I guess it’s like five years back since I last ran a halfmarathon. So, Sunday in beautiful and for once sunny Copenhagen I entered such a race and boy, WHAT A RACE !!! Frankly, I think the organizers SPARTA managed to pull off the best-ever running event on danish soil.

The race started at 11.00 hours…

… and took the runners through some scenic parts of Copenhagen…

… including the turist attraction Nyhavn…

… and finally the finish line with tons of people cheering their lungs out. GREAT STUFF !!!

I managed to complete in 1.56.58, not too bad since I had run a full marathon just the day before.

You can read more about my Powerade Copenhagen Halfmarathon and Saturdays Vestegnsmarathon following the links. Enjoy !

A scenic part of Vestegnsmarathon 2011.

Some months are quiet, some are busy. I guess this August of 2011 will be a busy one. It has opened quite busy for sure, not only with respect to the stock markets world wide and with the events in London these past few days, but also for me personally in, nicely, more pleasant ways.

Firstly, I have  the honor to be the feature story in the biggest running magazine in Denmark, Lobemagasinet, and even figuring on the front cover. If you read danish, do invest, the article is very well written, actually.

The first weekend of August featured a double marathon for me, two tough races and two very special events indeed. Saturday saw the debut of Strynø Marathon, a superbly well organized event on a small island just south of Fyn, Denmark. Read all about my experiences from Strynø Marathon – and as the photo below indicates: it was a tough one !

(Photo: Ib Stokkeby)

Sunday came the unusual race at and around an old military air camp. Furthermore, the race was a celebration for two very good running friends each grabbing their marathon no. 100, namely Morten Pihlsbech of Denmark and Susanne Gren of Sweden. The day started out rather awfully with gusting showers and hard winds, but magically everything cleared up and we could cheer Morten and Susanne in somewhat sparkling sun in the stunningly beautiful nature at Avnø, Seeland, Denmark.

I think I managed quite well in this very tough race. See my impressions of the day here.

A few weeks back I had the pleasure to “win” a pair of Ecco BIOM B running shoes. They arrived this week and I took them on a 5 k run immeadiately. My gosh ! This was for sure the best ever first-time run in ANY pair of shoes. The shoes are build from yak leather and are crafted to support Natural Running, read more on the Ecco website. They have a very comfortable fit and the heel is rounded to avoid the “break” of the traditional running shoe. Just looking at the shoes is a different and intriguing experience, try for yourself below.

A rather detailed training plan is supplied with the shoes…

… however, I was to thrilled by their unique fit as to dare a full marathon in them in my run no. 2 in them, probably not something everyone should do, and I was really excited to see what that would bring ? Thus, yesterday, I completed a full marathon in my new Ecco BIOM B shoes and lets put it short: it was AWESOME !!!

It is quite clear to me that this is the shoes that I have been needing for far too long… and this is the shoes that I will use in my attempt in October 2011 to run sub 3.45 in Amsterdam Marathon. I will update my blog here with my experiences with these Ecco BIOM B shoes and will describe the shoes in more detail later as well.

For now, I send my kindest of thoughts to the World Runner Jesper Kenn Olsen who made this possible for me. Jesper is currently in the middle of his World Run II, running also in the BIOMs.

Turning 25 is always nice, today I did it again for the 9th time, marathonwise. The event was a small local race near Copenhagen and I had the pleasure of the company of Birgitte Munch Nielsen for a good part of the run, Birgitte being the most experienced female marathoneer in Danmark. Sadly, however, my out-of-form showed rather early and I had to struggle quite a bit to secure the race.  Thus, my 25-list looks like this now:

25 27.08.2006 Landskrona (Sweden) Pictures
50 30.06.2007 Kristianopel (Sweden) Pictures
75 20.04.2008 Zürich (Switerzerland) Pictures
100 02.11.2008 Skovmaren (Denmark) Pictures
125 26.04.2009 London (England) Pictures
150 19.09.2009 Vänersborg (Sweden) Pictures
175 21.03.2010 Rome (Italy) Pictures
200 22.08.2010 Blokhus (Denmark) Pictures
225 24.07.2011 Skinnermarathon (Denmark) Pictures

The historical note to this weekend is of course related to the sad events in Norway and the loss of Amy Winehouse. In a larger context running marathons (as I do it) is merely like kids playing, a luxury in an often harsh and brutal world. My respect to the victims and to Amy.