A very good friend of mine (unfortunately) moved back to his home country of Sweden in 2017. I had visited him soon after for the Gothenburg Half Marathon and then came a 4 year long global pandemic. So I hadn’t seen him in a while.
He had told me at the beginning of this year that he and a few of his local buddies would be racing the Tallinn Estonia Half Marathon in Estonia and would I want to join?
Admittedly, I wasn’t quite sure I knew where Estonia was but after looking it up I signed on. I love an adventure, and I wanted to see my friend.
FULL MARATHONS IN PLAY
The Tallinn race was Sunday, September 13th. I also signed up for the Montreal Marathon on October 12 and the New York City Marathon three weeks after that. In building out my training plan for the season, the Tallinn Half Marathon actually fit in perfectly!
WHEELS UP
I was flying out Thursday night on the red eye since the race was on Sunday. I figured that would give me all day Saturday to acclimate and hopefully be able to get some decent sleep.
I landed in Helsinki around 1pm and had a few hours before my 20 minute flight across the Baltic Sea to Tallinn, in a propeller plane! They are are actually more fuel efficient on short distances. I felt pretty good for getting 3 hours of sleep and was pumped to go meet the crew. I’m really bad at sleeping, and on planes it’s a huge challenge.
ES-ES… ESTONIA
After a quick cab ride to my hotel, I found Anders waiting for me with his girlfriend Sofie. High fives, hugs and general excitement ensued. The lobby was also filled with a variety of runners and I think it was safe to say I was the odd man out in this one being from North America.
I checked into my room and made my way back to meet Anders and Sofie. We were going to get our bibs, plus I needed a snack!
SURPRISE ATTACK
I was in the elevator with a nice European couple decked out in running gear. I said good luck to them.
“Thank you! I’m running the full marathon on Sunday and my wife here is running the half marathon tomorrow morning.”
I laughed, “The half is also Sunday, I’m running it as well.”
“No, it is absolutely tomorrow morning.”
They waved as they left the elevator, my face now quite grave. I had miscalculated race day.
I guess I’m racing tomorrow.
SNACK TIME
Anders, Sofie and I posted up in the Old City and had a beer and some french fries. Anders laughed out loud when I told him the race was tomorrow.
“Of course it is! We’ve been talking about this for months!”
We laughed about this a bit more and then came to the reality that I’d be running this thing with minimal sleep.
FUEL AND LAUGHTER
Dinner was right next door (Tallinn isn’t a big place) at a fantastic spot called Osteria il Cru. It was a very cozy romantic spot, which was unfortunate for the couples dining around us.
Gustaf, Carlos and Dave showed up and joined us as we proceeded to drink beer and eat bread and pasta as though it were the last supper. We started reminiscing about past race experiences and also what to expect for tomorrow’s run and were having a blast.
Anders and I had a night cap beer and ended up crashing around 11pm. Thank god the race was at 9am tomorrow.
SHOWTIME
I can’t even tell you how out of it I was in the morning. I was up at 6am but I don’t know if I slept. It was also technically 11pm my time, so yea, my body was out of whack.
I met Anders and Sofie downstairs at the alarmingly large banquet hall for the breakfast buffet. Like, this place was set up for a huge wedding, but we were all eating oatmeal and eggs. Really bad eggs by the way.
It was 45 degrees out at the moment and the discussion was around throw away clothes and if the rain would hold off. I honestly felt so fucked up.
We all went back to our rooms and regrouped in the lobby to head over to the race start.
TEAM SUNSHINE
As we were walking over we noticed that the sky was opening up, the clouds and rain were dissipating and the sun was peaking through. It was going to be an awesome day afterall.
We found Gustaf, Carlos and Dave on the way and took some fun pictures. All of us were set to finish within minutes of each other… if things went to plan.
We made our way down to the front and got situated. The energy was awesome and a bit more casual than I expected in general.
We fist bumped and then set off once the gun sounded.
DEATH STAR RUN
Running in old European cities is fun, but it’s narrow and full of cobblestones. Part of the charm. And also challenging as fuck.
Anders and I were together for the first mile or so and we were moving at a slow pace, almost 7 minutes per mile due to the congestion. I felt like I needed to get past all of these slower runners, but patience was needed.
At one point Anders yelled “Follow me!” and he flanked the runners, passing a lot of them. I followed, of course, as we were both laughing like a bunch of crazy mad scientists.
But it worked.
Once I got to Mile 3, things opened up a bit and I was able to push on the gas.
REGULATORS
We were on a long straightaway and I was easing past some of the other groups of runners, holding a 6:30 pace. My legs seemed to be turning over pretty decently, but my energy was not where it normally would be.
Mile 5 to 6 was in this wooded park area, which was nice. I passed the time by reading the interesting race shirts everyone was wearing. It was very different from my usual Central Park Track Club type branding.
We eventually hit a highway and started making our way west to where we’d cut over to the path that cuts along the Bay of Tallinn on the Baltic Sea. I was very excited for this part of the race.
BEACH PARTY
As we made our way onto the wooded boardwalk, I started taking in the ocean view. There wasn’t so much to look at, but it was a nice change from the city.
My legs felt great but my body in general was so fatigued. It was a struggle to keep going. Strangely enough as I plugged along my pace was so crazy steady at 6:30 average without even trying. Now, the flip to the was that I could absolutely not push myself any further.
I was at the edge.
BRING IT ON HOME
At mile 10, still hitting a 6:33 pace like a metronome but ready for a nap, we turned toward the city. Three miles to go seems easy, but it’s a huge margin in a race. I knew I was having a shitty race in one sense regarding overall finish time, but I also knew that my steady and consistent pacing was weirdly cool. The goal was to just keep plugging away and not pass out.
It was now getting hot as the sun was up.
A bit blinding as well as we were running right into it.
As I cruised around the city at mile 12 I saw Sofie cheering, thanks for the photo, and I knew I was close.
THE END
Turning toward the finish, we had to go back up the hill we started on.
It sucked.
I would watch full marathon finishers the next day do the same thing, and think the same thing.
I finished in 1:26:12. The post race celebration was really what was keeping me alive.
AFTER THE END
All of us met up after the finish and everyone had a successful race. The weather was awesome and our objective now was simple… beers and burgers in the sun.
After a quick shower we all met up and began refueling. We agreed, it was a fantastic day and for me, wow! I was in Estonia with my friends after a beautiful race drinking beer and celebrating. I was pumped.
Thank you Tallinn Estonia, you put on quite a show!
And thank you to my half marathon comrades, plus Sofie who was a super spectator.
Don’t wait too long to hang out with that friend you’ve missed. Life is short baby, conquer cities.
