Copenhagen Chilled

It had been a while since my main goal for running a marathon was simply to chill and enjoy it. After my PB in Pisa December 2013, I couldn’t help but trying to do the under 3:30 again. Without success so far. And even worse, the marathons went back to this painful last 10 k experience, where you ask the big WHY question: Why the heck am I doing this to myself?? I wanted Copenhagen to be different and to put fun back into the last 10 ks.

It always helps to have friends around: Michael to run with and Regina for moral support, cheering and taking pictures. Instead of sticking to a pace maker, I stuck to Michael.

At k 17 Michael tripped over one of the many kerbs of the cycling ways. Copegenhagen is a very cyclist friendly city which is great, but for marathon runners it means watching out for the additional smaller and therefore less obvious kerbs that separate the cycling ways from the main road. Michael’s fall looked nasty, my first thought was, gosh, I hope he did not break his jaw bone. It turned out he didn’t, but the blood stains on his white jersey were not less worrying. After the first aiders did what they could do, we continued running. Not sure if a little drama like this helps to chill out, but it does put things into perspective. In the end I had the nicest last 10 kilometre ever. It just felt right. Of course the legs were tired, but nothing compared to what I experienced in Hamburg, Barcelona, Gran Canaria, Portugal and Luxembourg, when I tried to stuck with the 3:30 pace makers. And with a 3:46 time I was overall not slower compared to starting out fast and then collapsing on the last stretch.

And Michael even ran a PB, despite the unpleasant incident and the 5 minutes lost as a result. Lucky him, he could ring the “Personal Record Bell” after the race. Copenhagen is the first marathon where I saw a bell like this and I am glad I could take a picture of someone I know, ringing it! Yes, I am very chilled about the fact, that I couldn’t ring it myself. 😉