Sunday October 10th 2021 I ran the Sofia Marathon in Bulgaria. Find below my full race coverage from the Bulgarian Capital. Due to rather poor weather I did not see much of the city or any touristic stuff, find however few pictures from the landmark no.1 in Sofia, namely the majestic Saint Alexander of Neva Patriarch’s Cathedral, and some impressions from the pedestrian street Vitosha Boulevard.
Wizz Air Sofia Marathon 2021 The Wizz Air Sofia Marathon started at 09.30 AM in the morning in grey and rather depressing weather.
The race course was a two-fold identical loop for the marathon distance and covered a few landmarks in the centre of Sofia but was otherwise not very uplifting, i.e. unless running on a highway takes you to heaven. That said, you got some good insight to the ordinary life (street- and housing wise) in this quite large city (approx. 1 million inhabitants) and as for the running some nice easy kilometers on asphalt.
The race is well organized and I am sure it will thrill more under a blue sky and sunny conditions.
Below my race report from Guernsey Marathon 2021, Guernsey, including various tourist impressions.
Guernsey and St. Peter Port Guernsey? Well, according to Google, Guernsey is one of the Channel Islands in the English Channel near the French coast, and is a self-governing British Crown dependency. It’s known for beach resorts like Cobo Bay and the scenery of its coastal cliffs. Castle Cornet, a 13th-century harbor fortification in the capital of St. Peter Port, now contains history and military museums. Hauteville House is the lavish former home of French writer, Victor Hugo.
Great! To me, in addition, Guernsey is where you can see an Enigma Machine and where you can find peace of mind by just glaring at the Sea, the British Canal. The race report justifies this, I believe.
In short: I loved my few days in Guernsey very much!
Guernsey Marathon 2021 The event featured a full marathon Sunday plus a fun run and two types of marathon relay (2 or 5 runners). The organization was flawless, the weather was beautiful and the route was at many, many points extremely scenic, especially the views on the Sea, the Castles and the Loop Towers. Personally, I managed to book my best marathontime for the past 2 years and that on a somewhat hilly route with many turns and twists and, unfortunately, quite a lot of car and bus traffic on the roads.
See in the race report below just why you should add Guernsey Marathon to your bucket list!
Sunday September 26th 2021 I ran the HCA Marathon in Odense, Denmark. Find below my full race coverage from a magnificient and quite tough day in the running shoes in the city of birth of the great Poet Hans Christian Andersen.
HCA Marathon 2021 (Odense, Denmark) The HCA Marathon started at 10.00 AM in the morning and in great weather too. The race course covers most of the landmarks in and around Odense, however, not the childhood home of H.C. Andersen. The Marathon was also venue of the Danish Championships 2021 and probably due to this fact the crowd was spectacularly big and counted one of the best danish long distance runners of the past two decades, namely Jesper Faurschou, Olympic participant in London 2012. Jesper edged a well-deserved Silver Medal declaring defeat to the “new kid” Martin Egebjerg Olesen, who obviously completed in race in an outstanding performance through the two rounds; my warm congratulations to both Martin and Jesper, the race report even features a number of great shots of the two contenders.
It is also worth to mention the high-class organisation behind the event, I believe everything was just right and the staff and many helpers were cheerful and friendly throughout the day. Add to this a nice and often scenic route and plenty of spectators, well, at least during Round 1. In toto, yet another perfect race at HCA Marathon in Odense.
Saturday September 4th 2021 I ran the Helsingborg Marathon in Sweden. Find below my full race coverage from a magnificient day in the running shoes.
Helsingborg Marathon 2021 The Helsingborg Marathon started at 10.00 AM in the morning and in great weather too. The race course covers a tiny but important part of the city center and then heads southwards for about 7 km. The route then folds back towards Helsingborg and beyond and passes a number of landmarks in the area including the famous Sofiero Castle before concluding the race at the brink of Oeresund in a spectacular manner.
The race is superbly organized, adventurous and also quite tough. A lot of very nice pain, indeed, but worth every scream.
Low budget – high quality I do not usually bring local, low-budget races to my front page, but here’s an exception: a very nice set of pictures from the small race “Marathon PopUp“, the pictures featuring the “Gentofte” edition very close to my home, actually. If you ever visit Copenhagen and want to run a really cheap local race, check out Marathon PopUp for sure. And don’t be intimidated by language considerations, everyone in Denmark speaks English. From age 5.
