Many, many years ago I ran a Marathon in Finland

I was going through some old papers as I am in the process of getting rid of all paper in my home if possible. Among the old items and document I found notes about my participation in Helsinki City Marathon on August 12, 1989.

I had the start number 2000 which is kind of special. I remember it to this day. As I mentioned above, it was the second Marathon I ran. The first one was in the spring of 1989. I was aiming at at time of 4 hours but I was new to the game and had to learn a hard lesson.

The routes for Marathon runs are unique. Where the route for Copenhagen Marathon at the time was a very flat route the route in Helsinki took us along the coastline where small hills meant that my rhythm was broken.

While a bit stressing the route passed through beautiful areas in the eastern part of Helsinki and a part of the route was in Espoo. It was actually a loop starting from the Olympic stadion going along the coast line to Espoo and then by passing several bridges to the Helsinki City center before we after a loop ran the same route back to Finish at the Olympic Stadion. It was a great experience to enter the stadion.

At the finishline I promised myself that I would try to complete marathons in different parts of the world. For work- and private-related reason, I only got Copenhagen, Helsinki and New York on my track-record but that is another story.

I will forever remember that day in August 1989 when I experienced such a beautiful background for a Marathon route. My finish time was humble but the experience was something I remember for life.