Mattias Bramstång

Ljubljanski Marathon, Slovenia. During perfect conditions I opened more brave than ever before. I started to burn fuel from the first kilometre and pushed myself to my maximum capacity. I was running as if it was a 10 kilometres race. I passed the first loop of two at 1h 23min 30sec and kept the pace quite good during the second lap. I finished at new personal best with 2h 49min 23sec. Afterwards I had a really bad blister beneath my foot. The blister went more painful during the next two days. Then it was really bad and I had to walk the next 10 days on my heel. I was looking quite funny at work when I was limping slowly ahead. Great memories come from such a moment!

I just ran a little bit more than 390 kilometre in 84 hours and then the race was over. The demanding 750 meter long track with all the bumps and the massive altitude difference on the track broke me down. I got problems with one Achilles tendon. It got swollen and the tissue was crackling like hell. My desire with 700 kilometres during the 7-day race vanished. I became a spectator for the rest of the race. After I redraw I could not let go of the bitterness I had, it took me some time actually. Because, I went to Greece with the expectation about a flat and smooth track, just like we were promised. Instead of running we lined up for a battle. I survived with bodily damage and a lesson learned. Prepare for the unexpected…

My first 6-hour race.

With quite much experience from marathons and some 100K races I had the guts to open quite fast. During this cold day, approximately 5 to 10 degrees below zero, I passed 42 kilometres within 3hours and 15minutes. I kept the pace for one more hour and then I tried to increase it a little bit. I had no problems during my run and I was in great mood. Last part of the race was nice, I flow a bit and landed beyond 76 kilometres. A few seconds after the stop signal I ran to the showers. There I had a gainer for recovery, a hot shower, a decent meal and then I drove back home. Satisfaction was all around.

After 18 days and 1166 kilometres I made an accomplishment of a dream. My most demanding and desired type of race was fulfilled. I had finished a transcontinental stage race. I had run from the English Canal to the Mediterranean. When I ran out on the beach, passing the finish line, a great adventure was past. A bitter but delightful feeling got me when I put my arms up in the sky. I made it, it’s over, it’s my Masterpice I thought, but in the same time I realize that these last weeks of my life never will come again. A fantastic experience that gave me experience of fatigue, pain, doubts and anxious. But most of all, and in the end, I experienced friendship, blessing and gratitude.

Almost 6 years after my first marathon I ran this one. This race became my first marathon below 3 hours. It felt amazingly. It required me 18 marathons of experience and years of preparations in order to succeed with this exploit. An imagination was realised. Now I was a faster runner than I ever expected myself to be. I made it with just 24 seconds to spare and I thought that I never have to run this fast again. Never. Now I’m a sub-3 runner, it’s hard to believe and every time I look into the mirror I still cant understand it. But I am a sub-3 runner. That’s it!

This was my first experience of multi-day running. I aimed for a marathon every day and then I wanted to recover to the next day. I covered some more distance because it was all so great. The people I learned to meet, like Jesper Olsen, Cornelia Bullig, Christine Bodet and Claude Hardel. Their names doesn’t need any futher presentation becaouse their greatness as runners and persons. They have become great friends and I have met them many times since. I finished with 360 kilometres and the obvious knowledge of my capacity to go a lot beyond that.

After four five kilometres I took a hold on a steady back that ran uniformly as a bell. I had a pacer and I hold on to this veteran until I could not. At 35 kilometres my energy was drained. I had to struggler some and in the same time the old man picked up the pace and flow away. Later I learned that the veteran runner I had used as a pacer was K-G Nyström. One man, of a handful of men that could be named as Mr Marathon in Sweden. I finished the race in 3hours and 50minutes. I believed I would never be able to run quicker than that, but I where certain about that it would be possible to run longer ; -)