Summer Night City

I first heard about the Midnatts Loppat way back in May when I had first arrived in Stockholm. Wow! A marathon in the middle of the night? Totally intriguing. So I ask V (a friend) if its for real! She said it was and you gotta run for just 1 mile. Sounds like fun! I was gonna run too! She warned me that it was 1 Swedish mile which is equivalent to 10kms. Still ok. Besides, I was told that you have different slots. You could choose between 1-7, 7 implying that you can take 50 minutes to finish the race and 1 being you finish in 25 minutes. Easy ain't it?

And so.. i was on! But... Fate willed otherwise! Well... if you thot that everything was hunky dory after i got here, think again! I had my share of nasty experiences too! For one, the bank. Government banks in Sweden is as hopeless as the ones in India. The bank, refused to give me a VISA debit card. I was stuck with Maestro, which means no online transactions. So, I had to ask V to do the booking for me for the Midnatts loppet. A week later, she told me she did!

I marked my calender for practice time as July-August. And that's when it all happened!! A bunch of Arabs landed in my apartment as friends of the weird houseowner and turned it into a cheapshit Arabic night club where you drink and party until 3am with nothing less than the loudest, distasteful arabic music! And ofcourse you sleep until noon the next morning sprawled on the carpet semi-naked, snoring away. Requests that there are other people in the apartment who lead normal lives and need to sleep and get up on time fell on deaf ears! I needed a change in apartment. And ofcourse, finding one in Stockholm is fun!

And.. it doesn't help when you are swamped with work at your office. Typical scenario - 'SV, your work sucks!'.
'Uh..Probably coz I slept only 2 hours yesterday and I still have a headache!' But, ofcourse, I don't say it aloud! Before long, i have piled up work and am obviously running behind on schedule.

Finally, come Aug 7 and everything is settled. Got a brand new apartment. Good deal. Lesser rent, don't have to walk 10 minutes to bus stop, take a bus to the Metro station and then take the metro to work. I stay 3 stops from workplace and best of all, the flatmates seem to be from civilised countries. Canada and Columbia. Oh well.. as long its not from the Arabic part of the world! But by now, work is piled up to the rooftop and i have fire breathing down my back!
I spend long hours at work and finally get it all sorted out!
Come Aug 12 and am all panicky about running the race without enuff practice!
And that's when V tells me that she didnt book me for the race after all! Quite forgot!

Must say that I was releived. You don't want to get to the finish line when the rest of them have gone home after the race, snacks and revelry.

But, when i went to cheer V (no, she didnt forget to sign herself up!) during the race, i was miserable. There was as usual DJs brought in. Great music, thumping beats, cheeleaders dancing on a stage (completely dressed, minus the pom-poms thanks!). Generally, everyone was pepped up! sigh!

Btw, there was entertainment for the crowd while they waited for the runners to finish. A Samba dance! I watched with total amusement as the ladies dressed in colourful head dresses, shooked their booty! (I'm so going to Brazil, sometime!) Watched the runners come back, piling on refreshements, sighed again and went back home.

Perhaps next year, I'll actually run. Wish me luck! Meanwhile. aye to the Swedes who take physical fitness rather (too) seriously!