WMA Gothenburg Sweden Aug 2024. (You're in the Bike lane!)

 You’re in the bike lane

Sweden in the summer -- hot? Nope!

Departure Sunday August 11

The three amigos had all registered for the WMA World Masters meet in Gothenburg Sweden.  We arranged our flights such that we would meet in Atlanta and fly on same flights to Amsterdam then to Gothenburg. However, since Barbara Warren was returning from Africa the night before she was to fly out of Charleston. I worried that somewhere her return flight would  be delayed and she would not make it to ATL at 12:25.  I would get in later at 2:09 for our 3:30 flight to Amsterdam.  Angela Staab and Barbara did indeed meet at the Delta lounge but my flight out of RDU was delayed.  Then delayed again and once more.   Okay, so I board and the plane sits there.  Keeps sitting there. According to the lady next to me, it was for a half hour. I noted wheels up at 13:52.  All three of us in this row had connections and all three in jeopardy of missing them.  The lady in the aisle seat had maybe a six month old who kept crying.  She tried feeding it. Nope.  Eventually, however, the baby  got tired and stopped.  So I am looking at this.  The baby was in her lap facing her at this point and she had the diaper and other essentials bag at her feet and I’m thinking how am I going to exit this row quickly (as was the lady beside me?)  Argh!

The middle seat lady who was on a business trip to Indianapolis told the flight attendant as we got close to ATL that I had an international flight to catch.  The attendant went away and returned to say that I would have 36 minutes to get to the E11 gate.  We were to park at A and if I did not stop for a Starbucks I would make it.  Maybe, I say to myself if I could get out of my row.  As it turned out, the momma and baby were ready to exit when we landed and the other lady and I hurried out. She was trying to help me. The flight attendant had said I was to go down the escalator to get over to E (via the train). As I was going down the escalator, the Indianapolis bound lady yells down to me to come back up, I was going the wrong way.  I said no,  the attendant had told me this way.  The person on the adjoining UP escalator said she can’t come back up. (Right! I would have had to get to the bottom and switch to the UP or sprout wings and fly over the intervening separator at just the right speed to land on an available up step.)

I am sure the Indianapolis lady figured I would miss my flight.  I hope she did not miss hers.

I got on the wrong train for one stop before I realized I was going in the wrong direction and switched to the one with the E stop.  Then I had to run, slog to gate 11, which was not too far.  It seems they were waiting for me.  I was so grateful I had made it but there was a long boarding hallway that angled at 90 degrees and seemed endless as I tried running with the backpack and small case.  When I got on the plane I was looking up at row numbers, looking for 32H, an aisle seat. I found it and was going to drop my small bag on it while hoisting the backpack up into the overhead bin when I saw the occupant of the window seat.  Barbara Warren!

Sweaty Louise with Barbara Warren

Delightful, except our later chatter evoked a request that we keep it down and also close the window shade.  I think it was maybe 6pm EST at the time. We essentially shut up for the rest of that flight. I watched the King Kong & Godzilla movie and Barbara looked at her iPad.

We landed at Schiphol at 05:23. Neither Barbara nor I had slept.

In Amsterdam all three of us headed for border control passport check having first run into Susan Fox.  The four of us were on the same KLM City Hopper flight to Gothenburg at gate B36 - the farthest one away.  This plane left from the same gate as the one that had left Amsterdam for Warsaw Poland March 2023.  Which meant the same long walk to the gate and those horrible steps down to the tarmac to go up the boarding ramp io the plane. Ugh. (going down steep steps no joy!  Barbara said she was watching me – she of the two new knees - she was concerned.)

Schiphol

Gothenburg (Goteborg) 

Monday A.M. August 12

In Gothenburg, at baggage pickup, my bag did not arrive.  The KLM lady found that it was still in Atlanta and said that I would have it sometime in the afternoon.  At this point it was a bit after 9am. it was an 8 plus hour flight from ATL to Amsterdam and an hour and a half from there to Gothenburg.  She said I was faster than the bag! I later looked at the Delta flights out of ATL and there were only three, the first being the 3:30 one that arrived in Amsterdam around 6am. So I wondered how my bag would get here before sometime Tuesday. I had the clothes I needed for my first race but no sleepwear etc.  And so it goes.

Finding the Uber pickup point in Gothenburg was a bit of a challenge. However, we found it  but then had the task of getting our bags into the smaller car that was not an XL. We barely fit them in (Warren had two, Angela had three (carryon, large suitcase, and backpack), and I had my backpack.) Good thing my bag did not make it!

