Å til Åsen - half marathon and hunt ;)

Didn't really sleep all that well tonight. Had to go to the toilet with my eldest at around 2 AM and at 4:21 my youngest couldn't sleep any more due to getting new teeths. Until then I had had a very sweaty night from my body rebuilding itself.

At 9 AM I headed south for the Å til Åsen run. I had desided to wear the same suit armor except the long sleeved shift. That meant the I could bring both extra water and my phone for taking pictures. I expected it to be a very pretty run.

Having landed and having gotten my race number I made a short stroll to test the legs. They felt much better than I had expected. Tracy and her husband Rasmus gave a short briefing before the race started. I really like the couple. They are sweet, very good at what they do and they share the passion for running. They seems to always have their kids with them which is great!

I decided to run with a 6 min/km pace and placed myself last in the group of runners which were mixed 5, 21.1 and 42.2 km runners. The race started and off we went. Everybody else wanted to run faster than me it seemed. My legs felt great but I kept to my targeted pace. After a few kilometers I passed 2 women on a hill. They were walking already and I was a little disappointed on their behalf since they were both wearing marathon shirts. If you bring a guitar I expect that you can play.

Soon after I passed a couple more. I think that steepness of the hills in the first part of the route had surprised them. At this point all marathon and half marathon runners turned left and the 5 km runners turned right. For a few kilometers I ran close to a woman but she made a classical mistaken by running up a very very steep hill and need a break when she got to the top. I on the other hand walked the hill and used the time to get a little water. She only reached the top a few seconds before me and I flew past her as she found her water bottles to have some water.

My legs still felt great and by now I knew that today was going to be a serious run for me. No time for taking pictures. I reached the water post and had a bit of cola to drink and a bit of water to cool the head and cleanse the face from sweat. Still keeping my pace when not going uphill at least. A few kilometers later I meet the leading runner on his way back. He was flying! Soon after number 2 and then number 3 and then number 4 with a few hundred meters between each. I was nearing the turn point myself when I got to another set of very very steep hills which forced me to walk. On the top I meet a man with his youngster in a baby jogger also heading back. The kid was sleeping and I was very impressed by both his speed and that he had gotten the baby jogger up that hill.

A little later I meet a man and a close to him the woman that I had left on the hill but she was also heading home?! What the F***? I hadn't even hit the turn around point yet and I became confused. Had I made a mistake? Had I actually already passed the turn around point without even realizing it. Noo .. I couldn't have! True enough a few hundred meters later I found the turn around point, passed it and was slightly pissed. She must have taken a short cut and quite a good one because the few times that I had had a good long look back she was no where to be seen.

I decided that I had to find her and pass her once again. She was in my spot ;) From that point on I didn't really look at my gps watch for checking my pace I just gave it all that felt reasonable. I had a few long stretches before the water post where I had expected to be able to see her but didn't see her anywhere. When I reached the water post visit I tried to make it a 'quicky'. Cola for energy, water for cooling and cleansing the face. The hunt went on. I finally saw her with about 3 km to go. She had a lead of 3-400 meters on me. The route turned right into a forest and I lost sight of her. 1-2 km later out of the forest I saw her again by now her lead had shrunk to 1-200 meters. The route took us uphill for some time and I kept gaining on her. I really felt I had a fair surplus of energy and I really wanted to overtake her before the finish line. When we reached the top her lead was only about 50 meters and with about 500 meters to go at the max I decided that I had enough energy for a sprint. 100 meter later I passed her flying. I felt great and had no problem keeping the speed all the way to the finish line with lots of energy and a smile :) 2:15:02 my clock said.

My 'nemesis' reached the finish line a little later but didn't want to cross it. She had made a mistake on the route and only run 19.5 km. She was given an official time anyway which was very nice of the man with the clock but not really fair against the others I think. The missing 1.6 kilometers would realistically have taken her 8-9 minutes to run. But after all her mistake meant that I was really 'turned on' for my second split and had a far better experience than any other race I can remember. So thank you, whoever you were. You really gave me a great experience  :)

Thanks to Tracy for arranging this race! It was great and I actually think it was her first as a race director!

My first Ultra race!

My wife woke me at 7 AM and I quickly got ready and headed for Kongskilde. Once there I got a surprice the race wasn't a turn around and it would end 50 km from where my car was parked. It used to be a turn around race but not this year .. *bummer* The race director said that it was OK for me to run a turn around version so that was my plan.

We set out at 8 AM and the 100 km runners quickly disappeared in the horizon. I was running my planned 7 min/km pace and they ran at 6. I quickly paired up with a woman that had actually overtaken me a few kilometers before the end of the Skovløberen marathon a few weeks ago. Her pace fitted mine perfectly. After 10 km hitting the first water post we agreed that I could get a ride with her and husband back to my car after the race \o/ I SMS'ed my wife and the race director that I WOULD end the race in Jyderup after all. I was rather happy that I would have the same race as the others.

We were joined on and off by a swedish 100 km runner. He was generally running a little bit slower than us but we were using more time at the water posts. Actually while I writing this at 8 PM he is still out there and probably first will be done at 10 PM. That is a 14 hours race!

It was nice to have someone to talk to during a race that long even though the most of the talking ended after 35 km where my female companion got nausea. From the start we had walked all the major hills from this point on we were climbing the smaller ones also (which was fine by me).

I had a small crises myself from 38 to 40 km. I became really hot and that is my nemesis when running. I became dizzy and had a hard time keeping my speed. I had started the day in a long sleeved shirt plus a t-shirt. At the 40 km water post I took off the long sleeved one and after that I was flying again. We parted at 44 km. I really felt flying and she was really nausea. At this point I started meeting all the 6 min/km 100 km runners who were heading back to the start/finish area. They looked in great shape. A little later I passed a woman out on a walk and man she was smelling nice! Hadn't I been running I would have asked her for the name of that perfume for my wife.

