I'd stayed the night in a new hotel for me in a different part of Stockholm. The usual hotel was fully booked and so I was staying in the Scandic Hasselbacken on the east side of the centre. This is a nice place but not as modern as the Courtyard on the west side of the centre. Still it gave me a good opportunity to run in a different area of the city.
After getting some advice from the Swedes, I set off along the canal to the north of Djurgarden and through the park. The advice was good and the scenery was lovely. I wasn't feeling too fresh as I'd had little sleep and too much to drink the previous evening. I decided that the only way to feel better and to burn off some calories was to punish myself by running a little faster than usual. I glimpsed the Garmin after the 1st kilometre and I thought I saw 4:23 (in fact it was 4:33 but obviously my eyesight was a little blurred!), this encouraged me to try and maintain this pace for what I'd been told was a 12 - 13 km course. The kilometres passed and I enjoyed the scenery alongside the canal and some magnificent houses and museums in the park. The weather was pleasant as it wasn't too warm but dry and sunny.
I crossed the last footbridge towards the end of the canal and ran back along the south side of the Djurgarden island. I managed to maintain a 4:25 - 4:30 pace, despite some little uphills and downhills along the path. There were a few other runners about but not it was not half as popular as on the west side of Stockholm where there are literally hundreds of runners out training early in the morning before heading into work.
I finished the loop of the island and made it back to the hotel for a little over 10km, shorter than I'd been told. I continued on for a little longer and rounded my run up to 11km before stopping.
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