Monday, September 3, 2018

Race Report: 2018 Skovløberen Marathon


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