If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment

So easy to read and agree with, so hard to practise ! I guess we forget again and again that we filter the “Truth” ourselves, as brilliantly captured in the movie “Memento” and so powerfully explained in the sort-of scientific teachings of NLP (Neuro-linguistic Programming) and in the more spiritual ones by Seth/Jane Roberts, especially the book “The Nature of Personal Reality”. As described by Leonardo da Vinci we Humans are left with the powers of our Senses. NLP and Seth elaborate that we each create our own subjective, personal interpretation, an inner representation, based on the “data” from our senses. We tend to think that our experiences is the “Reality” or “Truth”. They are subjectively but not objectively, cf. Marcus Aurelius. Do dwell on this for a minute !

The Vision is perhaps the most powerful and persuading of our Senses. If we have seen something, it must have “happened” and it should be possible to establish a common Reality with others witnessing the same events. Right ? Wrong ! We are still filtering, we are still being Subjective. Intriguingly, take this piece of new technology as your aid: a camera that takes completely unfocused images ! See this example  and play around with the picture (click around): https://www.lytro.com/living-pictures/2325

Woo ! Imagine that our Mind could do the same. Refocus.

You were right, Marcus Aurelius !

It is magic, isn’t it, how a simple new digit may change our outlooks towards Life. I guess that is one of the special things about the New Years Evening and the transition into January – that we put aside the disappointments from the Past and really believe that the Future will bring us new stuff. Well, it might.  The interesting issue here is the mechanism itself: we adopt a change in our entire system. By the definition of a New Year we surrender to something that may fall so difficult in so many other circumstances, times and situations in out lives: we reframe our Worlds, we alter our interpretations and we twist our mind-sets on what is possible. Indeed, all these virtues are available each second we breathe. We should use them more often !

So why does it fall so easy on New Years Eve ? Perhaps the answer is: the context. It is “OK” to start again, you could even say that we feel that we are given permission to change,  that it is OK to change direction and to set new goals. Indeed, Context is a great factor in our subconscious mind and I tend to believe that our interpretations of Life and especially our feelings are extremely driven by our abilities to perspectivate, i.e. to choose our Centext instead of feeling doomed or destined by it.

We all want to be HAPPY, don’t we ? Well, I think that Happiness is a point-of-view and as such an interpretation of what actually happens in the outer world. So where do the Context blend in ? Let me give you an example: yesterday, the entire Globe celebrated the New Year, many were probably both drunk, horny and happy and thus most people have a positive feeling connected with “New Years Eve”. For me, this evening is in the light of another Context: this is the Evening on which I in 1973 saw my Father die at age 31, makeing me an Orphan just aged 7, a situation I fully understood on that very evening and how this was to define my entire life. So: same evening, different contexts -> different feelings, thoughts and degrees of Happiness.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not begging for pitty here, I am trying to prove a point, perhaps one of the most important ones I can pass on to you: learn to Perspectivate, learn to understand the importance of your sensation of the Context of any given situation or argument you might be in. Understand your Life in a larger context Timewise, i.e. in the vast span of Eternity and in the modest and perhaps random age of the Civilizations. We are all merely Dust in Time and Space and exactly therefore is Context everything in our short lives. Everything. So be aware of yourself, of your Centexts and of your Choices, first and foremost your mental ones,  they will define your feelings and thus your Experiences. Get it ?

Personally, I jump into 2012 with many and great hopes for the Future. Running-wise I will now interpretate everything I do, eat and train from the perspective that I am a 3.15 Marathon Runner. This is a very different position as compared with just a few months ago. I choose this Context for myself  and thereby I define some of the important aspects in my 2012 must-do’s.

Also, I choose to welcome saying good-bye to a few People that obviously don’t belong in my Life, People whom have abused my Trust and my Love. I know I did the “right” things and should not go down due to the Others misbehaviour.  So, I will choose the positive version knowing that “I can Love”, and leave the victimized version behind. I will choose the Context of not having met the really important people and partners yet. I have changed my interpretations and as such killed the love and the friendships that I thought I had – but never really had. In that Context the loss is now a gift. Thank you, Life, for making me understand.

So hello 2012, bring on Happiness, great races and lot’s of Love. For all of us.

I have divided the marathons into four groups and as always, you find links to the races via ‘My marathons’ in the menu.

Overall
1. New York City Marathon (USA)
2. Vancouver (Canada)
3. Thorshavn (Faroe Islands)
4. Madrid (Spain)
5. H.C. Andersen (Denmark)

City marathons
1. New York City Marathon (USA)
2. Vancouver (Canada)
3. Madrid (Spain)
4. Barcelona (Spain)
5. Copenhagen (Denmark)

Nature runs
1. Thorshavn (Faroe Islands)
2. LGT Alpin (Liechtenstein)
3. Rudersdal (Denmark)
4. Pihlsbech #100 (Denmark)
5. Furesø (Denmark)

Small races
1. Dr. Nielsens (Denmark)
2. Wedding Marathon (Denmark)
3. Holstebro (Denmark)
4. Kalundborg Vintermarathon (Denmark)
5. Sydkyst (Denmark)

These are lists based on my personal experiences, of course. To mentain memory of the best races ‘ever’, I  have a category of the ‘all-time best’ marathons as well. Here, the big marathons do live up to their famous names !

