August 29 , 2005

I Can't Stop

OK, I know, I know. I was supposed to hang up the running shoes for a while after the Gold Coast marathon in Australia last month. Linda reminds me of this often. But then I read about the Reykjavik marathon in Iceland. I'd never been there. You could make it over and back in a weekend. The weather was supposed to be perfect for running. The island, its history, its landscape, its culture were intriguing. I felt good. Why not - even if it would mean my 7in7on7 would become 9in8on7.....!

Summer in Iceland felt curiously like winter in Cincinnati! I arrived at the Reykjavik airport on Friday morning, August 18th at 6:30am after an easy five hour flight from New York's JFK airport. I walked outside the airport and was met by a blast of chilly air - and this was the dog days of summer? I kept trying to remember what I'd heard about Iceland - "Iceland is green and Greenland is icy". Where was the green?

I got on the shuttle bus for the trip from the airport to downtown Reykjavik. The 45 minute drive took us through the slightly rolling landscape of volcanic rock topped by thick spongy moss - rather lunar looking in a Maurice Sendak sort of way. Of the 350,000 people who live in the island/country of Iceland, over 200,000 of them live in Reykjavik. Once I checked into my monastic, $175 a night room in the tiny, well positioned Metropolitan Hotel, I set out on foot to explore the city.

The scale of Reykjavik is wonderful, with very few buildings over ten stories. It's a city meant for walking - in fact the main street is a walking street only - no cars allowed. Every store seemed to have windows full of Icelandic sweaters with Nordic themes, and even though is was cold at times, I never saw an Icelandic person wearing one.

I bought a ticket to go to the Blue Lagoon - the can't miss destination in every travel book I read. A half an hour out of town, the Blue Lagoon is a huge pool created as a by-product of geothermal energy usage. A nearby power plant pumps millions of gallons of mineral rich water nearly two miles up from the earth's interior. Half of it is transformed into electricity and the other half heats fresh water. The run-off water which contains copious amounts of silica, salt and other minerals, supplies the Blue Lagoon. It's sort of a big swimming pool/spa, but filled with milky, unearthly light blue water. You change into your swimsuit, shower, and quickly (on windy cold days like the day I visited) dart into the water. The steam from the "blue milk" rises as you begin noticing others, slowly moving through the waters in a zombie-like fashion - their faces slathered with the white silica which is drying and flaking off - I sure wasn't in Kansas any longer....

I found a little of the Blue Lagoon went a long way, so I returned to Reykjavik, had an early dinner, and hit the sack.

Saturday was race day and the sun was out. The race course was beautiful and blessedly flat, with much of it along the rugged coastline surrounding the city. When the sun was out, it was summer and in the 60's. When the sun went in, the rain would start and the temperature would drop about 20 degrees and it felt like winter. The problem was it kept changing back and forth. I put on clothes, I'd take off clothes....over and over, warm, cold, warm cold. The organizers said they were hoping for 4,000 runners this year, but that had to include the 10K and half marathon, because there appeared to be only 400 or so runners in the full marathon. There was water every 5k on the course, an occasional banana offered, and the only entertainment was the 12 year old clarinet player of questionable ability who stood before his beaming parents in their front yard as we slogged by.

But finally it was over - #9 for this year and counting. I finished in a respectable 4 and 1/2 hours, went back to the hotel for a short rest, and then hit the streets again because it was "Culture Night", one of the biggest outdoor celebrations in all of Iceland. Private planes by the squadron seemed to be landing at the city's airport, passing within a few hundred feet of downtown on their way to the airport. This was a BIG deal in Reykjavik. The bands at the dozens of outdoors stages were cranking up. Every business was opened, with most of them offering some type of arts entertainment on their premises. Food stands were everywhere, serving up barbeque buffalo to a seafood grill that looked like an exhibit at the Newport Aquarium. And the music.... Now maybe "culture" in Iceland actually means gothed-out head-banging heavy metal bands, but that's about all I noticed, but the families were just as engaged as the young folks. I sampled Brennivin, often called "Black Death" because of its potency - its made of caraway-seeds and is drunk like schnapps. I sampled rotted shark which MUST be an acquired taste. Sheep's head also appeared on many menus - nothing appeared to be wasted. I ended up, however, at The Seafood Cellar, and had one of the finest meals I've eaten anywhere - the cuisine was unsurpassed at this small, underground restaurant - lobster and haddock and plaice.

On Monday I took a morning tour of the city and then caught the 4:30pm flight back to New York, arriving at 6:30pm. Back in Cincinnati in time for the late news!

What I go back to Iceland? Probably not. Am I glad I went? You bet. If you're looking for ethnic or racial diversity, you won't find it in Iceland. I've never seen so many tall, blue-eyed blondes in my life - it's like there was a convention of them there. If you want to breathe the cleanest air on earth, go to Iceland, as 98 percent of the energy is produced from completely clean geothermal sources. If you want to experience someplace that's just really different and exotic, go to Iceland. The waterfalls are spectacular. If you don't like the weather, I guarantee is will change within minutes. The steam rising from the hundreds of geothermal vents throughout the countryside are intriguing and a little otherworldly. And the people are friendly and glad you're there - spending your dollars to support their economy. It's very expensive - my dinner was $150 at The Seafood Cellar. But its well worth a brief visit.