Marten Bostrom, Copenhagen Marathon winner 2011 report.
Mårten Boström from Finland
Copenhagen is only a short flight from Helsinki and Denmark is known to be flat so I figured it would be a good city to shoot for a top position in a city marathon. In all my previous marathons (Odense, Paris, Fukuoka, Houston, Ottawa, Chicago) I have run with a set time goal in mind. This time I wanted to change the mentality all around and focus just on winning the race. A good time could be the outcome, if everything went smoothly.
I have since the beginning of 2011 lived and worked in Zanzibar, Tanzania. My work as a GIS consultant is full-day, but the conditions for running are greatly better than those in Finland during the winter. It’s slightly too warm to be ideal, but this seemed like the best option for my winter concentrating on the marathon.
The race morning lightened up as warm and windy, so it would be a challenge to run really fast. I had a pacer who was to take me through 30k in 68’30”-pace. I felt confident on the start line that I had done all the preparations what was needed to run a good marathon on the day. My body felt smooth during the first few kilometers, but they demonstrated how strong the wind was. The first 5k splits were 16’22” – 16’06” – 16’33”, with average heart rate 162 – 169 – 168, so we were running exactly on goal pace. Soon after this the pacemaker got some problems with his feet and I was forced to start the fight against the wind all on my own. It was quite a shock to realize I might have to run the next 27km on my own – fortunately I had done most of my running in Zanzibar on my own. The wind was not easing in and the next 5k splits 17’01” – 17’09” – 16’56” (164 – 165 – 166) were starting to be a little more than challenging. I had had a tight hamstring/nerve, which was starting to show signs, but was however able to relax my form pretty well.
The Copenhagen Marathon course lingers throughout the city in two large loops, with a good crowd along long stretches of it. I assume the 1st runner of 12000 coming through gets a slightly better than average cheer, but the crowd really helped me especially in the more central parts of the city. As I had realized it was impossible to beat the wind on the day my focus on the latter part of the race was to not fall apart and give in to the pain. My next 5k splits were 16’59” – 17’08” (168 – 167) so I was holding up the pace rather well and seemed like the Squeezy Drinking Gel I was using for energy were working.
The slight rain shower on the last few kilometers helped ma along and I crossed the finish line in 2.21’44”. Crossing the tape as the first runner felt incredibly, despite the weak time. I had won a major half marathon in Phoenix, Arizona a few years back, but this was definitely my biggest feat, for now.
The motivation to keep on going towards the Olympic Dream is still alive and I have never felt this fresh in my legs two weeks past a marathon!
Report Mårten Boström from Finland
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