Best ever
1. New York (USA)
2. Zermatt (Switerzerland)
3. London (England)
4. Rome (Italy)
5. Chicago (USA)

the most prominent being the evening at POLITIKEN where my co-author prof. Bente Klarlund Pedersen and I entertained several hundred people. The book contains a 7 step Marathon Management programme to secure a good marathon experience and I have personally applied several pieces of the advice myself, especially the stuff about an “optimal weight”, the metabollic fittness and the scientific core facts on why you have to train with high intensity.

Actually, I had proclaimed a 3.45 result as the goal for 2011 but honestly I thought that such a figure was quite unrealistic on my race list which after all said 207 marathons on plus-4 hours to none sub-4 entering the year. So imagine my delight when I finally booked the first sub-4 ! As written several times before, this came about in my marathon no. 218 and in stunning Vancouver, Canada, well paced by my friend Vagn Kirkelund.

Vancouver Marathon 2011 – pictures

Then came some months where no improvement seemed to occur all until the fairytale race at H.C. Andersen Marathon where I had the fortune to establish a brilliant cooperation with Anders Brandt. I think that those 10 fast kilometers we shared together laid the cornerstone to both our PB’s (Anders with 3.45 and I with 3.54) and it expanded my mindset for sure on what is possible.

H.C. Andersen Marathon 2011 – pictures

Thus, a series of sub-4 results now followed and even an elusive new PB 3.42.39 was booked in Amsterdam, this time under the secure guidiance from Mogens Pedersen. Three weeks later it was even possible for me to go sub-4 in New York running as Spiderman and my race list now features seven sub-4′s and 9 of my 10 best times are from 2011 (and 12 of my 14 best times – no. total races is 238). Cutting 24 minutes off your PB can’t be too bad, can it ?

Amsterdam Marathon 2011 – pictures

So what and whom have inspired me to this performance stunt ? Well, the facts in the book are for sure major drivers. But indeed so many of my already strong and well-performing friends are sources of inspiration too, some are already mentioned here and I could add a few more: some of my young facebook friends that run insanely fast and always criticize me for being too slow (Jonas Berg, Jeppe Farsøht), my VIP-guests at LøbeMagasinet Rudersdal Marathon Frederik Lassen (Danish Champion in 24-hours) and Erik Steffensen (an art professor that at age 50 is now running 5 k at 19.19 and the like) and some of my new friends on the Faroe Islands (Pól Sundskarð, Guttorm Sørensen and the very talented young Marnar Djurhuus).

I think Performance will continue to be on the agenda in 2012 – having declared 3.15 as the target !

Nykredit Copenhagen Marathon 2011 – pictures

“Organization to perfection” is also the phrase that comes to mind about H.C. Andersen Marathon. This year proved to be quite if not catastrophically rainy on the race day, nevertheless I managed to book a new suberb PB in Odense (more to come about this in Part III). You may browse the wet pictures here: H.C. Andersen Marathon 2011 – pictures

Before these events I had run the usual classic winter races in Kalundborg, Holstebro and the infamous Dr. Nielsen in Vejle and also seen some improvement in my form at Sydkyst Maraton in Greve where I actually ran my 2′nd best marathontime at the time. But the races that I will remember the most are probably those three where I was lucky to celebrate some of my friends on days very special to them, namely the Marathon Wedding (!) for Peter Buhr and wife Lotte,

Wedding Marathon – pictures

marathon no. 100 for Morten Pihlsbech and Susanne Gren,

2*100 Marathon – pictures

and marathon no. 500 for Anders Munch Madsen, the latter also being my own event at LøbeMagasinet Rudersdal Marathon on beautiful Zeeland.

LøbeMagasinet Rudersdal Marathon – pictures

The friendships are an important part of all this running and it is for the same reason sad to note that 2011 saw some abuse on that account, i.e. so-called friends clearly overstepping the “unspoken conventions”. Who knows, perhaps life needs to include some idiots in order for us to spot the fine people in our lives. Thus, I am actually pleased to scrap the garbage, cf. #1 in this fine list of advice: 30-things-to-stop-doing-to-yourself, but it is of course a little confusing if “trust” is not a common part of the marathon community anymore.

I will indeed enter 2012 with some rage in mind and body, but even worse: with sadness in the heart. Not so much for saying “f*ck-off” to these few assh*les, not at all, no, I am more concerned that other friendships may be at stake. I foresee divisions. I liked running more 4-5 years ago when the friendships were clean.

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).

So, I did !

