Aside from images of Finland’s Laplands we didn’t have much of a mental image of Finland. We’ve met people from all over the world, but neither of us can recall meeting a Finnish person. So when we visualized the country it was mostly blank, and we had little expectations of the furthest east Scandanavian country. We chose Helsinki in part because it made sense flightwise, but also to finish up traveling to all of Scandanavia. Continue reading
Author Archives: Jessica
Stavanger & Pulpit Rock
After five hours a bus and two ferries we arrived in Stavanger. The entire journey was marked by wind and rain. While I’m sure crossing the water on the ferries would normally be quite beautiful all we saw was grey and water. One of the risks of traveling in shoulder season of course, the weather may or may not cooperate. But if it does you are often blessed by the absence of other tourists. It was a gamble, and as the rain ravaged the sides of the ferry we were very uncertain how our luck would turn out Continue reading
Bergen
Norway wasn’t really on our travel list, while we’ve long wanted to explore the country and famous fjords we figured it was out of our price range. But when we started looking at where to travel and found the Bergen City Marathon was on the first weekend of our trip we decided to brave the unpredictable weather and high costs and head north. While it may seem a bit odd to travel to Norway for a race (we both ran the 5k), we’ve traveled for less (aka that one time we flew to Denmark for lunch), and combining running and travel has been a lot of fun. We get to explore areas we normally wouldn’t, and jumping into a local race is a pretty unique way to explore a city.
Marathon Training: The Final Weeks
Sixteen and a half weeks ago I started training for a marathon. Like a lot of things I do in my life, it stemmed from a perspective of “why not?” The most valuable pursuits in my life have always been somewhat lofty goals that required a great departure from my comfort zone. The reward has always been life changing. Not in the epiphany sort of way, but more in subtle shifts of perspective that permeate all aspects of my life. But ultimately, vastly improve it. The three life changing events that come immediately to mind are when I flew to Nepal by myself to trek in the Himalayas, when I summited Mt. Kilimanjaro with zero training and gear that was by most considerations, barely adequate, when I hiked across Spain for a month. And soon, I believe, training for, and running my first marathon will be added to this list.
Colliding With The Earth 