Stockholm Marathon

My husband and I stopped through Stockholm on our honeymoon and decided to run this for fun! It's definitely hillier than it leads on (I'm not sure if this elevation map is accurate as they've changed the course a few times) but it is a HUGE crowd and great scenery for anyone from the states! Definitely recommend is for the vibes, not necessarily as a PR course. My favorite part was ending on the 1912 Olympic track, crowd included!

This race starts at 12 pm as it's normally 50-60 degrees (F) at the time and ensures a crowd gets out there. Unfortunately we were there for an abnormally hot year (around 85 degrees) so be prepared to have extra water if this happens to you. They have water every 1.5-2 miles, they were short on volunteers so the water stops were a bit chaotic. They have awesome fresh fruit, pickles, coffee throughout the course though which was amazing!

Public transportation was super easy to use, both bus and trains so I recommend this! All systems accept Apply Pay and taps. Nice thing about a noon start is you have plenty of time to get there no matter where you’re staying. There’s also a free pasty party at the expo the day before which was a nice surprise! Also unique, they do not hand out the shirts at the expo, you get the shirts AFTER you finish along with a medal.

2023 was great, so I returned for 2024. This time, not so great. Though it's supposed to be one of the top ten marathons in the world, they were organized like some backwater fun run. They moved the starting time to noon, I guess so locals could sign up the morning of the race. A world class marathon has a cut off date months ahead and a cut off capacity. This had neither. As we stood in the 80 degree heat for an hour with electro dance music thumping away waiting for the start, the announcer kept boasting about the record number of runners they had, expecting us to cheer. The extra thousand they got at that morning while we stood in the heat was of no benefit to us. On the contrary, it meant coming up to water stations and finding no water. Sometimes you had to stop running and stand in line watching little kids fill cups with water one at a time. Any bottles of water or food before the start you had to bring yourself or pay for. At the finish, after much walking, I was finally handed a warm bottle of water.

It's a beautiful city to run through as well as visit. The crowds are great, it's mostly flat, you'll be treated well most of the time. They just need to go back to an early start and focus on the essentials better.