The miraculous marathon
Saturday morning, June 28, it was still crazy. It was completely surreal to think of a marathon within the next 24 hours. When I had bought the start number, as well as the bus and ferry ticket for the trip. I decided to leave but was not at all sure if I could do anything at all.
Sunrise marathon consists of a route that must be completed four times. Thus, there are also half and quarter marathons at the race. In my quiet mind, I thought I could take a quarter marathons with crutches.
Saturday night the trip went from my home towards the beautiful island in the Baltic Sea. Before midnight I was picked up by the bus by my host for the coming night hours. At home with him and the family, I was hospitably entertained with coffee, muffins and cakes. I owe them a big thank you.
At 2 o’clock we drove to the starting point to get ready for the night’s race. At 3 o’clock the start was at Nexø Old Herring smokehouse. I lay down in the back and stayed there. Surprisingly, I was able to run. It did not go fast and I was sore in the foot at every step. Sunrise Marathon is known for the beautiful sunrise runners experience during the race. But unfortunately it rained like the last time I ran on Bornholm. The rain poured down quietly throughout the race. We did not get to see the sun, but could only observe that it was getting brighter and brighter.
To my great surprise, I came steadily and calmly through the first three rounds. With the exception of the drinking breaks, I was in constant running, though not fast. On the last round I was tired and not without pain. Here I allowed myself to walk every time I had to go uphill.
Miraculously, I finished in the time of 5:52:43 and received a medal that I thought was very well deserved. After bath and breakfast, the trip went home again. The total journey thus lasted less than a day.
The next day I woke up again with a foot that was hard to support. The foot was still swollen and the pain was still there. Nothing had gotten either worse or better during the weekend marathon run. It did not take long, however, before the pain disappeared as suddenly as it had arisen. In September, I ran a marathon again.
