My marathon year 2011 has come to an end, perhaps a bit earlier than normally but various events have led me to this decision. I will train speed for the remainings of December and then look forward to see my marathon friends next year. Friendships is one of the great assets of the sport, right ?
Anyways, I will make a few posts on my phenomenal 2011. This year I managed to cut 24 minutes off my PB and to finally achieve a sub-4 hours result. The latter came about in my marathon no. 218 (!) in beautiful Vancouver, Canada, and by the graceful coaching by my friend Vagn Kirkelund, a very strong runner currently on the Danish National Team for 24 hours races.
Vancouver Marathon 2011 – pictures
My international year started off in Barcelona, Spain, a race I have now visited three times and this year was for sure the best experience and also my best performance though the streets of the Catalunyan capital (Barcelona Marathon 2011 pictures here). The next race abroad was also in Spain, this time Madrid Marathon (Madrid Marathon 2011 pictures) which was an interesting, varied and quite tough run to complete ! The night before I had the pleasure of watching “Il Classico” between Real Madrid and FC Barcelona at Santiago Bernabeau (1-1) and I could easily make a habit out of combining marathon running with visiting other great sports events.
Ok, then came Vancouver in May and later the mountains of Liechtenstein in June, sadly in rain but an awesome challenge in which I did rather well, I think, cutting off at least an hour compared with my previous and very similar mountain marathons.
LGT Alpin Marathon 2011 – pictures
Then came summer and thus a pause in marathon travelling. The next marathon was “partly” on Danish soil but then again not, namely the breathtaking Thorshavn Marathon in the Faroe Islands. Thorshavn Marathon is easliy one of the most beautiful marathons I have ever participated in, do check out the stunning pictures: Thorshavn Marathon 2011 – pictures
Then came October and the much anticipated Amsterdam Marathon. An unusual high number of Danes had found their way to this event and my friend Mogens Pedersen was amongst them. What luck for me that was ! Mogens simply assisted me to book the “unheard” finish time 3.42.39 and we had a great time in the Dutch capital. Amsterdam Marathon is for sure one of those races where you can expect to break your old records if you’re well prepared.
Amsterdam Marathon 2011 – pictures
Last exotic marathon was then the biggest of them all – New York City Marathon !!! It was my second attempt through the five borroughs and this year I managed to secure a sub-4 even running in my Spiderman suit. New York City is just such a cool place to be, so I can only recommend a trip to this perhaps “most wanted” marathon in the world. See for yourself: Spiderman runs New York City Marathon 2011 – pictures
In the next Part I will look into some of the best Danish races during the year (i.e. on my list).