At the hotel, The Waterfront, right on the river,  we found that we seemed to have different styles of bathrooms.  Angela had one with a tub with high sides - one had to sit on it and swivel into it.  I had one with just a curtain around the shower and a squeegee to sweep the water to the center drain, and Mary Trotto and Christel Donley’s was entirely glass enclosed.  Mine was also equipped with a handicap gizmo to move over the toilet.  I had that removed asap. Nothing like having one’s future foretold!  

I need to mention the toilet.  The Swedes are very water conservation conscious.  On the top of the toilet were two silver push things. One showed half circle - to be used when peed.  The other full circle was for when dumped. They each dispensed the appropriate amount of water.

We went to Slottsskogvallen for packet pickup at the Technical Information Center (TIC) building.  The queue backed up at least halfway to the entrance door. Folks from various nations waiting.  We were fortunate that our amazing Athlete Rep Colleen Barney came along and told us there was a separate line for the US athletes.  A much shorter line! 

Colleen Barney

We ate at the restaurant that was right next door to the hotel on Adolf Edelsvards Gata 11, Porter Pelle.(“Where the glasses are filled with Porter and the walls with stories.”)

Barbara requested gluten and egg free. Turns out there was something in her meal that had dire effects on her later.  And so began our eating adventure.  All the meals here seem to be freshly prepared.  Angela had shrimp salad.  The walls were lined with photos of the brewmasters and beer (Carnegie Porter)  previously brewed at the Carnegie Brewery, now Waterfront Hotel. I think Barbara Warren, after interrogating the staff as to whether the item she wanted was egg and gluten free had settled on something. Perhaps fish soup (or perhaps she had the fish soup at Klippans Konstcafe outside on another day.)  Whatever she had she later said it must have had eggs because her digestive system was not happy.  It’s tough being food allergic!

On the river is a magnificent polar bear standing on a floating dock in isolation and on the other side of the dock was another perpendicular dock with a wooden appearing building. 

I found out later that this is one of Porter Pelle’s conference facilities – sort of a barge in which there is a conference area below deck in what once was the Hold, and one above deck.  

Angela and I asked directions at the desk to a local grocery store. He told us that if we walked out and went right we would see the tunnel on the right then somewhere after we would find a food store. We did not quite get all of the instructions correct.

Angela trying to decipher direction from map

Instead we walked farther along Adolf Edelsvards Gata 11 before turning right, passing under an overpass to eventually get to the large intersection at Karl Johansgaten which had the tram tracks.  After we crossed the street and asked someone, we found that if we turned left on Karl Johansgaten we would find a grocery store.  Which we did. Hemkop in Majorna section of Gothenburg.  I bought vanilla and raspberry yogurts and a white chocolate something.. And we bought cheese.  We tend to always overbuy, ending up leaving uneaten food when checking out.

It was on this inaugural walk that we discovered that what appeared to be a sidewalk was actually divided into two parts - a bicycle lane and a pedestrian lane. Some bikers were quite swift in their lane so it was worth your body to stay in the pedestrian lane. This required a mental adjustment. Cora Hill had to remind me I was in the bike lane at times.

And then, there was this one! Oy.

By late afternoon Christel Donley had arrived after her adventure (she had intended to arrive in Gothenburg on Sunday but the flight from Colorado Springs was canceled and she had to stay in a hotel overnight. Then once in Frankfurt, other plane issues occurred.)  Dinner was at Porter Pelle.  I had pepsi and a vegetarian dish (marsala stew with vegetables, yogurt, jasmine rice, topped with coriander.)

I left the restaurant to look at the boats docked and the river. I noticed a monstrous ship heading our way out beyond the bridge. I had never seen anything like it.

Turns out the Stena Line  transported people and cars between Sweden and Denmark. It passed by our hotel many times a day and docked nearby. 

One of the interesting things Angela and I noticed were the caps on water bottles or probably any plastic bottle such as soda (not sure they drink soda there – I only found “healthy” types of drinks sold in the hotel.)  The caps unscrew but do not detach.  The Swedes are big on environmentally related things – toilet paper, the save water flushers on the toilets, etc so I am not sure about the recycling of the entire plastic water bottle.  Here, locally, one must not keep a cap on a bottle to be recycled. They don’t take caps.

My suitcase did indeed arrive at the hotel sometime around 8pm or 9 though I did not discover this until I saw the email from the airline indicating it had left the Gothenburg airport around 8 to be delivered. I got it at 10pm.

