Notes
I knew beforehand that there was no chance of a silver medal. But a PB, perhaps?
Forecast was for rain and it did drizzle near the end but the downpour didn't you arrive until after the race. I was a bit conservative with placement on the start line and as a result the first 2km were very crowded. Km2 was especially hard to run my own pace hence why it is slow.
I planned on running a more even pace as last year I went out too hard and had to walk parts. That went fairly well and I felt pretty comfortable for the first 10km even if the heart rate is a bit high. Grönstabacken was right after the water stop so I took a tactical break to get water but mostly to recharge before the hill. By that point I was convinced that a PB was not possible (indeed I was 1 minute behind) so I resolved to aim to simply not walk any stretches.
Running up Grönsta was probably a mistake though as the woman walking next to me was almost the same pace! But I did manage to keep the legs moving and tried to hold back to avoid stopping. When the 13km sign appeared I knew I was safe as I remembered that it was mostly downhill from here.
I pushed a bit when I realised the finish was near and I was very surprised to hear the announcer mention that sub 75 was possible (for another runner). I turned the corner into the finish straight and the clock said 74 mins and a few seconds. Sprinted as hard as I could and came in 14 seconds under 75! And a 18 second PB!
Very surprised! If I'm honest I was probably holding back a bit too much on the last few kms but not by a higher amount. A minute, maybe?