Anyways, the Gentofte race Sunday May 30th 2021 was just splendid, high sun, no win, flat beautiful route by the sea and literally 5 minutes from home. Friends were also present, including Jesper Ølsgaard of Denmark running marathon no. 300, what an accomplishment. My congratulations and respect!
So thanks to Race Director Henrik Birkedal Hansen for a memorable day. Please enjoy the race report below.
See or relive the Marathon PopUp – Gentofte 2021, Denmark, here:
Marathon – after 6 dry m-months! Below my race report from the Jungle Run -South Coast Beach Marathon 2021 held on Falster, Denmark, on April 25th. This was my first marathon in 6 months, it is 16 years since I had such a long period of time between races and back then it was between my marathons no. 3 and 4, ie. well before my marathon-“career” started. Add to the madness that I had extremely sparse training not only the last 6 but rather 8 months (for the usual obvious reasons). So – I was actually very nerveous whether I could even complete such a long distance and if, in what condition ?
Everything turned out great! It was a crazy scenic route: 8 km on the beach (!) starting out, then parts on soil and grass and then finishing off on 11 km on the beach again, this time with gusting strong head wind from the North and running in loose sand. Quite a challenge indeed. I ran slowly only to be in full mental control and it was – JUST GREAT ! See for yourself in the race report below.
See or relive the Jungle Run South Coast Beach Marathon 2021, Denmark, here:
GODT NYTÅR 2021 – og velkommen til en sikkert vanligt trist og grå januar måned, hvor vi alle har både lomme- og mavedelle-smerter i større eller mindre udstrækning, hvor vi forsøger at se fremad og med en passende blanding af positivisme og desperation har indledt planlægningen af detox-kure, træningsforløb og en masse tilsvarende, som netop i år vil gøre os til de perfekte, smukke mennesker, som vi altså ikke lige fik klaret alle de forgående (mange) år. Ja, ja.
Så hvad kunne være mere relevant end at læse en motiverende bog om at løbe, en hyggelig og inspirerende biografi om en endog meget dygtig løber, faktisk intet mindre end “Danmarks bedste ultraløber”, således leveret i bogen “Stine Rex – gør det simpelt”. Nærværende tjener som en introduktion og anmeldelse heraf.
FORFATTEREN Heidi Egeberg Johansen er selv en habil hobbyløber med 135 maraton og en PR på 3.14 på sit CV, og Heidi er kendt for altid at løbe med et evigt smilende overskud og et smittende godt humør. Dét giver hun videre også i bogen, både på egne og Stines vegne; mere herom senere. Bogen er Heidis debut som forfatter, omend hun i flere år har begået en række velskrevne og berigende artikler på sin egen blog www.thegreatnessofrunning.dk, som varmt kan anbefales.
BOGENS INDHOLD OG STRUKTUR Bogen består af en lang række korte, letlæste kapitler, der bevidner og dokumenterer Stine Rex forskellige meritter i sin færd med at blive “Danmarks bedste ultraløber”. Hvert kapitel kan læses som en lille historie for sig, og til sammen lægger de et puslespil, der belyser, hvad der for Stine Rex skulle til for at indfri sine imponerende bedrifter, her i blandt en række danmarksrekorder i forskellige ultraløbs-konkurrenceformer.
Personligt savner jeg en indholdsfortegnelse, så hér ses en sådan:
Forord – ved Thomas Kastrup Larsen, borgmester i Aalborg. Indledning – Heidi Egeberg Johansen (forfatteren) En ultraløber fødes, 24 timers løb, Sæby 2015 Stines vej til løb Spartathlon – Grækenland 2016 Spartathlon – Grækenland 2017 Team Rex – Kristensen Med Landsholdet til EM i 24 timers løb i Rumænien (2018) Mors 100 Miles 2018 Idden om 3 danske rekorder på et år 48 timers løb, Icarus Florida UltraFest 2018 Træning, kost og udstyr Ultraløbet UltraBalaton, Ungarn 2019 I hovedet på en ultraløber Spartathlon – Grækenland 2019. Når tingene går galt VM i 24 timers løb, Frankrig 2019 Om at være ultraløberen Stine Sjove og oprigtige facts – Stine afslører: 48 timers rekordforsøg i Grækenland 2020 Hverdagens små mirakler Badwater, USA 2020 48 timers støtteløb til fordel for DGI Huset, Aalborg, Fårup Sommerland maj 2020 Efterord Stines sponsorer, der gør det muligt: Fotokreditering
Uden hverken at afsløre eller forklejne indholdet, så er det klart, at de nævnte emner næppe har en meget bred interesse, men primært har langdistanceløbere som målgruppe.
