Chty blog - marathon

Unions marathon

Chty — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 21:06:00 +0200

Yes, I did it. I was scared about the longitudinal profile, but finally, it wasn't as difficult as I thought; not easy, but possible. After each race I'm telling me that I really love theses nature races. You are distracted along the way by the beautiful landscape, and it make it easier to forget your difficulties.
It was really sunny and hot, but this time^[1], it was much more in the forest; so most of the time it was possible to find shadow.

The half marathon was starting in Sweden and ending in Norway. That's why there was people from both countries; good occasion to meet some Swedish people.

It was also my second half marathon competition. Because of the nature, I really preferred this one, even it was a little bit more difficult because of the profile.

According to my watch I ran it in almost two hours (update: 02:01:15 exactly, 43/80 in men classification); seems fine for me compared to the time I've made at the Lille marathon (1:47:11), according to the difference of profile. But I don't really care about the time.

It cheers me up to continue this so hard way to a full marathon...

To finish, special thanks to the people who allowed me to go (and back ;-)) to this race. I'm so happy to have been there.

Notes

[1] Check this entry to see what I mean by the other time.

Crazy longitudinal profile

Chty — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 22:11:00 +0200

Last day, a friend of mine proposed me to subscribe to a race, called unionsmarathon, which goes through Norway and Sweden. As usual, I checked the longitudinal profile of the race to see if it wasn't too hard for me^[1] . Here is the longitudinal profile :

It sounded fine for the half marathon. The first 21,1 km seemed not so hard.
Obviously, after subscribing, I discovered, on the norwegian website, that the half marathon will start at the half of the full marathon! Yes, it changes many things... I now know that I will have to climb the himalaya mountain... Will see tomorrow (Saturday 5th of July) if I succeed...

Notes

[1] I already saw races going upward only.

Strong thoughts

Chty — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 18:27:00 +0200

Today, I thought about a friend of mine who is cycling the Styrkeprøven race, also called Den Store Styrkeprøven which means The Great Trial of Strength; this race is 540 km long, starting in Trondheim (Norway), and finishing in Oslo. What special? This distance should be accomplished in one time! He expects to do it in 18 hours. Particularly impressive when thinking about how fast the climatic conditions can change.

Then I also thought to all the runners of the Midnight Sun Marathon, a race in the Arctic city of Tromsø at 70°N. Probably one of the greatest marathon.

Picking a marathon entry list by getting on your feet

Chty — Wed, 07 May 2008 23:38:00 +0200

That's it! After finding a good sponsor^[1], I've now subscribed to one of the marathon of this list. You will see here, I'm the second french guy who has subscribed to the Glitnir Oslo Marathon \o/.

Now the big deal is to be ready for the 28th of september 2008, and it isn't gonna be easy. I just hope to be able to finish the 42,195 km. 'will see.

Notes

[1] because as everyone know everything is expensive in Norway, and specifically in Oslo

Premier marathon d'Amiens annulé

Chty — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 10:53:00 +0200

Il y a quelques semaines j'avais monté dans ce billet une petite liste de marathon afin d'en choisir un pour me déterminer un objectif. Le marathon d'Amiens m'intéressait particulièrement pour de multiples raisons.
Malheureusement, cela faisait quelques semaines que je parcourais le web à la recherche d'éventuelles informations supplémentaires comme un formulaire d'inscription, mais toujours sans succés; j'ai même contacté la mairie d'Amiens, quelques associations locales, sans jamais avoir echo d'un marathon.
Finalement, j'ai trouvé le contact d'un organisateur qui m'a malheureusement répondu que le premier marathon d'Amiens était annulé à cause de la mairie de cette même ville; celle-ci ayant trop fait traîner le projet. Apparement ce dernier ne lui a pas plus.
Heureusement l'association compte bien relancer l'idée d'ici un ou deux ans. J'espère que ce sera le cas !

Affaire à suivre.

Generating marathon list by getting on your feet

Chty — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 00:51:00 +0100

Since a few years, one of my objective is to run a marathon. To be even more motivated, one solution is to fix yourself a goal.
So, since a few weeks I'm skimming websites to select some marathons.
The biggest criterion of choices were:

The location: not too far (ie Taiwan is a bad idea).
Low differences in height: it will be my first marathon, remember?
The possibilities to sleep in the town: most of great races require that you come at least one day before the start to get your number (and I don't want to pay a hotel room).
Late in the sport season: I'm not yet ready to do 42.195 km.
The price: the road races are becoming more and more expensive. So if it's too expensive, find a way to get money ;-)

Here is the current list organised by date:

Oslo marathon^[1]^[2]: 28th of september 2008; I will still be in Norway, so it could be possible. The road seems flat and fast.
Reims marathon: 19th of october 2008; The route seems flat. The town isn't so far from my native hometown, nor from Paris. So I perhaps can travel by car. Moreover, they are advertising for sustainable development by using hybrids cars to follow the runners, clean bus and bicycle station, recyclable glass, etc...^[3]
Amiens marathon: 26th of october 2008; this is the first time they organised a marathon to the best of my knowledge; I love this town; the problem is I haven't more information (ie: no price, no register form, no road plan). They probably have some organisations problem to publish it for the first time.
La Rochelle marathon: 30th of november 2008; this is far away from my home, but I perhaps have a possibility to sleep there; it's a well-known town I don't know yet.

Perhaps, I will add some others races soon.
The aim is to choose at least one race, and a maximum of two races and having about 30 days between the two races.
I hope that I can do at least one race, because although easy to say, running them will be a premiere.

Notes

[1] Named Glitnir Oslo Maraton in fact.

[2] Easier to pronounce that way, right?

[3] The green touch is fashionable nowadays.