.

This will go down as one of the nights I'd love to forget - but I don't think that will happen anytime soon. "Smooth, real slick Mav" - I'm gonna need a beer to put these flames out.