Smithy's Norseman Report - 2005

The Two Lemmings

Things I have learned in these last few days.
The Norwegian word for 'Hi' is 'Hi', there is no Norwegian word for 'flat' but they have 67 words for 'hill' and a further 82 for 'rain'. Norwegians have absolutely no idea how to measure the gradient of a road properly and Rosie's bird is pretty fit (didn't think much of Birdmans though)
Anyway, the race. April last year I was searching the internet for IM distance races when I came across a site with a link to the Norseman. I was instantly and strangely compelled to do it. It seemed the sort of race a tough, race hardened Ironman would want on his CV, so it seemed right that I should do it. But not until 2005 because I had a poorly shoulder and a nasty blister on my left foot.
Anyway again, chat about the race grew on the forum and a few of us entered, the though of standing atop Gausta in the cold clear Norwegian air fuelled our training and filled our every waking thought, while others, (no names mentioned), tried to invent ingenious excuses to get out of it. Then felt guilty and tried to gain atonement by doing an 'easy' race like IM Lanzarote
Not me though oh no, August the 2nd found me and my adoring family setting up camp in a hytter near Eidfjord. I had spent the long winter months honing my body into a perfect racing machine and now I needed to prepare my mind for the final challenge by meditation and eating chocolate.
Jesus, who am I kidding? I was a mess, I was more wound up than a tritalker at a neoprene convention. My heart would not go below 70, I couldn't sleep and the lovely Julie, wife and supportmeister was doing her best to destroy my fragile confidence with comments like
"I'm really worried about you doing this, you haven't trained properly" and "Are you insured?" ... to read more - download the word file