Tor on Marathon

Marathon #200

By Tor Rønnow on Sunday, August 29, 2010

Hey, so what is new ? Well, for me I can take delight in turning 25 again and at the same time growing to a new century. Puzzled ? I am of course taking about my numbers of marathons ! Fact is that I ran #200 at beautiful Blokhus, Denmark, last Sunday, together with lots of runnings mates kindly celebrating me.

It was a very special day and it was very special to have just those people around, even though I could mention a long list of friends that I would have loved to see too.

Anyways, the 25-blocks to #200 looks like this:

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

As to be deducted from the list I have completed my second set of 100 marathons in less than 22 months, not bad for a part time dad with a challenging career as well. But then again.. has the time been spend well ? Who knows, really, I guess some choices in life makes other choices or options impossible and I have for sure been quite one-sided on this marathoneering for some time now. But would I have chosen differently with the knowledge I have now ?

Not for a minute !

Marathon Spirituality

Mountains, marathons and the pursuit of happiness

By Tor Rønnow on Wednesday, July 21, 2010

I have once again visited one of the most important places on Earth for me, the small hotel Dalseter high up in the norwegians mountains, the place where I learned to ski (age 2), hike (age 4) and swim (age 5) and where I throughout my childhood found salvation in the mountains, in the vast landscapes and the scents of free Nature and summer flowers, where the whistling of the wind and the squirling of the water falls in the valleys ignited the deeper thoughts on the matters of life and death and the pursuit of happiness.

When I watch my own kids now and my fellow contemporaries I realize that I was given a special gift that not many receive, a gift well coined by the author Hermann Hesse: “Happiness is a talent not an object !”.

The mountains help us understand our minute frame in Time. But few people can handle the perception of their own life set in the context to the geological timeframe – against which we become utterly unimportant and so absurdly small. However, if you have buried your entire pack of ancestors and most other important figures from the childhood, you realize that geology stands and mankind falls. You realize that it is really unimportant if you believe in God A or B, if your are rich or poor, if your fellows think well of you or not, actually, all our “conventional must-do’s” become ridiculeous when measured against the timeframe of the mountains and the infite span of Time. You realize that our “realities” are merely interpretations, subject to change and indeed products of the randomness of context for our existence. I realized all this very early in life – in the Norwegian mountains. I guess this is part of why they are so special to me.

Now, Im trying to pass the wisdom to my kids but I realize that it can’t be. Instead, I realize my uniqueness and complete separation from most others. Of most of my friends many will first even understand this in 20-30 years to come, if ever. You should all take delight in not knowing !

I am forced to the opposite and live a life in complete confrontation to truthness, integrity and persuit of personal happiness, all the things the mountains encourage and demand. And no other “normal tasks” in our “normal” everyday world fits this better than… marathon running. In this manner it all adds up nicely: psychologically I return to the mountains in each race – if just for a moment – and to the embedded wisdom and consequence. And in contrast to the deep thinking alone on the mountain sides, I find so many wonderful friends in the running, people with the same passion and the same lust for endurance and curiosity for limit testing. Conceptwise, the marathons become the mountains and here we also fall prey to something bigger than ourselves. Ultimately the marathon timeframe will eat us all in due course.

So both in the mountains and in the marathon pursuit we are left with the same task: to excel in our Time, to create our own happiness and to maintain our important relations – fragile as they are. The Nature will clear out the rest and both the mountains and the marathons will outlast us. And just as the mountains possess a cruel consequence in bad weather and the most beauty of moments in sunshine, just so do the marathons, symbolically. We marathoneers strive to enjoy those special days of sunshine and to endure through the rainy times. We mountaineers anticipate lurking dangers and the shifts of weather – and act accordingly in order to survive. Remember, the mountains keep no memory of their victims – and our place in History is very soon forgotten, our existence, our careers, our loveaffairs, our families. The mountains stay put, the marathons stay put. We humans do not. We do not !

We only borrow a piece in Time – we have to use it well.

Marathon

Zermatt marathon 2010 – a lifetime experience !

By Tor Rønnow on Monday, July 12, 2010

Saturday, I completed the toughest marathon for me to date, the incredible tough and extraordinary beautiful Zermatt marathon in Switerzerland. Zermatt is residing at the foot of the world-famous mountain Matterhorn, the perhaps most fascinating peak available for ordinary turists to view.

The marathon race started in the valley town St. Niklaus (1085 meters above sea level)…

… and went up through the valley towards and through Zermatt…

… followed by an extreme ascend …

… against the finish at Riffelberg…

… at meters 2582 above sea level, higher up than the highest mountain (Galhöpiggen, 2469) in Scandinavia !!!

Apart from the struggle against gravity and the 2000 heightmeters in the race, the runners also had to fight against an extreme heat with temperatures around 30 degrees and no wind at all. In order words an almost super-human task to complete… happily, I managed, though booking my worst marathontime ever in 194 races… but still, very proud to clear this one off !!!

You find the beautiful picture story here. Enjoy !

Marathon

7 marathon in 6 days !

