Mattias Bramstång

After many month without long distance runs I realised I was afraid for running beyond 30 km. So I went to Växjö just to run a marathon in a comfortable speed and try to go steady. I was surprised of how well it went; I felt great all the way and could even push it quite hard the last lap (of 8). I finished with 3:22:33.

Two weeks later I just had to push it some more and find out what I was able to perform. I went to Skovmarathon in a beautiful beech wood outside of Hilleröd in Denmark. It rained intense some hours before start but the last hour before start it stopped and the sun appeared. It became perfect marathon weather. The track was better than I expected, just a few puddle and not so many slippery spots….

I started the first 10km at sub 43min. I felt out of shape. I thought I better slow down and jog the rest. But not yet, first I wanted to do a decent half marathon. After 15 kilometres I ran in to the back of the pack runners on the 10km-race. I had to dance around them all the way to they finished. At the same point I went out on the second (and last) lap. I just managed within 1h 30min. I felt inspiration in the beginning of the second lap and wanted to keep the pace as good as possible during the upcoming kilometres. At 35 kilometer I run into back of the pack runners of the half marathon race. This time the dance between slower runners was less easy. But I manage to finish this slippery and quite demanding track with more than 300 altitude meters at 7^th place in 3:03:39.