Tuesday August 13

One of my earlier concerns was that I would not wake up in time to get to my events. Usually, when Angela and I room together I always wake up first - anywhere from 5 am to 7 am and get dressed etc.  Angela is not an early riser.  However, I did wake up before 7 on Tuesday and went down to the breakfast buffet where I found Mary Trotto and Barbara Warren already there. (They were always the first ones down to breakfast.) The buffet was great.  They had scrambled eggs, bacon, various types of bread and jams, oatmeal, pancakes, croissants, yogurt and berry mixes, and other items.  The coffee, tea, and hot water side area, had a sort of raised flooring in front of it – i.e. a lip.  I came close to tripping  on it.  Eventually Angela joined us.

Trotto's tram directions

Mary had already scoped out the transportation issue of the trams and which one to take to the main venue Slottsskogsvallen.(aka known to us as Slotts)  She tried to show us so we could write it down but Angela was not up to this adventure (getting lost, perhaps) so she opted for Uber and I joined her. (Maybe Warren too but I don’t recall as Mary and Barbara had different starting times for their events.)

Tuesday Angela and I both had the 100m, split into two heats starting at 08:45.  Angela’s was with Kathy Bergen. There were fast runners in both heats. I was in the second heat with Barbara Hensley.  I finished next to last in my heat, overall 11 of the 14 total runners. As I was running my heat, I felt as if I was veering to the right, close to the adjacent lane.  I concentrated on keeping straight and probably lost some speed worrying about my lean.  I still would have been close to last.  It was a very strange sensation, this list to the right. I had not experienced it before and did not know why it happened.  

I obviously did not make the 100m Final, which was that afternoon. Since I had hammer in the afternoon that would have been a conflict  I had not anticipated making Finals (in any of my track events.) 

Hammer was at Bjorlanda - a location more out in the country. Folks did steeplechase out there as well.  It was a mixed age group - 80-89. There were 15 of us in this mixed group.  Several of the women threw into the partially closed net.  A few times the official or volunteer had to climb a ladder to disentangle a handle or remove the ball portion from the net.  In general, except for Angela and I, all the women were quite adept.  In the 85 AG, the British Evaun Williams , W85, threw 31.04 meters winning her AG.  Only a few even in the 80 ag came close to that.  One lady, Ingrid Miller I think,  from Sweden was doing the throws for the first time in competition.  The woman from Australia, Mary Thomas, W80, grunted when she threw getting 28s and 29s, winning the W80 AG with a throw of 29.47m.  A very slight lady, Tomoko Kanari, W80, throwing for Japan got some nice distance throws.

For dinner, we (Mary T, Angela, Barbara W. and Cora H) walked .7 mile to eat at an Italian place, Enoteca Maglia, on Mariaplan.

on way to Enoteca Maglia

Angela & Cora awaiting food

Enoteca Maglia's bar

Mary Trotto & Barbara Warren waiting for eats

Fantastic food.  Casual dining. I had wine (Yes, when away at a Meet I drink wine) Taglioni Truffle with garlic and nuts as well as espresso. Superb.

Wednesday August 14

Mary Trotto, Barbara Warren and Christel Donley had the heptathlon at Bjorlanda at 11a.m.  Christel did most of it except for the 800m and 80H, but did finish.  As she was the only one in the W85 age group who dared do a Hep, she got first, and also the American Age Group record with point total of 1647. Barbara and Mary competed against each other as well as four others in their age group who showed up. Barbara got fifth with 1719 points and Mary sixth with1562 points. 

Physio with Marie Valdez at Slottsskogvallen.  I told Marie about my listing to the right the day before.  She worked on my left knee area etc. She said my right rib area was tight and showed me an exercise I could do standing in a doorway (cross right leg over the other with arms up holding to left side of doorway, leaning towards it. (as I recall)  Angela had a Physio session but also wanted to use the Normatec on her legs.

Cora said I walked with a list so I had her video me to see if i could see it.  I couldn’t.

On return from Slottsskogsvallen we ate outside at Klippans Konstcafe.  I had a Pepsi and pizza margarita.  I wanted something small, but it was huge and also had too much cheese for me. I could not finish it.  Cora helped out by eating one slice.  We had to leave some of it. 

Afterwards, Angela, Cora, and I went to the Nordstan Mall at the other side of town near Central Station, via Uber.  Angela was looking for a pair of Copenhagen sandals similar to those she bought in Tampere Finland during 2022 WMA Outdoor Championships. . https://www.copenhagenshoes.com/  She had tried ordering them from the company once back in the US but they do not ship to the US. So she was hoping to find them in Sweden.  We became quite familiar with the mall, trudging both upstair’s halls and downstairs.  Angela stopped in a few shoe stores none of which had the Copenhagans.

along route to Nordstan

book columns within a non book store 

  Meanwhile Cora and I were in hunt of souvenir gifts to bring back as well as for me, Ibuprofen.  All three of us got fruit juice slushy-like drinks from a mall stand, Slimfood Juice.  Earlier, Cora had approached the guy behind the counter asking him how one says shoes (in Swedish, her intent.) He replied - shoes! I think the juices made fresh were supposed to have some protein or maybe vitamins.  I do recall the fellow using fresh oranges to make mine.  Whichever one Angela got, she did not like.  

