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

So yesterday, 24-Dec-2009, we ran the very special “While we wait” marathon.. just a few hours before Christmas eve ! No less than 30 runners from all around Denmark seized the opportunity to record the marathon on this beatuful winter day in the totally snowcovered landscape on Fyn, Denmark.

Santa is ready for a marathon !

The race started at 8 in the morning and it was great fun… the next picture tells it all, doesn’t it ?

Merry Christmas… and enjoy the rest of the pictures here.

Just like the last years, I give my you my take on the best marathons in 2009, i.e. amongst the ones I have participated in myself. Best does not necessarily mean ‘objectively best’ but does also emphasize the magnitude of the experience including ‘other’ factors such as city/nature facilities etc.

I have divided the marathons into four groups and as always, you find links to the races via ‘My marathons’ in the menu. You may notice that I have quite a lot of Danish runs on my list which both reflect that I have had most of my races here in Denmark this year… and that almost all those races have a very good level of organisation and experiences… this applies also to the races not in top 5. Keep it up, Denmark !

Incredibly, it looks like that I will reach +60 marathons completed in 2009 alone making it just below 170 in toto for me ultimo 2009.

Overall
1. Allermöher doublet + Beachmarathon weekend triplet (Germany, Denmark)
2. Zürich New Year (Switerzerland)
3. London (England)
4. Amsterdam (The Netherlands)
5. Samsoe (Denmark)

City marathons
1. London (England)
2. Amsterdam (The Netherlands)
3. Rotterdam (The Netherlands)
4. HCA Odense (Denmark)
5. Copenhagen (Denmark)

Nature runs
1. Storebaelt Nature (Denmark)
2. Rudersdal Cannonball 3 (Denmark)
3. Heide-Elbe (Germany)
4. Samsoe (Denmark)
5. Beachmarathon (Denmark)

Small races
1. Zürich New Year (Switerzerland)
2. Citroën Aalborg (Denmark)
3. Beer marathon (Denmark)
4. Vänersborg (Sweden)
5. Kalundborg 5 Taarns (Denmark)

These are lists based on my personal experiences, of course. To mentain memory of the best races ‘ever’, I  have a category of the ‘all-time best’ marathons as well. Here, the big marathons do live up to their famous names !

Best ever
1. New York (USA)
2. Swiss Alpine 42K (Switerzerland)
3. Hamburg (Germany)
4. London (England)
5. Rome (Italy)