I ran the Copenhagen Marathon in 2003 purely because The Great Wall Marathon had been cancelled due to the SARS epidemic. I had not expected to run in my own capital again, simply because the city’s marathon is traditionally run more or less at the same time as my Chinese favourite.
But on 28th January, I came across an offer on a bank website. As the main sponsor of the Copenhagen Marathon, Nykredit was offering free running numbers to its customers. I had my mortgage with Nykredit, so I decided to take up the offer, although I didn’t really expect to run.
The Chinese marathon was on Saturday 15th May, and the Wednesday after, I was back home again visiting a customer in Copenhagen. On my way home, I drove past Østerbro and picked up the running number; I had asked for. I was, however, still very much in doubt about running.
We went to a wedding on the evening of Saturday 22nd May, and I told Karin that I would drive home because I would be running a marathon the following day. During the wedding, I sipped at a little wine whenever a toast was proposed, but otherwise refrained from imbibing anything but water and coffee. I got to bed at about four o’clock that night and managed three hours of sleep before getting up again.
I drove to Copenhagen, where I was able to park my car with a customer on Vesterbrogade, and then ride the bike I had with me to the new start on Islands Brygge by the Harbour.
The route had been changed in relation to the last time I ran in Copenhagen. However, we still passed through most of the Queen’s city, including the districts of Østerbro, Nørrebro and Vesterbro, the parliament building Christiansborg, all the way along the harbour from Kalvebod Brygge and across to Langelinie. The marathon ended in the same area as where it began, on Islands Brygge.
It was difficult to comprehend that just eight days earlier I had crossed the finishing line in China. I was actually in good form and had a good run. Not surprisingly, things started getting tough during the final five kilometres, with my feet and toes aching so much that I had to walk some of the time. At one stage, the going even felt tougher than it had been in China, which was quite improbable. I realised, though, that, with a bit of willpower, I would be able to cross the line with a time of less than five hours. During the final two kilometres this motivation gave me the strength I needed, and I actually ran faster than I normally was able to. I crossed the line with the time 4:59:06, i.e. less than the magic five hours. My time was 101 minutes faster than a week before.
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