Every day or afternoon, Christel partook of one of the ice cream bars in the small freezer by the front desk.  One day I also did so, but put mine in the refrig in my room.  Mistake.  The frig did not have a freezer section which is what was needed.  I eventually threw out the soupy result.

Thursday August 15 

Angela had the 5000m event at 10:55a.m. at Ullevi Stadium, of which there was an older one and a newer one.  One had to be sure to specify it was the new one they wanted to go to. It was not far from Central Station and has a seating capacity of 75,000.  Watching the video later, it looked enormous and Angela so small trudging around the track beneath an empty stadium. 

Cora and I walked to Slottsskogsvallen from the hotel, not realizing how far it was from the Waterfront Hotel by foot. 

Cora Hill on our extended walk

Zounds.  We had initially just gone out for a short walk when I brilliantly suggested we go to Slotts so Cora could see if she could sign up for a physio. (which I could have used after that outing!)  We discovered the “tunnel” the desk fellow had told us we would use to get to the grocery store earlier in the week.  The short tunnel beneath the highway was covered with artistic grafitti. After exiting it we turned left to eventually reach the same spot at Karl Johansgaten we had arrived at using the longer Edelsvard route.  We turned right to cross the street and tram tracks and continued on up to the Italian restaurant Enoteca Maglia, where we’d eaten the prior night. 

Mary Trotto had mentioned that there were only a few tram stops to get to Slottsskogvallen, so I figured we might not have that much farther to walk.  Was I wrong!  We walked and walked.

 My cell was not great on battery usage.  Cora used her GPS to try to see how far it was to Slotts.  First, we did not have the address, so figuring out which Slottsskogsvallen location was correct was guesswork.  So we get to a place where the route forward went slightly uphill.  The GPS was saying go straight but there was a sign across the street on the right that made me think that way. Any way, we crossed and then stood there pondering.  A guy came running our way from the curved street on which we were standing. He was wearing a competition single, maybe Norway’s,  so we asked him.  He told us to follow the curved road then at the tram stop to cross and Slotts would be ahead.  Well, we did follow the curved street which actually took us to the Hogsbatran tram stop. We turned left to cross the tram tracks, went uphill a slight bit then came to another street to cross.  Ahead on our left was the building that was beside the Slottsskogvallen stadium area.  We had made it!

Once there, I showed Cora where the physio building was.  Fortunately Robert Thomas (USATF Masters Vice Chair) was there and he was able to set her up with some sessions in the next few days. While we were waiting for this to be set up, while standing outside of the USA team physio room, in an open area used by Norway, both Cora and I noticed to our left, in another small room, a guy standing naked. He looked at us.  I looked away, thinking, oh, there must be a shower there.  Nope, Cora tells me later.  (So, why the hell was this guy standing there like that? The following week, I saw that this was just an extension room.  No showers.)   And then we had the long walk back.  I think we figured out that the round trip was about 3 miles.  It seemed longer . My knees hurt by the time we got back.  I think we may have gotten back before Angela from her 5000m. 

We ate at Porter Pelle again. It was just a short walk from our hotel door to theirs.  Easy on the knees!  I had poached fish.  I have no idea what type of fish. It was white. And of course coffee.  Christel was under the weather at this point, I think.  

, .  

Friday August 16

Friday at 11 4x100 relay practice with Perry Jenkins for all of the US relay age groups.

Warren, Trotto, Perry, Angela

It was sort of overcast with a hint of drizzle. He had the lead off runner hold the baton in right hand and pass to the second runner’s left hand who then passed to the third runner’s right hand. The pass to the anchor was from #3 right hand to anchor left.  In the W80 group neither Barbara Hensley nor Angela Staab wanted to lead off and Cora Hill wanted to anchor so we practiced with me leading off.  We turned in our running order list of me, to Angela, to Barbara Hensley to Cora.

Mary Trotto’s team had Sandra  Edward leading off; Barbara Warren second; Mary Trotto third and Brenda Matthews Steele anchor.

Angela and I went to physio after. Angela for the Normatec.  When we returned I bought a frozen Snickers bar and a cashew something from the hotel freezer.  I put the Snickers bar into the refrigerator.  We ate lunch at Klippans Konstcafe where this time I had spaghetti.

The Swedes love their dogs!  So many were out walking them or taking them to the outdoor restaurants, even indoor at the Cafe.

