Tor on Marathon

Eventful opening of August 2011

By Tor Rønnow on Tuesday, August 9, 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.

Marathon

Ecco BIOM B

By Tor Rønnow on Sunday, July 31, 2011

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.

Marathon

Turning 25 again – 225.

By Tor Rønnow on Sunday, July 24, 2011

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.

Spirituality

Love, Hatred and Terror – recipes ?

By Tor Rønnow on Saturday, July 23, 2011

Yesterday, the World witnessed the sad and brutal attack in Norway including a bombing of Oslo and a mad man’s shoot-down of a large number of youngsters on a nearby island. The immediate reaction is disgust, sorrow and anger and wishes for hard punishment if not torture or worse.

Thinking a bit further, however, brings me to other thoughts. Firstly, WHY do incidents like the one in Norway happen ? HOW should they be avoided ? And how should we really react ? I think the “immediate” answers are given above but that the true correct ones are to be found elsewhere. They are to be found at persons like Jesus, Gandhi and Dalai Lama. The only universal answer is: love – and forgiveness.

Which sounds absurd, I know. But isn’t it so that we react with self-protection when we are hurt ? And that “hurt” most often means “loss of love” to some extend. And that this self-protection then evolves into isolation, fear, hatred … all kinds of malfunctious stuff in our psyche ? That seems to be the common experience, I believe. The only way to break it is… by loving. Loving as an out-going and active feeling from yourself and in deep accordance and harmony with the universal values of Mankind, love as from the state of Grace, as from your personal Pieta with the Globe.

Let me be a bit blunt: most of you are complete ignorants – and be happy for that, I tell you ! Most of you do not know the true sorrow of loosing nor the real impact of Death. You only know your fears about it (if even). But let me tell you this: at the time a person losses everything and says goodbye to Life, only one feeling is present: Love. Love to Life, Love to the near-ones, Love to situations and shared experiences. Love.

So yes, we have to try to embrace everything with Love, even when it seems impossible. Let’s all use the events in Norway to raise the level, not lower it. Let’s go for the greater universal values and truths. Let’s go for Love.

Marathon Spirituality

A Few Good Men (and Runners)

By Tor Rønnow on Friday, July 8, 2011

Just watching a good “old” movie from my youth, A Few Good Men, staring Jack Nicholson, Tom Cruise and Demi Moore amongst others. Great stuff ! One of the touching points in the movie is the concept of a “code” that the Marines adhere to and the strong bonds and rules that connect the Soldiers for good and for worse.

Actually, I grew up in a kind of similar way, namely on a boarding school. There, we also had different kinds of “punishments” and we had a “code”. We were a unit. It took me many years to put these years of my childhood behind me and I missed the unique feeling of a “unit”. In recent years Im beginning to pick up on these old mates e.g. via Facebook… and I strongly feel that we somehow still have a unit, that we would help each other if needed. It happens, actually.

Running marathons have created another type of “unit” for me, also unique and also with an unspoken “code” involved… or well, maybe that is something I imagine myself. Some of the other guys believe stuff too, I guess, getting tattoos of “Marathon Klub 100” and shit… pretty strong statements if you ask me ! (still thinking what *I* should get.. and *where*). I like to belong to such groups driven by a common passion, namely the love for Running… which obviously streatches outside any country’s borders… proven by the fact that I have Facebook Running mates on nearly every Continent of the Globe.

The most famous qoute from the movie ? We all know it, don’t we ? We should perhaps apply it a bit more in our lives. Yes, we should separate REALITY from ridiculous life-lies and self-invented images. We should avoid the sad waste of Time and Life in dropping REAL experiences in Life instead of pursuing fictionary “ideals” that no Humans can live up to anyway. So if you are not known in the entire World by 25, you are *not* a genious. If your salary is less than say 200.000 $ a year, you are *not* rich. Yes, people cheat in their marriages. No, if you do not live on a Castle, you are *not* a Princess. And so on. Make the most of your *reality* instead of crying over the losses of your *vanity*. Period.

The Truth ? YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH !

Live with it !