Hi everybody,

Yesterday I ran the obstacle course Arena Run.

What is Arena Run?

“Arena Run is an obstacle run where you run, crawl, jump in, under, over and through obstacles in a unique arena environment. It gives you the opportunity to challenge yourself as an individual or as part of a team. The race has a total distance of 5K within the arena premises and you run up and down stairs, in-between bars, through tunnels, stands and corridors, and out on the pitch.” - arenarun.se

I’ve been off my running practice for a few weeks because of a stubborn cold but I didn’t wanna miss this event that I’ve been so excited for.

With the Foo Fighters album in my ears, I traveled to Friends Arena. Upon arrival I saw the finishing ramp which looked steep and some doubt appeared. I wasn’t sure if I could run the whole way up. After watching the first runners complete the course I reassured myself that I could do it without any problem as well.

Part from all the other participants I saw a lot of trainers from TSM (not so strange really since the Marathon group was one of the arrangers). Later my family arrived to spectate and I went with my sister to the participants area. While waiting for our start, we saw a runner dressed like Jason Voorhees with the white hockey mask and an apron. He didn’t run with a machete though.

The race itself had an interesting setup where the obstacles were divided into four sections, meaning we left and entered the pitch several times. A lot of the running were done in lanes and it was slippery and I lost my grip a few times. Among the twenty different obstacles, I’ll only mention a few:

  • Ramp run was my favorite and I’m happy they chose to use it several times
  • Fast wheel knees is a classic and I made a mistake on the first wheel and almost tripped
  • Big wheel was the only obstacle that offered a challenge. I got over the first two with a small struggle and on the last I got a gentle push from behind to not block the way

I paced my running with my sister so we could finish together.

A reminder for coming events will be to have colorful clothing so the supporters actually can see you among the crowd. I will keep this positive feeling of accomplishment and bring it to Stockholm Tunnel Run Citybanan which is in 34 days.

Oh and BTW I didn’t got picked for the ASICS FrontRunner team but at the same time I got a nice hat from TSM for attending every training session in January so I’m still happy that I at least applied. You win some and you lose some. 🙂

siblings-with-medals

This year’s first medal and the biggest one to date.

arena

Friends Arena in Stockholm.

Gift from TSM

Gift from TSM 👌

Take care! 🙂

/ Rasmus