Sunday 21 of March 2010 was the day for the 16th Rome Marathon and the 50 years celebration of Abebe Bikila winning in Rome 1960 barefooted, Bikila becoming the first from the African continent to claim an Olympic Medal.

Rome Marathon is one of my all-time favorite marathons and it did indeed live up to my expectations once again. I simply love the city of Rome and to complete a marathon passing so many historic and eternal churches, St. Peters being the most famous one,

buildings, squares and places is just out of this world breathtaking.. well, even literaly for my last 5 km.

Nevertheless, it was a true priviledge to participate in this marvelous event have the Start and Finish at the foot of the mighty Colesseum.

Personally, the race became my 175th marathon… making my full list of turning 25 look like this:

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

This past Sunday I had the pleasure of my first snowfree marathon in 2010. At the same time I opened up the season for big city marathons namely by completing Barcelona marathon.

I can’t hide the fact that I found the route a bit boring but this experience could in part perhaps be explained by the lack of (more) spectators. It was quite cold but clear and windfree weather and incredibly, Barcelona had tons of snow the very days after the race ! Well I enjoyed passing the famous Casa Batllo…

… and even more so Sagdrada Familia, both creations of the brilliant architect Gaudi.

Furthermore, I completed the race in my Spiderman suit which is always a cheerful experience and a real crowd pleaser.

You find the full picture story from Barcelona marathon 2010 here. Enjoy !

Oh wow… after six years with zero skiing days I last week enjoyed three PERFECT days in Val d’Isere, France, the resort being the parhaps best and most overall challenging in Europe. Just take a look here, firstly from the very top of the Grande Motte, 3456.

A video from the same area…

… and here we see Goofy on the moguls at Tignes.

Lastly, a picturesque snack from the off-piste near Le Fornet.

Vestegnsmarathon
Coming home my first run for three weeks – at all – awaited, the much anticipated Vestegnsmarathon just south of Copenhagen, Denmark. We had a great race but was once again troubled with winterly conditions and lots of snow on the route… cross-country skiing had been the better choice of the day.

Despite the lack of training, our hero prevailed, in a very slow time but feeling good !

You can see all the pictures from Val d’Isere and Vestegnsmarathon here

Yesterday I managed to complete the demanding Kalundborg Vintermarathon and thereby officially declaring my marathon year 2010 for ‘opened’ ! As always in Kalundborg I enjoyed to meet many friends and fellows both amongst the partcipants and in the organizing club.

Similar traditional was the tough battle that we faught on the route… and as usual also against the windy conditions on the Røsnæs peninsulla. Man.. that was COLD !!! It was an uphill battle in more than one way.

You find the partly snow-covered pictures from the race here.

Happy New Year !

Today, we said goodbye to this very active running year if not to say decade by running the traditional Socialmarathon on Amager just outside Copenhagen, Denmark. We were blessed with extraodinary good weather and had a very nice run including the humoresque trip through the departure halls of Copenhagen Airport !

How better could we end this decade of the 00’s ? Well.. see the pictures of the day here.

I wish you all a great New Year – may your dreams come through !

Kind  regards… Tor