On September 2nd, I ran the Skovløberen Marathon in Hvalsø,
Denmark. This is a trail marathon on the
island of Zealand. Skovløberen
translates roughly to “forest runner.”
For years, I’ve wanted to visit Copenhagen, but the
Copenhagen Marathon never fit into my schedule.
Hvalsø is close enough to Copenhagen that I could combine this race with
a Copenhagen vacation.
Thursday, August 30
I arrived in the afternoon, after an overnight flight to
Amsterdam and an afternoon flight to Copenhagen. I took a train from the airport to the
central train station. I stayed at the
Scandic Webers Hotel, which was about three blocks from the train station.
Ideally, I wanted to spend the rest of the day outdoors, to
help my body adjust to the local time zone.
Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t cooperating. It rained non-stop for the rest of the
day. There are several museums and galleries,
but most of them close at 5:00, so I didn’t really have enough time. Instead, I explored the streets in the city
center, but never got far from my hotel.
When I got tired of walking in the rain, I had dinner at a restaurant
that serves traditional Danish food.
I went to bed early, slept well for about four hours, and
then woke up again. It took a long time
to get back to sleep. Then it was tough
dragging myself out of bed in the morning.
Friday, August 31
My room rate included breakfast. The hotel had a nice breakfast buffet,
including hot entrees, cold cuts, cereals, bread, fruit, and a variety of
beverages.
Friday was a nicer day for sightseeing. There was a brief rain shower in the morning,
but no rain for the rest of the day.
After breakfast, I took a walking tour of central Copenhagen. There’s an organization called Copenhagen
Free Walking Tours that conducts several different tours. The tour guides work for tips. This tour was their Grand Tour of
Copenhagen. There were so many people
signed up that we split into four groups, each with a different tour
guide. My group had an English-speaking
guide.
The tour lasted three hours.
We met on the steps of the city hall.
As we walked through the streets of the Strøget neighborhood,
our guide taught us some of the history of the city. Along the way, we saw some majestic
buildings.
Next we toured Slotsholmen, a small island separated from
the rest of the city by canals. This was
once the home of the Danish royal family.
Now it’s the seat of the parliament.
We came by at just the right time to see the Prime Minister leaving one
of the buildings. He waved to us, as a
few people in the group took his picture.
Next, we visited Nyhavn, a 17th century commercial port that
has been transformed into an entertainment district.
Our guide kept us on pace to reach Amalienborg Palace just
in time to see the changing of the guard.
We concluded our tour on the waterfront, just across from
the opera house.
After the tour, I walked back to Nyhavn, where I was able to
take a one hour boat tour. We started
with a tour of the harbor. From the
water, I got my best view of the dome of the “Marble Church.”
Then we followed a canal through Christianshavn.
We went under a number of low bridges, so we had to be careful
not to stand up. This bridge is nicknamed
the Bridge of Circles.
After crossing back through the harbor, we went through the
canals that surround Slotsholmen. This
gave me a different view of the Christiansborg Palace
This interesting spire sits on the top of the stock
exchange.
As we returned to Nyhavn, our guide pointed out one of the
buildings where Hans Christian Andersen used to live.
On my way back to the hotel, I stopped at a bakery inside
Tivoli Gardens to buy a cinnamon roll for a late lunch. After a brief rest break at the hotel to
recharge my electronics, I took another walking tour. This one was a 90 minute tour of
Christianshavn. We met at the statue of
Biskop Absalon.
As we walked toward the harbor, we passed a church called Holmens
Kirke (Church of Holmen). Naturally, I
had to get a photo of that.
We crossed the Knippels Bridge into Christianshavn, where we
saw the alternative side to Copenhagen.
Here, the neighborhoods had a different feel.
The spire of this church has a spiral staircase on the
outside. If you don’t have a fear of
heights, you can climb to the top.
Our tour concluded at one of the entrances to Freetown
Christiania. This is a quasi-independent
commune that was established in 1971 when squatters occupied some abandoned
military barracks that their children had been using as a playground. It’s now kind of a hippie neighborhood, home
to artists and freethinkers.
Our guide gave us an orientation, and then we explored Freetown
Christiania on our own.
