I’ve been struggling with how to start this post. There are three or four different versions on my iPhone’s notes app. Despite some frustrations with my camera app seemingly not being responsive several times throughout the race, I just scrolled through my photos and I was pleasantly surprised at the number of shots I felt DID turn out pretty all right.
But I’m mindful of the mind-numbing “how I spent my vacation” photo presentations. And I’m not feeling particularly witty or editorially savvy at the moment. So rather than succumbing to a pictorial shotgun blast and hoping something hits, I’m going to do ten photos with a brief running commentary.
Well, ten plus three I already posted to Facebook and feel warrant a second look… but I didn’t feel they should count against the ten.
This isn’t a “best of” or even a “representative sample.” They’re just ten I thought might make somebody laugh… even if it was just me.
In no particular order – The Ten (or Thirteen) Shots from the Stockholm Marathon!
ONE-
I awoke feeling seriously dehydrated… and since the race didn’t start until noon, I thought it would behoove me to grab some bottled water from the corner store. I got this:
Ugh. I hate sparkling water. The only carbonated beverage I want contains a selection from this word set: coca, cola, Coke, diet, zero (and when in International territories) light.
I would’ve thought “original” meant, ya know, still. God didn’t carbonate the spring waters ya know? The only bubbles there were from rapids.
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FB ONE: PREVIOUSLY POSTED ON FACEBOOK
Walking to the start from my murder hostel, I passed this restaurant:
Does the ValhallaGrillen have gyros? You’re Viking right they do!
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FB TWO: PREVIOUSLY POSTED ON FACEBOOK
We could be looking at another Altamonte. Look at these ruffian hells angels working security… and they’re giving them as many juice boxes as they want. Madness!
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FB THREE: PREVIOUSLY POSTED ON FACEBOOK
This is as close as I got to Lisabeth Salander here in Sweden: The Runner with the, um, Phillie Phanatic’s Bastard Child Tattoo.
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TWO* – The ABBA Connection
I know, I know I’m really stretching the ten (or thirteen) photos thing by posting THREE at number two, which really is number five. But it’s the new math… and sometimes you need context for photos to unlock added layers of understanding.
ABBA of course is unarguably the greatest musical export from Sweden (sorry, Johan Helmich Roman, AKA the Swedish Handel). As a result, I don’t know if the Manma Mia! banners are advertising a local production or if they’re up all the time. But given my on-the-run shots, this quote seemed worth shooting.
I caught this couple snogging outside ABBA The Museum… you can bet I’ll be visiting that tomorrow. Sadly, they passed me by, all those great romances…
And here’s an Italian restaurant with either pizza tacos or pizza AND tacos. I’m not sure if it’s called O’ Mamma Mia as an ode to Italian cuisine or ABBA. Let’s say both.
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THREE – Photobombed outside the Royal Palace
Some words transcend languages. I didn’t need a babel fish to understand folks from various nationalities saying, “Oh! Selfie!” I don’t know if “photobomb” is the same sort of cognate… is cognate the right term here? It’s not that the word shares etymological roots. It’s just the same the world over. Maybe “universal” is a better descriptor. In any case:
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FOUR – A Bridge Too Far?
The race organizers billed it as a two-loop course but it was really more a corkscrew; only maybe ten miles got repeated and the rest involved spokes and lollipops to get the mileage. The non-loop two loops course threw me for, well, a loop.
Even though in my normal private life I tend to have a profane vocabulary that far too easily escapes, for public space and social media I try and maintain a PG-13 level of cursing.
Having said that, when one of the segments we did repeat involved a bridge, well, I appreciated the signs held by spectators on that second loop.
Loop One:
Loop Two:
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FIVE – I Loved You in PAYBACK (1999)
For one brief delirious moment, I thought I passed Mel Gibson. Then I thought maybe it was Kris Kristofferson. Somebody recently told me a celeb sighting only counts if two people can verify it. Here are two photos – is that then confirmation? Regardless, in the closing miles, Mel Kristofferson blew past me.
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SIX – Bananas!
THAT is a Swedish Banana… or as the say in Sweden, a svenska banan.
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SEVEN – Players in a Bubble
In the Royal Park, this was happening. I have rarely been so tempted to say to hell with the race and jump off the course.
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EIGHT – A Clown and Two Swedes
We ran right past Gröna Lund, a Swedish theme park. Amongst the crowd support, these two. My squeaky-Clown is much better than my Swedish, so I was able to click-click a photo … or seven. It was on “burst” thus answering the age old question “when does eight equal seven (or in this case a three best of seven?)”:
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NINE – The Finish at the 1912 Olympic Stadium
As I mentioned yesterday, this stadium is home to more track and field world records than any other venue. I did not get a world record … or even a personal record. But I did all right. The most important thing though is that since I DIDN’T shoot up with ReddiWip, and I was slower than last week’s PR WITH ReddiWip, I think we can conclusively move the speed benefits from RW from “theory” into “law.”
What? That’s not how science works you say? It’s how MY science works. I guess we just have alternative laws and perspectives…
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TEN – A Hot Dog’s Tail… er, Tale
Amongst the post run foods? Complimentary hot dogs complete with a couple of condiment options. I don’t eat hot dogs very often. Does anyone know — is this a thing now? We “milk” our condiments onto the dogs? I guess it’s an innovation but it kinda creeped me out.
Also, what the heck is a French hot dog? Is it wrapped in a crepe? Is it only made from cows’ tongues?
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So there’s the Ten… or however many it wound up being.
Tomorrow – Swedish Meatballs or Bust!