Thorshavn Marathon 2011

Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. This past weekend I was lucky enough to win.

Not only did I participate in the extremely beautiful Thorshavn Marathon on the Faroe Islands and with a quite good effort, no, I also gained some new friends up north and I learned a lot about the life on these islands way up in the Atlantic Sea. As you can imagine from these sample photos…

… it’s hard not to like the spectacular nature of the Faroe Islands.

The race itself, Thorshavn Marathon, is organized by the local running club Bragdid. The field was mostly populated by local runners from Bragdid and the “competing” club Treysti (from Klaksvik) but also counted a number of international runners from e.g. Norway, Denmark and Italy. After a short roundtrip “downtown” Thorshavn…

… we settled for a ride in the country side and I must say: what great out-doors ! LOL !

The marathon was quite tough, actually, with a great number of hills of miscellaneous mortality but running in sunshine and with the view of the Atlantic Sea was a very serene experience !

Well across the finish line I could thank Pól Sundsgard for a terrific race and weekend (and thank you to all my other new friends up there !).

I strongly encourage you to consider this race on your to-do list, especially if you collect island marathons. Here you find my full report from Thorshavn Marathon 2011

Press section update

Various articles have been added to the press section.

I am especially delighted with my contributions on the new ambitious website “Motion Danmark”, a new and important country-wide initiative to get people to be physically active. Added also is various articles on the book ELSK AT LØBE.

You may enjoy the reading listening to the beautiful song below. I’m not sure if the lyrics was written for me but I guess it could have. Both ways.

SPARTA Powerade Copenhagen Halfmarathon 2011

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…
SPARTA Powerade Halvmaraton 2011 - Tor Rønnow

… and took the runners through some scenic parts of Copenhagen…
SPARTA Powerade Halvmaraton 2011 - Tor Rønnow

… including the turist attraction Nyhavn…
SPARTA Powerade Halvmaraton 2011 - Tor Rønnow

… and finally the finish line with tons of people cheering their lungs out. GREAT STUFF !!!
SPARTA Powerade Halvmaraton 2011 - Tor Rønnow

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 !

Vestegnsmarathon 2011 - Tor Rønnow
A scenic part of Vestegnsmarathon 2011.

Transformation vs. Preservation

As indicated before, I do have a very strong intuition at times. I “know” things before they happen or at least fully unfold. This is handy in some situations, troublesome in others. Especially hurtful is when I “see” bad actions, bad intentions, poor friendship behaviours, lousy love-affairs and the like way up front. And I guess I blame myself for not pulling the bullshit-break sooner than I mostly do. I actually give people too many chances… knowing that they will misuse them… and still end up like the fool. Speak about having good intentions with a shitty result !

On a larger scale I think as a parent that is important to evaluate what we pass on to our children, both actively and passively.  Children copy our behaviour and they make decisions that can last a lifetime. So it is far from trivial which values we carry.

Those of you who know me quite well know that I carry Integrity and Perseverance as very high values. I do NOT take the easy solutions. I am unbribable. For the same reasons I will tend to lower deceit and mistrust and it is for sure a fact that if you position yourself outside my circle of trust, you’re out for life. I may probably forgive you (or myself) along the time but you will still never re-enter the circle. Luckily, only a handful of persons thoughout my lifetime has taken this “trip”… underscoring the severity when I say “out”.

I truly believe that Life means “include”, but I do also have standards and they are not for sale. Not for sale for superficial friendhips, not for sale for flattery, not for sale for public attention, not for sale for manipulation, not for sale for “convenience”,  NOT FOR SALE ! So yes, my kids will be fed the values of Integrity and Perseverance, alongside with Honesty, Physical Activity and the love for the Nature. Core values of the old world, perhaps.

My Children will also be encouraged to exploit stuff themselves. They are well at it already, and outpowering their old man. Isn’t that nice ! That is the way Life should be: the next generation superseeding the old. But “we” old ones can still evolve, we can still transform. To this end, I am about to. But unsure in what way. But it will be a huge Transformation. As it has happened a few times before in my Life, strong voices call from “the other side”, like prerecognitions of a Personal tsunami completely overflowing my Reality. I try to dismiss these voices (mostly appearing in Dreams) – but all efforts are in vain.

So I have to find out: what is the next Transformation ? What is to happen ?

The Phoenix will fly !

Eventful opening of August 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.