Saturday August 17 

Mary Trotto and I decided to take the tram to Slotts.  Angela and others chose the Uber.  So, Mary and I are at the tram stop at Jaegerdorffsplatsen We were waiting for #3 tram.  We waited and waited.  Other trams came along but not ours.  Time is ticking.  Our relay was to be at 10.  So finally Mary says let’s take this #9. I think I saw it at Slotts so it should go there.  On we get.  And er, it starts off but then seems to take a different route. Instead of turning left it went straight.  And kept on going. We don’t recognize anything. 

On our trip to unknown at 09:34

As we are puzzling about how to get to Slotts, some others on the tram, seeing our USA uniforms, tell us that this one goes to Saltholmen, a transfer area, and we can then get one going back that will take us to Slotts.  We passed an area that seemed to have some nice neighborhoods and boat docks with various pleasure boats docked.  No idea where we were.  We got to the transfer point and onto a tram that got us back to Jaegerdorffsplatsen and then a #3 to Slotts by about 10 something. 

(Pink marks the correct stops)

Trotto, back at Jaegerdorffsplatsen at 10:01

We hurried to the meetup point but said not a word about our tourist excursion.

The relay  - oy! We started at 10:10 (how did we make it in 9 minutes? photo time stamp at jaegerdorffsplatsen 10:01. Valid time since photo time stamp of tram digital display matched that of the time shown on the display..)

Despite the fact that our order was turned in, the relay officials had Hensley as lead and me as third.  They had switched us and we had to go by that (yet the announcer and records have it listed as we had intended).

So I can see Mary Trotto about two lanes over from me.  I see Angela coming towards me. When she got to me; I messed up and did not grab the baton such that it felt secure.  This made me fall when I started to go forward.  As Trotto said - it looked as if I were praying.

In the meantime, on her team Barbara Warren’s hamstring gave out and she went down hitting her clavicle enough to fracture it.  She managed to get up and pass off to Mary Trotto.  On our team, the baton got knocked from my hand when I fell in my lane with my butt near the adjacent empty lane.  I grabbed the baton and ran as fast as I could to Cora, passing it to her okay.  Our time was 1:48.98.  Trotto team came in 4th in their age group (1:47.83) but the other teams were faster - #3 coming in at 1:25.38).

On way back to hotel

Warren got transported by taxi to a hospital where they x-rayed and taped her shoulder clavicle area.  They thought she had ruptured a hamstring and needed to get an MRI when she got back to WV. She was in much pain, more so with her leg than clavicle.  

I was in a diminished mood for the rest of the day.  We ate at the Italian restaurant again.

In the afternoon Angela and Cora had the 800 in Bjorlanda and I had shot at Slottssgotvallen.

We ate at the Italian place Enoteca Maglia again.  

all of us at dinner, wearing Donley's Champion shirts

Sunday August 18

 Warren being Warren wanted to continue to compete in some things.

 At breakfast, Paula, one of the US officials who is also an EMT advised against it after seeing xray Warren showed her.  Paula Was concerned the clavicle could perhaps break more and hit an artery.  Nonetheless Warren did continue to compete in selective things.  Mostly throws!

Sunday Angela and I had discus but the relay award ceremony conflicted so we had to skip it.

Monday August 19

Angela and I had javelin at Bjorlanda.  Turns out this stadium was built specifically for this WMA meet.  I managed to get into the finals (11.87m) but threw less distance in those last three throws.  The crew waited for me.  The 90 year old Swede Art Linde did well (4.99m).  Brazil wore brazil pants and an Italian jacket.  85 yr old Brit Evaun Williams set another record (24.78m). Funny woman.  Elsbeth Padia threw well enough (18.72m) to get second in AG 85.

Sweden and South Africa

  The official called many flats and it became a joke with the throwers.. At the end of competition Elsbeth and Evaun pretended to go after the good natured young fellow  – all 3 ran.

Elsbeth getting after the flats official

Tuesday August 20

200m heats.  Blah. Barbro Boback, SWE, ran a swift 37.05.  The announcer said she must have had a good breakfast.   In the second heat, Mary Smith made finals of course (38.79).  The announcer said, my goodness,Mary, you also must have had a great breakfast this morning!  Angela and I watched the second heat with Cora, Hensley, and Smith.  Cora was ahead of Hensley when she fell about 25 meters from the finish.  She got up and found her way to the finish but Hensley had passed her by then.   

Mary Smith waiting for her first tram ride

We seem to be the fallingest US Master team.  At least in the really older masters women (perhaps the men too but I did not witness those falls!)   Brenda Matthews Steele  in the 80mH on the 24th caught her back foot on the last hurdle going down, missing out on first.