Men er man ikke dét, langdistanceløber, så kan bogen stadigt inpirere: alene at plante tanken om at kunne løbe fx i 24 timer (og vidnesbyrdet om, at Stine kan og er en mester til det), det er i sig selv grænseoverskridende, når man tænker lidt over det. At LØBE i 24 timer! Jesus!
Sidst i anmeldelsen her er der lidt mere om, hvad bogen i sin essens giver fra sig, men overordnet kan man sige, at ovennævnte kapitler hver dokumenterer og beretter om de stævner/begivenheder, som overskrifterne indikerer.
SPROGET Ganske som på forfatterens blog, så flyder sætningerne med overskud og nærvær, Stines oplevelser bliver levende på vores øjenlåg og stoffet formidles glasklart som en snaps, der umiddelbart varmer og strammer op. Man kommer til at lære Stine Rex – og hendes støttende, kære og for alle bedrifterne uundværlige famile – lidt at kende!
INDHOLD, BUDSKAB, TAKE-AWAY POINTS Jeg tænker, Stine Rex og forfatteren Heidi Egeberg Johansen gerne vil overdrage læseren med bl.a. følgende (og uden at afsløre alt):
Hold et positivt mindset
Hav en målrettet og ubændig vilje; en “jeg-skal-vise-dig”-attitude
Selv store mål og bedrifter behøver ikke at være besværlige; det hander om blot at gøre det, der skal til
Hav din familie med og bag dig, når store mål skal udrettes (og stor ros til Stines trofaste familie)
Løb hver dag? Stine løber mellem 15-40 km hver eneste dag året rundt!!!
Så, er dette en bog for alle eller som blindt kan anbefales? Nej. Men den er for dig, som vil lære noget om en af Danmarks bedste, nuværende ultraløbere og som kan bruge et skud inspiration og godt humør, ikke blot her i sure januar måned, men absolut hele året rundt.
Running hero Sometimes fun things happens in your life, take this article for instance where my danish running friend Heidi Johansen has the kindness to declare me as her “Running Hero”, no. XXIV in her series of this kind of said runners. Nevertheless, the article is based on an interview with me earlier this year and gives you some additional info that you usually find in my race reports. So thanks, Heidi, great stuff som the Greatness of Running.
Read the “Running Hero”-article by Heidi Johansen here (copy on my site to allow translations):
Marathon – again! Below my race report from “my own” marathon race, Rudersdal Marathon, now proudly instated with a new name sponsor, Z Adventures. So Sunday May 3rd 2020 we were 15 runners – divided as 6 and 9 – that enjoyed the extremely beautiful route “RudersdalRuten” just 10-12 km north of the danish capital, Copenhagen. The forrest was in it’s most appealing light-green, fresh colour and I believe we experienced one of the most beautiful days of the year. But – see for yourself in the race report below.
See or relive the Z Adventures Rudersdal Marathon CB28, Denmark, here:
Below my race report from Split Marathon 2020, Croatia, including various tourist impressions from the beautiful Old Town of Split, yet another UNESCO site.
Split Diocletian’s Palace is central in the experience of the Old Town and tourist areas in Split, Croatia. The city sports a beautiful waterfront against the Adriatic Sea and many cafés, restaurants to quite affordable prices. I stayed at the Cornaro Hotel famous for it’s magnificent roof top views over the city, you find samples in the race report indeed.
In short: Split is a very, very nice place to visit. Go, go, go!
Split Marathon 2020 The event featured a 5K run Saturday and half and full marathon Sunday. The organization was flawless, the weather was beautiful and the route was at points extremely scenic, especially the views from the Marjan peninsula over the Adriatic Sea. The route was quite tough with nearly 400 heightmeters both up and down on the maraton distance, but given the diversity of impressions and the so-indeed lovely day all efforts were worth the while. I give Split Marathon my very best of recommendations!
On the people front I had great pleasure of meeting several local Split native runners and it was also a honor to congratulate Lichu Sloan of the US with her marathon/ultra country no. 100! On a personal note I booked my own country no. 55 and my plans for 2020 is to close Oceania and thus close all 7 continents. If the Corona.virus permits.
With many marathons and sporting events being cancelled these forthcoming weeks and monts I feel very grateful for the expeciences at Split Marathon 2020, see in the race report below just why.
