Halvtraver'n (2011)

The rain has been pouring down for large parts of August this year and I assume all runners were prepared for a wet and tiring run at this year's Nordmarkstraver'n (30 km) or Halvtraver'n (15 km). I decided to run the shortest 15 km distance as I have signed up for the Norwegian Championship in half marathon next weekend (that is another story) and am trying to save some extra energy for that event. Despite a wet and cold August and a rainy race day more than 1200 people found their way to the start line of the two distances and around 1000 completed the race. What happened to the 200 that didn't finish I don't know but some might have had to give up due to injuries. It was at times extremely slippery. I witnessed one girl in front of me falling and sliding down a rock. What looked very bad fortunately went all right and that girl completed the race with style.

Before the race all Halvtraver'n runners were transported from Sognsvann to Skar by buses. Due to rain hundreds of runners in the start area grouped together under trees or other shelters to stay dry and warm. It was a different and fun way of meeting new people. Half an hour before the start of the race the rain stopped and luckily it stayed like this during the event as well. A grey August day where more than thousand people ran through Nordmarka. Some very serious, some in pain, some smiling, some laughing. All with the goal of reaching Kringsjå Skole where the finish line was. After a few kilometres the tracks for Halvtraver'n and Nordmarkstraver'n merged. Several of the fast 30 km runners flew past me. I found it very technical and struggled to keep the pace up. A lot of the 15 km runners that I had passed earlier reached me and disappeared in front of me. I didn't manage to run very fast at all. I can blame it on being careful to avoid spraining ankles or falling over. However the main reason is me being used to run on flat gravel roads and not tiny slippery wet and muddy forest paths. However since I had decided not push to hard in this race I didn't stress much about it, which was a nice thing. Towards the end of the race the running got a lot easier as we ended up on the wide gravel roads I am very used to. I had a fair bit of energy left as well and could increase the pace and finally enjoy the feeling of passing some runners as well. I finished in 1:17:36 and ended as number 46 out of 226 of the men. A time and position I'm satisfied with since it was my debut and since I didn't push myself that hard. I'm not sure if I would have managed to go that must faster no matter what though because of the type of race it was.

Overall a great race that was very well organised. I hope to be back next year. Thanks to Koll IL, the organisers!

The map: