Loppet is Swedish for race. Today, my colleagues and I participated in the KI Loppet, a health promotion event that attracted about 600 participants at Karolinska Institute, including students, professors, researchers, and the principle. We rallied eleven people from our lab group (two not in the picture) and formed three teams, two teams of two girls and two guys and a team of three guys. Each team member had to run 2.45 km and one guy on the guys team had to run twice. Ane (wearing sun glasses) was the primary photographer and Sandra (not in the picture) took charge of preparing a post-race picnic. The weather had been inconsistent for the past couple days but fortunately today was gorgeous.
Two physical trainers from Friskis & Svettis lead a pre-race warm-up of aerobic style exercises. Like learning how to dance for the first time, I felt completely uncoordinated and embarrassingly self-conscious. Oh well, I did it anyway. It was fun to have my colleagues beside me also struggling to keep up and imitate the right moves.
Before the start of the race, we were given batons to be carried by the team member who would be out on the course. The batons were rubber bones, which I thought was rather creative, and we chose three hands. Team huddle, go team!
Even though I had been training over six months for the upcoming Stockholm Marathon, I was pretty exhausted after my leg of the race. I started out strong for my team, being the forth runner to hand off the baton. Short distance runs can be more punishing than long distance runs, I could taste the blood coming out from the capillaries in my lungs.
Surprisingly, our guys team (Diego, Fahad, and Matthias) placed second and was awarded towels. Fahad was especially surprised when he heard the announcement, "What? Really?" and when asked how he felt answered, "I feel fast!" The awards were handed out by the event commentator, Janne Schaffer, also a famous Swedish guitarist and song writer who worked with ABBA. Fahad wasn't a shabby showman himself, jumping onto the stage and flexing his muscles...haha!
We ended the event with a picnic under the sun. What a fun day! I love running and exercising not only because it promotes health but also because it provides a medium for people to bond. Even for those in our lab group who didn't run, they had a reason to step outside and enjoy company and fresh air. Work hard, play hard!
Wow, it looks like you had a great time!
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