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.
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…
… and took the runners through some scenic parts of Copenhagen…
… including the turist attraction Nyhavn…
… and finally the finish line with tons of people cheering their lungs out. GREAT STUFF !!!
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 !
A scenic part of Vestegnsmarathon 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.
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.
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.
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 !
This past Saturday 11th of June 2011 I completed the LGT Alpin Marathon in Liechtenstein, thereby adding both another mountain marathon to my list as well as a “new country”. The “LGT Alpin” was a huge experience and a great challenge and it was just bad luck that the weather really sucked: rainy, foggy, and low-hanging clouds the entire day.
Despite 1870 heightmeters up and 720 down I managed quite well, I think, in this my marathon #200 running with a camera ! Too bad that the full scenic potential of this race didn’t sparkle that day. I need to come back !
Read all about my day at LGT Alpin Marathon 2011 here.
So Sunday 22th of May was indeed the very day for this years’ Copenhagen Marathon in, well, Copenhagen, Denmark. It turned out to be a great experience with tons of spectators in the streets and a cheerful and quite international atmosphere around the Capital. I had the honor of being a VIP runner once again and ran with a live-tracker device. Thus, you can replay my performance on www.copenhagenmarathon.dk, it’s funny to see the dots move about in different speeds.
Anyways, I had the pleasure of speaking with one of the other invited runners, the young American woman Scout Bassett, a charming woman taking a big applause for her efforts, truly an inspiration for us all ! Nice meeting you, Scout !
The Marathon itself was in the secure hands of SPARTA headed by the perhaps 2012 Olympian runner Dorte Vibjerg, you all did a great job to pull off this fantastic event for all us participants out here. Thanks !
The weather started out almost too hot and humid but after a short but intense shower the air cleared up and it all ended to our delight: sunshine and blue sky. I’ll be back to Nykredit Copenhagen Marathon next year for sure !
You find the pictures from the entire route here.
Sunday 1th of May 2011 is a historic day !
For Vancouver Marathon, the race celebrated its 40th year anniversary. For me personally because I finally broke the sub-4 hours in a marathon. It only took me 218 attemps, kind of a Chaplin approach to that 3.xx.xx feat. Historic for the World because this was the day that Osama Bin Laden was killed – EKIA – on the orders given by President Obama of the USA thus hopefully putting an end of the terrorism by the Al-Qaeda (sooner rather than later).
Anyways, back to beautiful and stunning Vancouver Marathon where I had the pleasure of chatting with Kathrine Switzer, the first woman to participate and complete the legendaric Boston Marathon (as written also in “ELSK AT LØBE”).
Lets use the words with prudence: Vancouver Marathon 2011 was FANTASTIC ! It was an extremely scenic route with superb views on the City skyline, the distant mountains, the blooming fruit trees and passing the proud Stadion for the Vancouver Canucks, the city’s ishockey team still playing for the Stanley Cup here in 2011. I took so many nice pictures thus it is difficult to single out a few… but take a look at this one:
and this one:
… the latter giving credit to my running mate Vagn Kirkelund for acting as my personal pace setter this day, indeed an invaluable part of the outcome for my part. Vagn is a very strong runner with several sub-3 hours (!) marathons, +210 km in 24 h races and a completed Spartathlon, so thanks, Vagn, for slowing down and running Vancouver together !
You find the complete picture and photo story from Vancouver Marathon 2011 here, including footage from the Capilano Suspension Bridge and skiing at Grouse Mountain. What’s not to like ?
Last weekend I had the extreme pleasure of visiting Barcelona, Spain, for two great events: FC Barcelona – Zaragoza (1-0) on Camp Nou Saturday evening and, not to neglect, Barcelona Marathon 2011 Sunday.
In short, it was a spendid trip. It became a weekend with sun and a twist of spring and in company with runners from all over the world, not to mention the company of Leonil Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, Bojan, Villa etc. all showing off their exquisite soccer skills. I can easily recommend the cocktail of soccer and marathon and in Barcelona we had the toughest drink in the world: The Messithon !
It was a HUGE experience to watch FC Barcelona on Camp Nou !
Sunday was perfect for running, 15 degrees Celcius, sunny, no wind. This is from the start at Espanya.
One of the highlights in the race, Sagrada Familia by Gaudi.
Lots of Danes had found their way to this marathon, they were all over.
Other top features of the race included the part by the beach,
this Portal,
Carrer de Ferran,
and of course reaching the goal, always a delight in a marathon race and a beautiful one at Espanya with the fountaines and the Castle in the horisont. Just perfect !
You can see the entire set of pictures from Barcelona Marathon 2011 here.