After the long walk back my hotel, I had dinner at an Italian
pizzeria called Mother. The place was
packed, and it took a while to get my food, but it was worth the wait.
I got to bed late that night, but slept well all night. Maybe it’s because I walked more than 13
miles that day.
Saturday, September 1
I slept in, but still had a tough time dragging myself out
of bed. I had a late breakfast before
heading out for more sightseeing. There
were a few things I wanted to see that weren’t part of either of my walking
tours.
First, I walked to Rundetårn (the Round Tower), which is in
the Latin Quarter.
After walking up a long spiral ramp and some stairs, I
reached the observation deck. From
there, you can see the whole city.
From there, it wasn’t far to Rosenborg Slot. Along the way, I walked through the King’s
Gardens.
Rosenborg Slot is a 17th century castle built by King
Christian IV.
As I was taking pictures, my camera told me my batteries
were exhausted. I thought I had spares,
but apparently, I already used them.
Before I could do any more sightseeing, I had to go back to the
hotel. Along the way, I couldn’t resist
stopping at a gelato stand.
After changing my camera batteries and recharging my other
devices, I walked to the far end of the harbor to see Kastellet. This is a star-shaped fortress that was built
in the 17th century to guard the harbor.
It’s hard to get very much of it in any one picture.
While I was in the area, I also saw the Gefion Fountain and
the Little Mermaid.
By now, my legs were getting tired from all the walking, and
it was almost dinner time. I located a
pizzeria my tour guide recommended, and had this pizza with potatoes, goat
cheese, rosemary, and truffle oil.
Then I went back to the hotel to start getting my running
gear organized for the race. It took a
long time before I was tired enough to get to sleep. Then I had a restless night. I only got about an hour of solid sleep.
Sunday, September 2
Sunday was race day. I
got up early, so I could get downstairs just as they were starting
breakfast. After a light meal, I headed
to the central train station.
To get to Hvalsø, I had to take a regional train. The ticket machine at the Copenhagen station
wouldn’t take my credit card. It kept
saying, “Invalid currency.” Fortunately,
I also brought cash. I had just enough
for my ticket to Hvalsø, and if necessary, the return ticket. It was about a 40 minute train ride to the
Hvalsø train station.
As I was getting off the train, I met a Danish runner who
was also doing the marathon. He spoke
fluent English, and we chatted as we walked to the sports hall to pick up our
race numbers. He asked me what my goal
was. I said, “I’m just going to stay
relaxed and enjoy the experience.” When
he asked what time I expected, I said, “On a road course, that would be about
four hours, but on this course I expect to be slower.” He expected a similar time.
The race didn’t start until 10:15, so I still had almost an
hour until the race started. They had a
gear check in the sports hall, so I was able to leave my warm-up clothes there
during the race. The building also had
bathrooms, changing areas with showers, a snack bar, and free wifi.
While the marathon was fairly small, they also had a half
marathon, a quarter marathon, and a 5K race. The events were
well organized, and they had chip timing.
The pre-race announcements were all in Danish, so I didn’t
understand a single word. I wondered if I was
the only runner from another country. If fact, there were also two runners from Finland, one from Sweden, and one from Germany. I was the only overseas entrant. About
15 minutes before the race, they started playing music and leading runners
through a warm-up routine. That must be
a Scandinavian thing. They did the same
thing at the Midnight Sun Marathon in Norway.
The weather was excellent.
This area gets a lot of rain, but on race day we actually had sunny
skies. The temperature at the start was
60 degrees. That could have been too
warm with direct sunlight, but most of the course was shaded.
The course started and finished in front of the Hvalsø
sports hall, but in between, we did two large loops through a forest on the
south side of the town. Every kilometer
was marked, but they were counting down the remaining distance. We were barely two blocks from the sports
hall when I saw the 42 sign.
At first, we were on paved streets through the town of
Hvalsø. As we got out of town, we
entered the forest on a narrow paved road.
After about 10 minutes, we turned onto a dirt road. The course description indicated the race was
on forest roads, so I expected most of the course to be like this.
After about five kilometers, I reached the first of 10 aid
stations. After that, they were three to
four kilometers apart. That was just
frequent enough that I was able to get by without carrying a water bottle.
