The Leg of Steel?

A week’s rest since the DHL relay, an appointment with the physio for next week, and the purchase of a calf support. How would things go?

Today was ‘Kastelløbet’ – a 6k race, 3 laps around the Kastellet ramparts with the start and finish in the middle of the fortress. At the 2 gates, instead of running over the top of them on the level, we descended down the ramps and back up the other side, so we had a few inclines. One day this will be better explained in the ‘Lake Runner’s Guide to Kastellet,’ but for now here is a pretty uninspiring pic of one the ramps. It's really not that big!

In a nutshell, this is as close as it gets to a race on my home ground – there are no ‘around the lakes’ races. Given the injury I vowed to take it easy despite this advantage.

I met Brunch Girl in the office and we walked across to the start. Girls went first and did a 2 lap, 4k circuit while the boys watched and politely applauded at the gates. I tested the leg by running from one gate to the other – a couple of hundred metres via the direct route through the middle of Kastellet. Brunch Girl got round in 22.30 and then it was my turn.

Off we went – a sprint across the parade ground in the middle as I didn’t want to be stuck in the crowd when we got to the narrow path at the top. A couple of tight corners and up the ramp we went. I led the pack at the top, but settled back into a decent pace and a few people overtook until I found my place. Still it was good up there, a course I know like the back of my hand and the best weather for a week, sunny but cool, with a stiff breeze. I loped along within easy sight of the leader as we zig-zagged back and forth along the ramparts. Not a squeak from the leg.

By the end of the first lap, things were comfortable apart from the ramps. I wasn’t sure if the guy behind was gaining or losing, but I kept my place. By half way, the front runners were strung out and I found myself running alone. Great when you got to the gates as you got applause ‘just for you.’ By the start of the third lap, I began lapping some stragglers. The ramps were really sapping my energy though, and it felt much harder than a usual run of that length – hard to believe that my regular run when living in Hong Kong had been a straight climb for 1km from the start until it levelled out.

So around the third lap, then straight through the middle of Kastellet and a double back to the finish. The ‘Leg of Steel’ had held up! Crossing the line, the Danish commentator had trouble pronouncing my name. I think I was somewhere in the top ten, with a time of 23.08. So much for taking it easy.

The guy behind me who never quite caught up came and said something in Danish and we shook hands – Brunch Girl told me he had said he was fed up with looking at my arse. I wondered if I got a prize for being the first foreigner – Danish lessons perhaps?

Splits as follows:

KM1 3.44

KM2 3:43

KM3 3:56

KM4 3:59

KM5 4:01

KM6 3:44

I will have a few more days off now, as I will be going to the UK for my brother’s wedding, until next Tuesday. Seeing the physio on Wednesday, then hopefully marathon-training can re-start in earnest.