End of Year Five

My first marathon was in Copenhagen, Denmark almost five years ago, ie. the 16.05.2004.

Thus, my personal marathon year spands from the 16th of May each year. Due to rest the next few weeks, I have now completed my first five years of marathon running :

Year 1: 4 marathons – including Berlin and London !
Year 2: 12 marathons – including Stockholm, Amsterdam, Dublin, Elbtunnel, Paris and Hamburg.
Year 3: 28 marathons – including New York, Boston, Rome, Barcelona, Vienna and ‘my own’ event GARMIN Rudersdal marathon.
Year 4: 36 marathons – including Chicago, Magdeburg, Paris, Zürich as the biggest events. Notably, I collected the last of the World Majors with the completion of Chicago Marathon.

Year 5: 46 marathons ! Including marathon no. 100 and two-on-one-date (28-jun-2008) as some of the memorable events. To be highlighted is also the fantastic Swiss Alpine 42 K, Zürich New Years Eve, Budapest, Frankfurt and Dublin, Rotterdam.. and, not to forget, the recent London marathon where I ran in my Spiderman suit… with a concussion ! Will you believe that ! Madness !

You can find picture and stories from most of these races via ‘My marathons’ from the menu at the page left. 

New trends in dying: killed by a Grande Latte

So I went to see the Medical Doctor yesterday. His verdict was clear and unambiguous: I had suffered a concussion last Saturday when banging my head in the fricking and life-threateningly too low ceiling on the second floor of the Starbucks Cafe on Tottenham Court Road just opposite the Center Point.

Furthermore, it was clear that I thus had been quite tough on myself running two marathons within three days with this dangereous injury, a feat that could be fatal if not to say LEATHAL ! I still suffer severe headaches and had to cancel a pleasure trip to Jutland this weekend as well.

Morale: do NOT underestimate the potential leathal impact of a Grande Latte 😉

Ok.. more seriously so… episodes like this makes you think a bit about the values in life. Stuff can happen and steal your entire life in a second.. a blow to the head, a car crash, a stray bullet or a bad disease. We can fall short to Destiny in many ways.

My only thought this past week has been: I want to see my children ! I want to see them grow up, I want to see them live and be happy, I want to give them all the best in Life that I possibly can. I don’t want to die now ! Maybe I’m overracting a bit… but then again, ask Liam Neeson if I am, his late wife dying after a ridiculous head trauma on a skiing holiday.

Life really is precious – NEVER fall pray to triviality, complacentcy or foul play.

Live by honesty and courage !

Live !

Flora London Marathon 2009

This past Sunday I completed the Flora London Marathon for the second time, this time in my marathon nr. 125 (the first was my marathon nr. 4, four years ago).

We – I and 38.000 other runners – had the extreme pleasure of experiencing London in perfect, sunny weather with no wind thus making up for perfect if not a bit too warm conditions… and the race was crowned with a new course record in 2.05.10 by Wanjiru of Kenya.

I was to be found just a bit futher below on the result list… but had a great day in my Spiderman suit which obviously propelled a lot of repsonse from the fantastic crowds.

You find the full picture story from Flora London Marathon 2009 here.

The Jutland Triplet

Wow… what an Easter it has been ! First, Mogens Pedersen and I warmed up with the Dublet in Hamburg and Rotterdam (see previous post) and then came the triplet in Jutland, the first two marathons completed within 24 hours and the last one, the so-called toughest marathon in Denmark, Aalborg Brutal marathon, following Friday. Quite a challenge, quite a feat !

For the foreigners: Jutland is a remote part of Denmark only barely with electricity, the people speak a funny ancient dialect and are intimate with their cattle 🙂 Ahh.. well… maybe not… anyways… three runs within three days and in nice weather in these outlands… just perfect !

First, Wednesday evening… a small race near Horsens… running at the sea and on an easy, flat course… pictures here.

Then, Thursday, time for the extreme challenge in ‘Hasle bakker’ near Aarhus where we climbed the VERY big hills no less than 22 times, for sure making this one of the toughest marathons in Denmark ever and making Aalborg Brutal on Friday look like a kindergarden fun-run. Enjoy the pictures from Hasle bakker here.

Lastly – and making the Triplet complete – the enjoyable Aalborg Brutal marathon… this year in sublime sunshine and with great support from the crowds on the notorious hill on ‘Skovbakkevej’. Indeed a very tough run and more so on a day three in row !

You find the brutal pictures here.

Summertime in Hamburg and Rotterdam

Yet another wellness weekend and even taking an early peek at the Summer 2009… at least when you consider the weather in Hamburg this Saturday… 19-20 degrees and just wonderful conditions at the Ôjendorfer See ‘Alpaka’ marathon. You find the pictures here.

Rotterdam marathon 2009
Just after the race Saturday, Mogens and I endured a five hours drive to Rotterdam, Netherlands, and were lucky just to reach the gorgeous pasta party in the Euromast Tower. What an ingenious location for a runners meal ! Anyways… Sundays race in Rotterdam went well… and we could thus book another marathon doulet to the collection.

Rotterdam marathon 2009 was a great event, look for yourself here.