The terrain was gentle rolling hills. They weren’t long or steep, but we were
always going up or down. Most of the
time, we were surrounded by woods, but occasionally, we came to a cluster of
homes.
There weren’t many spectators, but the ones I saw were all
cheering enthusiastically in Danish. I
was probably the only one who didn’t know that they were saying.
The course wasn’t all on dirt roads. More and more, I encountered sections of
single-track trail. It wasn’t too technical,
but I had to watch out for the occasional root.
There were also a few sections across meadows, where the
trail surface could best be described as trampled grass.
I find running through grass to be tiring. I began to wonder if these sections, along
with the constant undulation of the trails, would gradually wear me down. Then I remembered that I haven’t run an
entire marathon since June. I’ve done a
couple of ultras since then, but in those races I was mostly walking. My longest run in the last 10 weeks was less
than 11 miles. I wondered if my legs
would eventually get fatigued.
Early on, it seemed like I was gradually falling behind the
other runners. For a time, I didn’t see
anyone in front of me. Then I reached a
narrow section of trail where several runners got bunched up. After that, I seemed to keep up, and I even
passed a few people.
We were mostly in the woods, but I got occasional views of
lakes and ponds.
The volunteers were all cheerful. At one turn, there were two volunteers who
were singing something in Danish. I
couldn’t understand the words, but the melody sounded familiar. I think it was a disco song from the late
70s. Without hearing the words in
English, I couldn’t quite identify it.
After about 15 kilometers, I reached a hill that was steep
enough that I was persuaded to walk.
I wondered if that would establish a bad precedent. Would I now start walking all the hills? I set a goal of not walking any more hills until
the second loop. That held up for about
one kilometer. Then I reached another
steep hill. I realized this one was
steeper when I saw there were logs to prevent erosion. I walked this hill too.
Just past the top of hill, there was a large mound with
steps leading to the top. Our route took
us around to the other side, where there was another set of steps. This is the highest point on the island of
Zealand, and we went to the top of it on each loop.
At the top, there was a large stone. On one side there were marking like a
gravestone, making me think this is also a burial site.
After coming down the steps on the other side, I reached an
aid station. I took a long overdue drink
and got on my way. One nice thing about
reaching the highest point on the course is that I knew it would be downhill
from there. The next kilometer or two
were much easier, and I got back into a good rhythm.
I had been seeing signs for both the first and second
loops. You would expect them to be
offset by about 21 kilometers, but instead they differed by only 17. Clearly, the first loop was much longer than
the second one. The first loop had a few
twists and turns near the beginning that were omitted in the second loop.
They had a sign at 21.1 kilometers. For the first time in the race, I looked at
my watch. The first half took
2:06:40. That pace seemed about right
for this course, but I wondered if I would fade in the second half.
What I was really looking forward to was finishing the first
loop. Because the first loop was longer
than the second, I still had a ways to go.
In general, the course was well-marked. There was red and white flagging, and turns
we weren’t supposed to take were roped off with red and white striped
tape. There was only one course marking
that I initially found confusing. It was
this sign.
It made more sense when I realized the arrows matched the
colors of the race bibs used for the different distances. Marathon runners had yellow bibs. We were supposed to go straight on our first
loop, but turn left at the same point in our second loop.
After passing this split, I started a transitional passage
that connected back to the beginning of the loop. I saw a bunch of runners coming from another
direction. They were doing one of the
shorter races, which started later. I
must have joined up with the back of the pack, because I was passing them all.
There were course marshals at every crossing. Most of the time, it was obvious which way to
go, but there was one spot where I would have gone the wrong way. The runners doing the short race all turned
left, but I was directed to go straight.
This was the part of the loop where we did a shorter version on the
second lap.
On my second loop, it was comforting to know that there
wouldn’t be any surprises. I had done
all these hills before, so I knew what to expect. Some seemed more tiring the second time, but
that’s because I no longer had fresh legs.
The grassy sections also felt more tiring.
When I eventually reached the first hill that I had walked,
I forced myself to run the whole thing.
As I reached the top, my legs felt like jelly, but I recovered and got
back into a good rhythm.