By Tor Rønnow on Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Two weeks back I was in the middle of the perhaps toughest contest thus far in my humble marathon career: the completion of seven marathons within the timespan of six days ! The races were part of an ultra-event organized on the Danish island Bornholm in the Baltic Sea. Runners from 8 different countries, at least, were contesting throughout the week in 6-days, 48-h, 24-h and, as you may appreciate, the 7 marathons events.

The short version of the marathon contest is that 15 of 17 prevailled ! Indeed, the field was packed with very strong and experienced runners, myself clearly being the perhaps poorest runner of all. Therefore, I was quite happy and proud to make an overall very satisfactory performance in these seven races, during which I even managed to break year-best times in race 4 and 6 ! The presence of many good friends and the upstart of the soccer World Cup added to the unique atmosphere thoughout the week not to mention the good if not perfect running weather.

Day 1
I was quite nerveous, actually, before the first race (13th June), having not been running since June 1th. The start was thus very slow, controlled so ! Pictures day 1.

Day 2
The strategy was to run the first three marathons on the “exact” same time… this failed on day 2 to 12 seconds ! In other words yet another day in full control and beginning to pick up on the whole running-business. Here on the picture we some of the stronger runners in the event, from the left Vagn Kirkelund, Jesper Elfving, Mogens Pedersen and, undressing, Stephan Grabow whom on this day, his birthday, produced an incredible rally against his own PB. Pictures day 2.

Day 3
Then came a beautiful day with sunshine, blue sky and a somewhat intensified competitive atmosphere in the marathon pack. Most attention drew, however, the famous danish ultrarunner Lars Skytte Christoffersen (on the picture) in the 6-day race. Lars was the runner-up in Sparthalon 2009 and completed 850 km (!) during a 6-day race in Sweden last year as well: Thus, Lars was of course amongst the favorites for the Bornholm event and he gracefully returned the honors winning the event with 790 km, well done ! Pictures day 3.

Day 4
Before the event I had forespoken that days 4 and 5 would be the crucial ones. So I was VERY surprised to clinch a year-best time on day 4, running even seemed easy and I felt I could have done even faster ! I’m sure that this unexpected inspiration came from my fellow contesters, here we see Mogens Pedersen, Jesper Hahn Jensen (the uncontested winner of the seven marathons), Anders Munch Madsen (the most experienced marathonrunner in Denmark), Gurli Hansen and Pól Sundskarö. Pictures day 4.

Day 5
Ready for day 5, ie. the fifth marathon within four days ? Yup ! And then again… perhaps not so ready. For certain, day five proved to be a tough one in the office. Apart from general fatigue I also struggled with beginning cramps in the left achilles/leg and the mood was not too good even though I finished off the day in 4.38. Pictures day 5.

Day 6
Luckily, the mood changed quite a bit on day six… perhaps due to the addition of the 24-hours runners on the 1-km track, who knows… well, we did for sure get new things to look at 🙂 Pleasantly, my legs were just fine again and I recorded the second year-best time during the event. Having completed day six in fine style, we felt certain that we would be able to secure the completion of the event overall, and this also turned out to be the case the following morning. On the picture we see the very strongly running Anne Dorthe Mahato, Anne Dorthe ran just about 190 km in the 24-hour event. Pictures day 6.

Day 7
The last marathon startet Saturday morning at hours 06.00 and should be completed before noon 12.00. I neeed 4.34.26 for the job, thus securing the overall event. But boy oh boy this was a tough one, a really tough one ! For the first time during the whole week I had glimpses of doubt whether these seven races were actually achievable and several of the kilometers took a looong time. But I somehow managed to wrap the whole thing up and suddently seven days of running had come to an end. WE DID IT !!!

On the last picture we see some of the marathonrunners… from the left young Kasper Skriver who bravefully completed in spite of a bad injury, the winner Jesper Hahn, strong Jesper Elfving, heroic fighting Morten Skram, overall no. 2 Mogens Pedersen, super-finisher Peder Thorup, steadily improving Gurli Hansen and myself in front.

Congratulations to all and thanks for a very memorable week on Bornholm and thanks to the professionel and kind organizers (TIF) of Bornholm Ultramarathon 2010. Pictures day 7.

Marathon

Copenhagen marathon 2010

By Tor Rønnow on Monday, May 24, 2010

Sunday 23th of May will become a historic day in Danish marathon running: this day, Copenhagen marathon lifted itself into the brand of International marathons with a spectator-crowded Capital cheering the runners through a very scenic and adventurous route passing many parts of Copenhagen !

Here the pack is flowing through idyllic Nyhavn,

and moments later “Langelinie”, the home of the famous Little Mermaid (presently outsourced to China !).

Later, we passed the museum of the renowed sculpturer Linus Thorvaldsen…

an at parts we were enduring cobblestones and rather severe turns

passing many historic buildings, churches, squares and places in Copenhagen…

and after the endurance of the 42.195 meters, the runners could finally celebrate the completion of Copenhagen marathon 2010 on this very fine day for distance running indeed.

You find the full story with images and video here.