In the afternoon Mary Smith ran the 200m final, the only American in the Final. Barbro Boback, SWE, finished first in 36.86 with Mary coming in second in 39.24 and Menja Stapelfeld, DEN in 39.30. Mary and one other were the oldest. This is probably the first time in her race events that Mary has not come in first.

Smith, Boback, & Stapelfeld

Wednesday+ August 21

Some of us went to the team get together in the early evening. We took a ferry to the other side of the river. After the snacks, I walked along the river front to take some photos of maybe a replica) of an old ship, which I think is hired out for parties.

ferry to other side of river

Old sailing ship

Once upon a time -- ship building

beautiful evening

I did not get back to the ferry dock in time to catch the ferry with Trotto and a few others. It was a long wait for the next ferry headed back to the other side of the river. When it arrived, I was surprised to find Mary Trotto on it! It seems they had gotten on a ferry not headed back across the river, but instead, towards Gothenburg center farther along the river. They had a great tour she said. So we ended up on the same return ferry after all.

Thursday August 22

Weight throw, Angela and I at Bjorlanda.

in the wind, looking at the clouds

While throwing, Warren and Smith came along to watch. Smith warmed up on the short track that was nearby.  It was cold and damp.   Angela’s hands cramped up. She said arthritis was inhibiting her. She was also bundled up in rain gear. She looked miserable.  But she did make finals and I did not so I went off to try to warm up for the forthcoming 400 semi.

Evaun Williams, W85, set a Meet and World record, throwing 11.97m. Kirsti Viittanen, W80, got first (as she had in the 2023 Indoors in Poland) with a throw of 12.60m, the Japanese lady, Sumiko Yamakawa Imoto,threw 9.26m to get W85 Second.  Angela threw 6.38m for W80 7th.  Mine went only 5.75m  for W80 9th. 

Later, the 400 semi.  It was dreary, cold.  I ran slowly until I made the mistake of trying to increase pace after the final turn .My quads locked up.  Every time I tried to go, they locked again. I ended up walking three times.  And yet after it was done and I was returning to the call tent area to get my stuff, I was able to run. Mary Trotto told us that we need not have run the semi as there were only eight of us. She said she had been yelling at us from the sidelines to slow up.  Mary Smith ran fast enough to finish first,  using up some energy. We could have skipped it and just done the Final the next day!  Great.

Cora Hill & Willy Moolenaar before semi

Friday August 23

Bjorlanda -- windy and wet

400 final. Bjorlanda. 13:30 start time.  Rain,about 63 degrees and 20 mph wind, gusting higher.  Wicked.  Cora, not feeling well, scratched from the final. The wind was horrid.  Angela placed a  clear bag over her head and body. It whipped round when we were led out onto the track to our start lanes. This provided the only laugh I had while approaching a 400m.  I went slow in Lane 2.  Angela in lane 1 passed me on the backstretch.  The announcer mentioned how Mary Smith had been within 2 secs of new record during the semi.  Then I heard a big gasp sound from spectators followed by the announcer saying something like - She won’t get it now.  That sort of raised suspicion in my mInd that something had happened to Mary.  I continued my slow pace passing Angela just before the turn into the final 100.  Remembering the day before, I did not try to increase pace but continued plodding along.  I still felt an energy drain just before the finish but got across to see Willy Moolenaar (USA) lying on the ground with Medical around her.  Angela (a retired NP) finished and approached Willy.  I was not sure if she had hit her head or what.  She was conscious but in a somewhat curled position.  Later someone said the wind got knocked out of her when she fell after leaning too far forward to beat the other lady to fourth, losing her balance. She later said her knee hurt.  Eventually I saw Mary and heard she fell maybe 20-30m from the finish such that the Netherlands woman passed.  Mary said when she tried to get up she couldn’t on the first try but then got up and finished soon enough to get second.  Anita Fast, Sweden, got third. So – Riet Jonkers-Sleger 1:32.85, Mary Smith 1:46.45, Anita Fast 1:52.93.

What a disappointment for Mary.  She did not complain but it had to hurt emotionally.  She said she felt as if her toe got caught and maybe the wind had caught her. She felt as if the wind was gusting into her.  All 97 pounds of her blown about. It was so windy that the road sign for the next day's marathon got blown down.

Her injuries were to the nose, inner lip, and right rib area which still hurt on Saturday.  She did  go to physio where Katie gave her an exercise to try to alleviate the rib issue which Mary said was thought to be muscle displacement. (post script – her ribs were not broken but a small bone in the shoulder region was, resulting in much discomfort for some time with a 3 month recovery prognosis. Turned out to be humerus.)