Running the New York City Marathon was of course the main purpose of the trip but indeed just being in New York City is a great, blessing and loveable experience. There is so much to see, the skyline, the shops, the parks, the hectic but also friendly atmosphere. For persons like me New York widens one’s perspective and I come home renewed, refueled, reborn ! I come home with a great sense of humility of what the World has to offer and how much we should enjoy every single opportunity in life to experience stuff, to improve, to love, to give and to share.

To you, I give you this: the pictures from the awesome New York City Marathon 2011 (link below), a race which itself gives a lot to charity and outlasting moments of both pain and joy for those who participate, for those lucky and brave to endure the 26.2 miles through the five borroughs of New York. For me, the day started with the ferry trip to Staten Island passing the Statue of Liberty…

… and reaching Staten Island with this poetic view. A beautiful start of a very memorable day.

The race begins with the task of passing the Verrazano Bridge…

… followed by nuking Brooklyn….

… the tough Queensboro Bridge…

… Manhatten and the First Avenue, the latter completly stuffed with spectators and a outrageous crazy atmosphere…

… the Bronx…

… and back on Manhatten the Fifth Avenue, Columbus and the great finish in Central Park.

Surely, Time passes you by in New York (City Marathon) like a flash but believe me, the impressions are imprinted for the remains of your life. It is called: perspective. It is called: wisdom. It is called: love.

I love NY.

All the visuals are here: Spiderman runs New York City Marathon 2011 – pictures

and in English: Spiderman runs New York City Marathon 2011 – pictures (US version).

Ever since the book ELSK AT LØBE was completed I have had two goals for my marathon running: 1) to do a sub-4 hours and 2) to attempt a sub 3.45 realizing that such a feat could very well be out of my reach as for now. Goal 1) was DONE in Vancouver Marathon with my friend Vagn Kirkelund (who just completed Chicago Marathon, the last of the five World Majors for him, congrats) and wouldn’t you know it, goal #2 was pinned with success this very past weekend in Amsterdam. There, I had yet another pro pace-bunny, Mogens Pedersen of Denmark, to help me achieve a stunning 3.42.39 as a new personal best (PB) time.

So what is the catch here ? Well… that the theory in the book works ! I could point out five or six sentences that have transformed my mindset as a runner completely. Indeed, my whole life is changed ! It is indeed very pleasing to see and feel a direct connection between the things being changed and worked on and the results, the marathon results. If I should highlight just three things it should be 1) weight reduction, 2) training with high intensity and 3) constant focus on the “metabolic fitness”, the latter being an important new concept in the context of running and an extremely important concept for your overall health and avoidance of the so-called life-style illnesses of the modern world.

There are also some subtle details that play a part. E.g. my shift to the phenomenal ECCO BIOM B shoes when running for time and the positive encouragements and help from my many marathon friends, e.g. Niels Høg Henriksen whom we see on this photo (and the ECCO BIOM Bs on my feet).

I could mention a number of other things and factors… but I will keep them for myself a little while longer… and just relax for a bit and enjoy the memories from Amsterdam Marathon 2011.

You find a full report here: Amsterdam Marathon 2011 – pictures.

So what has this to do with running ? Absolutely nothing ! Well, perhaps a little bit. Beceause if we change the word “sex” with “running” we are getting where I would like to be the next two years. We are in The State of Mental Running. That’s what I will call it, anyways. A State where thoughts about running are present in your mind at least subconsciously all the time and where many – not all ! – of your decisions and actions throughout the day are connected to your training and goals as a Runner.

Importantly, your subconscious Running Sensor is questioning everything you choose to eat and drink – with the end that you probably choose to eat a bit differently than “if not”. Basically, your Runnning Sensor will be responsible for keeping you on track with your goals both as a Runner and as a Human. So now you may ask: where do I get this Running Sensor, how do I find into this Running State ? The answer is simple: in your Mind ! You just have to decide !

Well, that’s what I have done. I realized after the writing of the book (ELSK AT LØBE) that things would only change for me if I changed my thoughts and actions. This is merely repeating that if you want different outcomes in your life, you have to undertake different (new) actions – and different actions start in the Mind with different thoughts and mind-sets.

So the next two years I will opt for a revised Running State for myself. I will indeed be multitasking on how to improve my running technique, on how to get more traning into my normal working days, on dropping those extra kilos and so forth. I will be reading and cross-referencing running literature with self-improvement books and again cross-referenced with Music and other means of getting into “states”, into the famous FLOW as coined by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. I will be a Runner 24/7/365 and I will  not settle for less 

More will follow on this topic – The State of Mental Running or, for me, Marathon Multitasking. Make no mistake: this is not just a spacy mental excercise or superficial words on a blog. This is the essense, the destilate, of the teachings from the book that will be used in the hard and patient training and strenghtening of my body with the declared goal to run a sub-3 marathon before 2014. This sounds like a ridiculous goal for me to achieve – just making it even more compelling.

I’ll catch you out there.

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