When I reached the second steep hill, I ran as far as the
first log. Then I walked until I was
almost to the top. After going up and
down the steps again, I caught up to three runners who were at the aid
station. As we left, I passed them all
on the descent.
From this point on, I knew the toughest hills were behind
me. I passed a lot of runners who were
slowing down in the last 10 kilometers. I
was trying to finish strong.
With about 5K to go, I caught up to the runner I met on the
train. I said “Hi.” As I passed him, he said, “Well done.” Those were the only two words of English I
heard during the race. That was a big
difference between Copenhagen and the outlying areas. In the city, everyone spoke English, as if it
were their first language.
After two more kilometers, I reached the point where the
course split. This time, I turned left
to head toward the finish in Hvalsø.
This was a narrow single-track section, but it was mostly downhill.
More and more, I was noticing discomfort in some of my
toes. Both of my big toes were
throbbing. There were small rocks embedded
in some sections of the trail, but I didn’t remember stubbing my toes on any of
them.
When I emerged from the forest, I felt the sunshine. For the first time, I felt hot. As I ran into town, I was still on dirt roads
with lots of small rocks. I was really
looking forward to getting on pavement again.
With about 2K to go, I needed to cross the street twice near
a busy roundabout. There were volunteers
holding up traffic for us. Then I got
onto a paved sidewalk. I saw a woman
just ahead of me who was being escorted by a race official on a bike. I’m not sure why. It didn’t seem like I was fast enough to be
catching up to any of the lead women.
I was putting on a strong finish. I ran past her and then caught up to a few
more runners. Then I had to leave the
pavement for one last section over grass.
I had less than a kilometer to go, but I still couldn’t see the finish.
Finally, after one more turn, I saw the finish line. I finished in 4:17:28. Despite my best efforts to run strong in the
second half, I was slower by four minutes.
I guess the hills wore me down more than I realized.
Finish line snacks included fruit, cookies, and candy, but I
was only interested in the cinnamon rolls.
To me, that’s the taste of Denmark.
The finisher medals were made of wood. It was an appropriate design for a forest
marathon.
Here’s what the finisher certificate looks like. Across the top, it shows the elevation
profile. Seeing it like this, I don’t
feel too bad about walking the steepest hills.
I originally wanted to do the Copenhagen Marathon. I did this one instead, because it fit better
into my schedule. At the time, I felt
like I was settling. Now I have no
regrets. Doing this race got me out of
the city and gave me a chance to experience a different side of Denmark.
As soon as could, I checked the train schedule and saw the
next train was arriving in two minutes.
I couldn’t get to the train station in time. It was Sunday, so the trains didn’t run very
often. The next one wasn’t due for an
hour.
I retrieved my gear bag, made a bathroom stop, and made my
way slowly to the train station. There
was only one ticket machine, and it not only wouldn’t take my credit card, but
also didn’t have a slot for bills. It
only took cash in the form of coins. I
didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t buy a
train ticket. Then I saw another runner
who was already waiting for the train.
He had a credit card that worked.
He bought the ticket for me, and I reimbursed him in cash.
By the time I got back to my hotel in Copenhagen, it was two
hours after I finished the race, and I still needed to get cleaned up. By the time I was ready to go out again, it
was already dinner time. On my way to
dinner, I stopped at a currency exchange to make sure I could pay cash for my
train ticket to the airport.
I usually celebrate a marathon finish with pizza, but
sometimes I crave a burger or some barbecue.
This was one of those days. I
think it’s because I needed the protein.
I had dinner at a burger place that was recommended by my tour
book. I had to walk about a mile each
way, but the extra walking probably helped my recovery.
In contrast to the previous night, I slept like a rock.
That’s how it usually is after a
race.
Monday, September 3
My legs were sore right after the race, but I felt fine
walking to the train station. I still
felt fine when I was walking through the airport in Amsterdam. After the long flight from Amsterdam to
Minneapolis, my legs were stiff. Running
is good. Sitting is bad. I usually fly home the day after a race. I may have to rethink that on international
trips.
Race Statistics
Distance: 42.2 kilometers
Time: 4:17:28
Average Pace: 6:06
per kilometer (9:49 per mile)
Lifetime Marathons/Ultras:
357
Countries: 31