Mary was also unhappy with her time as it was the slowest since maybe she came out of diapers.  So Mary Trotto did an analysis of the race, coming up with a 15 second face plant deduction such that Mary’s time was actually  (1:46.45 - 15 seconds) 1:31.45.  

We -  Angela, me, Mary Trotto, Christel Donley, and Mary Smith ate at the closer place, Porter Pelle, and enjoyed the live music from a 4 person band. 

Mary Trotto before leaving for track

the band at Pelle Porter

steaming by, both electric and non electric ships

They sang a lot of American and some Swedish.  The main guy moved through the restaurant as he sang. A dog wearing ear plugs had arrived with its owner. I had the vegetarian spaghetti and Irish coffee.  On return to the hotel Angela and Trotto played table shuffle board while I watched.  They were both intent.  Trotto had a knack of getting her puck to just edge beyond Angela’s or knock hers out of play.

intense competitors!

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Saturday August 24

Breakfast.  Angela, Cora, and I walked to  the drugstore .69 miles.  They have extra strength Voltaren, 2.5.

We later sat outside on a bench near the hotel watching a wedding party enter a boat that took them away from the city area.  Angela was fascinated by the group.  It happened to be a fairly pleasant morning after a few dreary days.  On our return, I had gotten a sweet coffee at a small cafe place near the entrance to the tunnel underpass near the hotel.  

Angela and I sat outside to eat our lunch around 1:30.  Practice at Slottsskogsvallen  was at 4:30 and I had a massage appointment with Ricky Douglas at 3, one suggested by Marie.  Ricky definitely found the spots that hurt.  After, it eventually felt much better.  I also took the dual action ibuprofen acetaminophen.  

We decided I would lead off as I am the slowest (and I do not have to receive.) Cora second then Willy Moolanaar then Mary smith.  Christel kept telling us to hold hand high to receive while Perry Jenkins and Phil Greenwald  emphasized staying in the receiving zone.

Angela on her 75 team was dealing with Sandra Edward who wanted to be anchor while Angeia was saying Trotto faster and should be anchor. Sandra had been on our 4x200 team in Torun, her first time ever running a relay. She is primarily a thrower.  But she did fine in Torun.  So, obviously, she has been bitten by the relay bug! However, Trotto runs many events and is a faster runner.  Trotto was off competing somewhere. Eventually she joined her team. End result was that it was decided that Mary Trotto would be the anchor for their 75 team.  Sandra became the lead off. 

We ate after the practice at the Klippans Konstcafe. I had a kid portion of three meatballs mashed potatoes and a berry and sweet cucumber mix.  Mary Smith said her side still hurt.  Yet she almost fell asleep at the table. It was Mary, Cora, Christel, Angela, me and Warren. Trotto was off on the ferry seeing some of the islands.  She had wanted to go to the beach, however it was really dreary, damp, and cool out. Plus, it was getting late and she had to get the ferry ride back. I think she saw the beach, but that was it.

I asked the fellow at the hotel desk about the polar bear.  He looked it up on Google!  He said sometime ago the dock was white, resembling an iceberg. So someone placed the polar bear on it.  He said that is a Swedish thing to do - to have some fun.

Sunday August 25

Woke around 3 to a beautiful view.  Lightning in the distance then a torrential downpour.  One small boat with red light passing by was obscured by the rain.  Was this how it would be when we got onto the track?

Mary Smith still hurting.  Think I have a rib fracture, she said. She will have it looked at when she gets home.  She won’t push it in the relay. There is no other W80 relay team and the 75s have Germany and India to contend with today.  Potentially rain will get us.  I am concerned I may not pass as well as I did during practice, never mInd getting around the entire distance. I will be slow slow slow in order to have enough endurance.  I was concerned. In the Call room area the W75 German team did not show.  Hensley showed up with her leg wrapped above and below knee. What a group. We sat across from the throwers. I got a photo with Norwegian Elise Marie Wale, who had also been in Torun Poland at the WMA indoor Championships.  Trotto was sitting with them in the back.  Elise was in front facing me.  We sort of communicated with each other as I pronounced Nor-ge. (nor geh),. 

Elise Wale

The Brit official had runners number two and three in each US team put lane number on as well as the anchor, mainly because there were two US teams running concurrently.  After the lead off, running in the assigned lane, handed to their runner two, the rest of the team ran in lane one.  Having lane #s on helped the official queue up the next recipient when a US runner was coming in to pass the baton.  All the lead off runners were led out onto the track.  The US official (many of the officiating folk were from the US) put us in the appropriate lanes.  I think I was in lane 2 or 3.  No rain though it was damp and cloudy.

