Europe- Finland & Sweden

My coach Dennis, training partner Raeleen, and I arrived in Helsinki, Finland last Wednesday, July 21st. The flight was great and I managed to get some sleep on the way over so adjusting to the 7 hour time differnce hasn't been too difficult. We stayed 3 days in Helsinki and it's definatley in my top 3 places to visit. The weather was beautiful, 30+ with humidity and we were right on the water so there was a great breeze. The country side, water, and all the islands remind me of home in Eganville on the lake. They have the most wonderful farmers market downtown Helsinki with very fresh produce (like Grandma's from her garden), so Raeleen and I couldn't help but buy some fresh fruit and veggies.

After Helsinki, we travelled to a town smalled than Eganville called Lapenlahtti; this is where I ran my first race at the Savo Games. Two days before my race I had a fantastic workout, but perhaps I was still feeling the workout in my legs come race time, as the race wasn't as fast as I had hoped. I ran 2:04.5 and was feeling very tired the whole race. I wasn't too concerned with it, these things happen and I still have a few races to run.

Next we stopped in Joensuu, Finland. We took a bus with some other athletes from Save Games to Joensuu. Our hotel was directly across from the track which is great for race day, I could walk over when I needed to. At this meet, called the Joensuu Games, I was the pace setter for the 1500m race. I ran 1000m of the race, setting the pace for the women behind me. I haven't done anything like this before, or even ran a 1500m before so this was all new to me. It turned out great, I ran well and the women in the race ran some personal bests as well.

Now I'm in Stokholm, Sweden about to run in the Diamond League. A Diamond League event is huge in the track and field world. This is where all the "big guns" (like Usain Bolt and other world class atheltes) come to compete; you get points for placing in certain events and in the end who ever has the most points gets a diamond. There is prize money available along the way and there is about 13-15 Diamond League races all over the world to compete in.

Previously the plan was to run an 800 in another race, but the seed times weren't very fast so it probably wouldn't have been a fast race for me. My coach, Dennis, got a call wondering if I could pace for the womens 5000m race at the Stokholm Diamond League. The pace setters weren't able to make it, so it was very last minute. I need to run 1200m of the 5000m race and then another pace setter will take over for another poriton of the race. What's cool is that the girl we are setting the pace for is trying to break the world record! I'm extremely excited to be a part of this and nervous all at the same time.

I have one more 800m race on August 2nd in Karlstad, Sweden and then I'm heading back to Canada. The season will be over for this year after my last race. I will keep everyone posted on results and how the Diamond League turns out.

Getting internet and a computer at the same is difficult over here at times, so I will update as soon as I can.

Melissa