Hypothermia

Yesterday morning, I took the commuter train up to Tjörnarp for what I had hope would be my final revenge at the 100k-distance. After failing twice with Fjällmaraton 100k, the relatively flat course (1,500 meters of elevation gain) and ice-free conditions made me excited for the day as a group of about 350 runners gathered at the train station in Tjörnarp for the 9 am start.

The race consisted of a looped 50k course and, having promised myself to not go out too hard, I fully enjoyed the first loop in the sunshine. Coming into the half-way point, I now knew the course and felt ready to head out again with my headlamp for the second half. 

While the temperature had been around 7-10 degrees during the day, it quickly dropped as night fell and I soon realized that I was not adequately dressed, especially as I was getting increasingly tired in the mud and had to walk more and more. Still, about 70 km into the race, my spirits were unbroken as I soldiered on into the night. However, after spending two more hours transporting me the next ten kilometres and realizing that I would end up missing the last train back to Malmö at forty minutes past midnight, I could feel how cold I was getting. The remaining five kilometres were gruesome as I began to experience worsening hypothermia and, once at the penultimate checkpoint, I was shivering with fumbling hands. After drinking some hot blueberry soup, I understood that it would be outright dangerous to continue for another 3-4 hours in these conditions. As such, I made the painful decision to, for the third time in my life, DNF a race.