I started off slowly, at a pace I hoped would keep me from running out of energy before the finish.  I did notice as I came close to the first turn that one of the spikes on my left foot slightly skimmed the track – I.e. I was aware of it.  It made me lift my foot a bit more.  It put me in mInd of Mary saying her spike had caught.

Sort of a slow jog. then I come up on Sandra, one lane over.  I tamped down the urge to run faster to pass. Without changing pace I passed.  Now entering the curve.  Once I was on the straight away and saw Cora, she seemed two miles away. It was harder to maintain pace.  The legs were okay but the breathing not. 

It seems I would never reach 😒Cora - she seemed so tiny in the distance.  Yet despite my flagging endurance the urge to run fast to get to her cropped up but I feared the quads locking up so I held back.  Thank heavens I got to her and off she went.  I had slowed and stopped within my lane.  Angela called me to get off the track. 

photo by Doug "Shaggy" Smith

I was still sort of gasping, bent over and shook my head. There was no one else coming in my lane. Once breathing somewhat stabilized I looked back and lanes 4-8 to make sure clear and then got off of the track. Of course no one was in those lanes.  All the teams’ second runners, much faster than us,  would be in lane 1 and all future exchanges would be from lane 1.

In the 70+ mixed relay teams, Germany W70 came in first in 6:34.01. Our US W70 team came in second in 6:48.07. In our W80 team Cora came down the track and she handed  off to Willy

Willy Moolenaar

who took off. Angela had received the baton from Sandra and was now on the backstretch.  Willy made good time coming to the finish to hand to Mary who ran out as if nothing was wrong with her. 

Moolenaar handed off to Smith

She later said that she felt better (rib wise) wearing the spikes then she had the day before in her sneakers. She says her coach told her long ago to train in what you will race in so she always wears spikes. We came in third of the mixed group with a time of 8:45.34.

Eventually Mary Trotto finished for the 75s(11:07.37) followed by the Indians (14:46.54)

W75 & W80 4x400 relay teams (Colleen photog)

Our USA W65 relay team, consisting of Leandra Funk, Lesley Hinz, Susan loyd, and Elizabeth Deak, came in first in 5:02.25.

Funk, Deak, Hinz & Loyd

Some of the Officials

Sandy Triolo, our intrepid Masters photog

Colleen Barney, unknown, & Sandy Triolo

Trotto went back to her throwing pent and Cora, Angela, Christel, Mary Smith and I returned to the hotel, with Mary and I taking the tram.  Those of us who had returned to the hotel ate at the cafe for lunch.  It was crowded.  Later I went back with Cora and Angela as they returned to Slottskogsvallen to get into the team photo.  Sandy Triolo took a shot of the two of them in the stands and would magically photoshop them into the group pic.  April Lund also there to be-added in. Angela, Cora, and I went looking for Trotto and Warren throwing. They were behind the TIC throwing the weight.  Myrle Mensey threw a long one as I arrived. None of us saw Mary throw though I did see Barbara throw one.  It began a misty rain again and Angela wanted to get back.  We left.  Trotto returned with us. 

Warren still had another throw and ended up returning alone then going to eat at the Italian place.

Those of us returning before her, ate at Klippans Konstcafe, sitting by the window.

Angela and Trotto had a return match at the shuffleboard-like table.  Same result as prior night.

Monday August 26

Cora left at 3 am for her 6 something flight.

The three amigos plus Christel and Mary Smith  left at seven. Their flight had been canceled but they hoped to make another flight out. We encountered April Lund at the KLM baggage check in.  I did not recognize her as her hair was down and her trademark lipstick NOT on.  Incognito. 

April Lund

Both Warren and I had our bags checked (mine because of arnica etc tube I had bought and the other bag with the liquids.)  Unlike RDU Goteburg did not have the system that discerns without having to remove from luggage. Warren had herring, ugh, and strawberry jam in her luggage..

Mary Smith reading

Then it was the whole passport thing.  We found Mary and Christel as we walked to our gate.  They had been booked on a flight via Hamburg
and would get home around the same time as originally planned.

The Legend, Christel Donley

AMD passport check - place passport on scanner and look into camera. If it matches, the light turns green and the doorway opens.  Then it has to be stamped by the officials.  We were off to gate E7.  I got a cinnamon bun of which I had one bite before boarding.  That, and the KLM city hopper sandwich remain in my bag as I type this on the 8 hour return flight.

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Now, months later, it is almost Thanksgiving.  I have to say I am happy I shared this trip, adventure, with my cohort senior citizens who do not at all seem senior!  The sights, the competition, the people of Sweden, and the food all will remain in those recesses of the mind where good memories go. To Sweden “Tack sa mycket”