44 km to 47 km went by fast but the last 3 km couldn't end fast enough. I was a little confused that the route actually left Jyderup again crossing a rather large road. Had I missed a sign? I really hoped not because at this point I was rather thirsty and hadn't a drop of water with me. With about 500 meter to go the route turned south and reentered Jyderup again. On the top of a hill I could see a young woman and a small boy clapping and I knew that that had to be the finish line. It was :)

She was the race director daughter and she had made some soup for us which was great on top of running 50 km. Her son was a little chatty fellow that really put a smile on my face :)

About 5 minutes later the swede came and after a quick pit stop he continued back the way he came. I really hope he is okay. It is dark outside now and not all the signs was easy to see even in the daylight.

A little later my female companion also reached the finish line. She was sadly still very nausea but had done really great after all.

So that was my first ultra race. A 50 km trail run by the Jyderupsti. Tomorrow I have a 21.1 km race in Næstved. I have no idea how it will go. I'll have to take it slow my big toe nail is getting very loose and I'm rather worn down by today's race ;)

Btw. BIG thanks to the race director Kåre and his family for arranging this run. It was by far the most beautiful race I've ever run. I hope some day to run the 100 km version :)

Okay .. I'm nuts

I found out that there was a 50 km trail run in my 'back yard' this saturday. I already got a 21.1 km run on sunday but I can't ignore the running urge .. I simply have to run both. I'm nuts.

saturday (50 km) : http://adventuresoroe.dk/50-og-100-km-p%C3%A5-Jyderupstien
sunday (21.1 km) : http://pihlsbech.dk/tracy.html

My plan is to run the 50 km in less than 6:30 hours which should be doable. I'll start out in 7:00 min/km and I'll try to keep that speed through the race. If I feel any problems I'll bail or simply walk. I want to be sure that I can run sunday!

*updated*
I've caught a cold which makes me rethink at least the 50 k especially becauce the start has been moved to the morning which sux familywize.

*update2*
Family situation is fixed. I WILL make the 50 k attempt :)

Building a plane

I've been building a new plane for a couple of weeks now. Every Tuesday I go visit one of my friends and while he is working on a very large seaplane I'm building a small aerobatic one. I've been flying an ElectroStik for the last two years and I like it alot but I've decided to try to build a FunAir which is more maneuverable and can fly a lot slower.

The FunAir plane is originally a fuel plane but I want to fly it with an electrical engine. At first I build the traditional short nosed body but I realized that the lack of a fuel tank would put place the center of gravity to far to the rear. I've therefor started on a new version which I given a longer nose. I'm not sure that it will fly this season but that is okay .. I've got 3 ElectroStik's in my garage :)

FunAir body

Finished body to the left

The longer nosed version

Something blue

I'm 1.97 meters tall and weights nearly 100 kg. That means that my shoes doesn't live long. I've just bought my fourth pair of shoes in 20 months. I really like Asics shoes and having run in kayano for nearly a year I desided to try the new Nimbus 13 for the extra softness. I've used Nimbus 11 earlier and loved them. The first thing I noticed was that the shoelaces is almost 20 cm shorter on the Nimbus 13 than the Kayano 17. That means that it is very hard to perform the lace lock that I'm used to. So when I ran the skovløberen marathon I decided to just skip the lace lock. During the race I did notice that the big toe hurted but thought nothing of it. The pain went away shortly after the race. A week later when I ran the Griseløbet half marathon I noticed the same pain but this time it didn't go away after the race .. at all! My big toe nail became really sensitive to touch and after a few days I noticed it had turned slightly blueish. A bit of googling told me that blue color + pain = new nail. I can already see how it has become loose at the root when I press it at the front. *Sigh* that wasn't part of my plans and really not the kinda injury I saw coming ;) I've run a few times with a lace lock afterwards and that seems to do the trick .. I'll try to remember not to ignore pain in the future :P

When you don't ..

.. feel like running get your arse out there! The last two weekends I've done a marathon a duathlon and a half marathon. I've been feeling like laying on the couch all weekend but now I'm heading out in the rain. You gotta do what you gotta do!

*updated*
~10 km @ 5:06 min/km. Felt great :)

Runners food

Yummy! Pasta!

"I don't eat so I can run. I run so I can eat." I've often said that and it is still true .. Almost true that is. Generally I have given more thought to what I eat since I started running but I still like my pizzas, hotdogs, burgers .. not really your typical health freak kinda food. Then only time I like to stay on a diet is before a marathon. For a week or two I eat a lot of chicken, pasta and fibers. I have run a single marathon totally unprepared dietwize and I'm not sure that it made a big difference but every little thing counts ;)

The road

When I started running last year I could barely do 2.5 km after 6 months of training I ran my first half marathon and 5 months later I ran my first marathon. A little more than a week ago I ran my third marathon and I have planned 2 more before the year is over. I have a stressful job and running helps me unwind. It is not that I don't dream about being able to run a marathon in 3 hours but .. but there is something great about being out there doing a 5+ hours battle against your own limitations. Nothing else matters but you and the road. I luv it.

Why a blog?

I've been running a private RC plane blog for a few years, but it has been strictly for RC plane related posts. This blog will combine post for all parts of my spare time which consists of running, biking, RC plane flying + building, coding and simply being a dad :)

I can almost garantee that the design of this blog will change alot as I get a feel of how Blogger is working. I've been using Wordpress so far ;)