An old acquaintance
Like the marathon in Copenhagen earlier in the year, I had run this marathon a couple of years earlier. Another similarity was that I was to run marathons two weekends in succession. The outcomes were entirely different, however.
Jamie’s debut
I had chosen this run because Jamie had asked me if I would run it with her. Since I had already considered running this marathon, I might have come anyway.
The 11th Hans Christian Andersen Marathon was run on Sunday 19th September 2010. On the Saturday afternoon, I picked up Jamie at the quayside on Dampfærgevej (Steam Ferry Road) in Copenhagen. She spent the night with us, so that we could leave for Funen by car after breakfast. We had to pick up our race numbers before nine o’clock, but by a stroke of luck, my neighbour was also going to run and had gone on a weekend trip to Odense with his family. He picked up our numbers as well as his own, so all we had to do to be ready for our run was to find the family.
International run
The marathon, the largest stakeholder of which was Fjordager Sports Club, had attracted more than 4,000 runners from all over the world. In terms of participant numbers, the race is only beaten in Scandinavia by Stockholm, Copenhagen and Helsinki.
Because of its flat course, it is also a fast race, where many people set their own personal records. There was music and narration at several points along the route. The music was organised in collaboration with the Culture Secretariat of Odense Municipality. At two points along the route, it was also possible to check the timing on digital clocks. The start and finish at Odense Athletics Stadium were on big screens, and Radio 3 Funen was broadcasting direct.
New course since last time
The route had been changed since I last took part in Denmark’s fairy tale marathon. For the third year running, the start was at Odense Sports Hall and the finish at the Athletics Stadium, which are both quite close to each other. This meant there were no problems with parking, etc.
The starting pistol went off at 10 a.m. As was the norm by then, they also used pace makers, a collaborative effort with the Copenhagen club Sparta. The time intervals were every quarter of an hour from three to five hours. Jamie and I decided to determine our own timing and ran together from the start.
2 x half-marathon
The run comprised a half-marathon distance which was to be run twice. The route took us through much of the Funen capital and we also ran out along Næsbyhovedvej , where we rounded the old embankments of the former Næsbyhoved Castle, which has played an important role in the history, not only of Odense but also of Denmark.
We ran along the Odense Canal and round Odense Harbour and, as you might imagine, we also ran past Hans Christian Andersen’s house. We then followed the city’s Latin Quarter and the former Brandts Clothing Factory, which now houses museums, a cinema, cafes and restaurants. Quite some way along the route, we crossed the river before passing Funen’s largest employer Odense University Hospital. Having crossed the heath, we approached the finishing line, although we had no reason to rejoice this time around as it only indicated that we were halfway finished.
Young and impetuous
Jamie hastened me on from the very start of the run. As a young debutant, she wanted to get ahead quickly, but as an experienced marathon runner I knew my limitations. Jamie disappeared from sight over the horizon more than once, and on several occasions I didn’t think I would see her before I crossed the finishing line. But that was not the way it turned out. After a period as a solo run, I caught up with her once more.
Nip into a cafe to get out of the rain – no way!
At one stage it began to rain, and Jamie stopped running and asked if we could seek shelter. She thought it would be appropriate to go into a cafe and drink coffee until the rain had stopped. I laughed and reminded her that we were running a marathon, which continued regardless of what the clerk of the weather might have in store for us. Jamie later found that situation amusing, too.
Together across the line
Towards the end of the run, Jamie was the one showing the greatest signs of fatigue. I had the welcome opportunity to walk for a while when Jamie was unable to run anymore, and we ran across the line hand-in-hand with a time of 4:51:29. Like nine years before, free beer was also being served at the finish. The sponsor this time was another brewery, with Vestfyen serving up that year’s delicious brew.
After the run, we visited a Chinese couple living in Odense who Jamie knew. They served Chinese dishes and we drove home later in that evening to Roskilde.
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