Week 13: KB does Denmark

(Monday, 13 August)
Sitting on a plane. A little miffed my day off this week will be 1/3 swallowed up by time zones.

(Tuesday, 14 August)
Slept for a whopping 3 hours last night. The slamming doors in the hostel didn't help much; I'm not sure what was going on out there but it sounded like fun. It made me feel not quite so guilty for rollicking in and unpacking and stuff at 11.30. Basically after about 3 I was just waiting for the sun to come up.

Once it did, what did I see out my window? A dirt road perchance? Upon futher 5.30am exploration I was able to determine that it connected to a network of trails on a large undeveloped part of Amager, bordered only by huge, amazingly designed modern buildings. (Mostly apartments I think). Gina would love it here. Ran for about an hour, then stuffed my face until I thought I was going to throw up on Danish breakfast:

3 servings yogurt (amazing) with raisin and dried banana granola assorted meats (kinda salami ish)
assorted cheeses (not very good, I'll skip these tomorrow)
3 cups coffee
about 10 pieces of bread with jam, butter, or both. The bread here is either very dense rye or very fluffy but not crusty white bread. AMAZING.

I really thought I was going to barf. But then I got the bike together and went around the city a bit, which it turns out doesn't even take a whole day if you're on the bike. The only touristy thing I did was go to the Erotica Museum, which started out interesting and got progressively shadier. Also I saw Niels Bohr's grave, which was pretty cool.

(Wednesday, 15 August)
Bad weather and the jetlag made me sleep in way too late, so I did a long run as my entertainment. I did the south side of Amager and it blew my mind. Also literally it blew me around, it was really windy, and a bus drove by and blew the hat off my head which I thought only happened in movies. But, then I found some awesome trails, pooped in the woods, and later found some blackberries by the hostel. I picked about a pound of them into my hat which now smells of blackberries, and ate a lot but thankfully did not get sick. Great run. Felt good the whole time. Then I took a nap.

(Thursday, 16 August)
Ran short anticipating an epic ride into Lyngby today but ended up not riding at all. Did the northern island trails again, including what might have been the highest point on Amager, a little knob about 15m high. I could see everything on the whole island. Glad I didn't bike in though, because it would have been raining and I probably would have gotten lost.

Spent the day tromping around here with Henrik and Felix, scoped out the trails which are AMAZING, I'm going to do a 10 mile trail run tomorrow that doesn't even cover the whole park. Holy shit! Awesome. Also got a fab Danish dinner of pork meatballs courtesy of Henrik. How long before he figures out I can't cook?!

(Friday, 17 August)
Checked out the enchanted forest behind the house, and wow. It is amazing. Just did the easy-won't-get-lost perimeter today, but it was shorter than I'd hoped. Found a map on the way though. Tomorrow I will go a bit longer and farther, and attempt not to terrorize any horses or get walked in on in the bathroom again (my bad).

It is so peaceful here. I feel so relaxed. This is turning out to be a wonderful vacation, even though I didn't set out for it to be a vacation necessarily. The running is excellent, the trails are shaded and cool in the morning and the air is clear and crisp. It is safe and quiet here, and there are lots of folks on horses and bikes. Lots of things here are what I wish they were like in the US - the social structure is much, much flatter; it seems quality of life is high for just about everyone (public transportation, health care, good education, safe and clean cities). It's more environmentally friendly - everywhere I've gone has had low flush toilets, bike paths on major streets, and ample and useful buses and trains. (I'll go on a rant about people on bikes here in another post perhaps.)

So, I'm keeping the mileage low, eating well, and trying to take it easy. I'm actually looking forward to doing some work today.

In other news I saw Felix vomit more than I thought humanly possible this morning. It was so pathetic as to be vaguely cute. Poor little guy ate a little too much of the delectable yogurt.

(Saturday, 18 August)
Long run. Got vaguely lost but had a map so it wasn't that bad; just a little turned around (my figure 8 route might have been a little over-ambitious). Used my cunning to get pointed back to Raadvad and was home sooner than expected (when I got lost I was actually pretty close to home, I just didn't realize it). It's absolutely mind blowing to do 21+ kilometers entirely on trails and never retrace your steps. It was super quiet, hardly any people were there, and I didn't even stray into the southern part of the park. Added to what I know from yesterday that means that you could easily run 30 kilometers without doubling back, all on trails, all either flat or rolling hills. I bet with some figure 8-ing you could get it up to 40k.

The trail was great; it smells really good here. I think it's the trees. Also there were several spots where the trail was so soft it was like ultimate woodchips, it felt like running in Frees even though I was in my trainers. Even the bigger parts of the trail were a good kind of gravelly, not the yucky kind.

The last 300m or so my left quad started sliiiightly hurting in the same place as usual; I'll keep a close eye on it.

(Sunday, 19 August)
Ran a slightly more interesting variation of the south Dyrehaven loop. Used my prestigious gate key for the first time, and ran with the camera so I could get some cool shots of the forest - too bad they all look the same (trees, path, possibly a pond). Legs a wee bit sore from yesterday but not much; left quad most of all. Curse that quad! Why does it insist on being my weakest link? I thought it was getting stronger!

I also rode my bike to DTU and took some photos there (mostly of bikes). Then I rode to Klampenborg and up the coast, stopping along the way at a couple of beaches. Raced some fancy looking cyclists on the way back, who I totally embarrassed since they were all decked out and I was female and in jeans without even my cycling shoes. I kicked their asses.




The other development for the day is that, while walking around with no pants, I stopped to check myself out in the hallway's full length mirror. Much to my delight I have now determined that, when the light is right, there is a *hint* of the muscley-leg split down the top of my quad where the vastus medialis and the rectus femoris come together. Hahaha!





---------------------------------------
miles: 49.5
(goal: 50)