Terhi Martikainen

As promised, here's a little summary of all the hours spent swimming, biking, running, eating, sleeping and laughing on the windy island. For those interested, Fuerteventura actually translates to 'strong winds' (fuerte viento) or 'strong adventure' (fuerte aventura) depending on the source - both quite suitable. The language nerd inside me likes the mind game behind the etymology of the island, but I guess that doesn't really suprise those of you who know me well enough. That being said, I think the wind gods went quite easy on us and there were only a couple windy days during the camp - at least on the scale of someone used to living by the sea and constant wind. Don't get me wrong, it was windy every single day, but not the kind of winds where you ride your bike 15km/h the other way and 50km/h back or where you fight against the sidewinds to stay on the road. We also missed the 'calima' by a few days so I still don't know how it look...

If you read this, you most probably already know what I've signed up for this year. I started thinking about Norseman the second I heard about it the first time in 2011. Years passed, injuries and illnesses passed and somehow I found myself taking part in the lottery last autumn for the first time ever. I threw myself into the lottery quite nonchalantly as the odds for getting a spot at the race were quite minimal (5000 people participating and just about 200 got the spot through the lottery). But well, against all odds, my name was picked in the lottery as the lucky number 17. I took that as a sign and decided that second that I will be ready on August 1st 2020 to swim 3,8km in the freezing cold fjord, ride my bike over the hills for the 180km and then run a little marathon to finish up on Gaustatoppen. I have absolutely no idea what it takes to do that. I have never even completed a regular Ironman on the normal flat courses. But I know people who have done Norseman getting the...