#parismarathon

I signed up for the Paris Marathon on April 12, 2026.

It will be my fifth marathon, the first one outside of Scandinavia. This is one of the races I have long wanted to do, and racing it means crossing an item off my bucket list.

My goal is threefold:

• to enjoy the race,
• to finish it, and
• to break 4h 7m (my PR is 4:14:31).

This is what I train for now. Here we go.

#ParisMarathon in T minus 170 days.

No need to sugarcoat it: getting my shoes on and getting out the door was hard today. But once I was out there, this was a very nice and quiet morning run. "I'm movin' through the dark of a long black night Just movin' with the moon and the light it shines And I'm thinking of a place and it feels so very real Just movin' through the dark" #ParisMarathon in T minus 170 days. Distance: 5.13k Pace: 5'28" #running #MastoRunDK #EveryRunHasAPurpose

It was a dark and stormy morning, even if the sun soon rose, but I did the long run of this week. The first half was a struggle (because of strong headwinds), so I'll think of it as character-building... Running in the woods, though, was just wonderful. 35/52 of #52weeks52halfmarathons done. #ParisMarathon in T minus 168 days. Distance: 22.03k (total this cycle: 27.16k) Pace: 5'40" #running #MastoRunDK #EveryRunHasAPurpose

My first speed run in ages, I did the "First Fartlek Run" with @coachbennett@mastodon.online in the #NikeRunClub app: 17 minutes of alternating pace to push myself (+ 15 minutes to get home). This was hard but fun. Let's make today count! #ParisMarathon in T minus 166 days. Distance: 6.22k (total this cycle: 33.38k) Pace: 5'13" #running #MastoRunDK #EveryRunHasAPurpose

Today, I'm in Oslo, so my morning run had lots of hills. The highlight of the run was listening to https://youtu.be/YzhjTeSz9y4 as I ran through the warm autumn colors and the cold sunrise in the Vigeland Park. It was such a beautiful moment. #ParisMarathon in T minus 163 days. Distance: 7.95k (total this cycle: 41.33k) Pace: 5'29" #running #MastoRunDK #EveryRunHasAPurpose

My daughter wanted to go for a run together (that's a first), so we did. It was quite short. It was quite slow. And it was quite amazing to spend time with her this way. #ParisMarathon in T minus 161 days. Distance: 2.42k (total this cycle: 43.75k) Pace: 7'40" #running #MastoRunDK #EveryRunHasAPurpose

I was never really in the zone today, but experience carried me through. It was an ok run. This was week 36 of #52weeks52halfmarathons. More important and impressive, however, my wife is walking a 27k route today ("Amarminoen"). This is a massive undertaking for her, but we will be there to support her and celebrate with a pop-up energy station later. #ParisMarathon in T minus 161 days. Distance: 22.35 (total this cycle: 66.1k) Pace: 5'39" #running #MastoRunDK #EveryRunHasAPurpose

Friday was Halloween - and this morning, I went on the "Spooky Speed Run" with Count Bænnætt (aka @coachbennett@mastodon.online) in the #NikeRunClub app. At 1k, in the dark and the quite of our small town, I passed a crowd with torches. I think they were on their way to surprise a friend on his birthday, but with John Carpenter synth in my ears it sure was a little spooky. #ParisMarathon in T minus 159 days. Distance: 4.98k (total this cycle: 71.08k) Pace: 5'16" #running #MastoRunDK #EveryRunHasAPurpose

A tempo run in the dark of the morning with The War on Drugs as my soundtrack. Many runners out there. This was a hard run, and it felt good. I test the #Runna app these days. The guided runs in #NikeRunClub are gold, but I need something to push me a little further on especially long runs. Maybe this is it..? Distance: 9.63k (total: 80.71k) Pace: 5'17" #ParisMarathon in 157 days. (Runna, ridicuously, projects my finish time to be 3:45:46. LOL!) #running #MastoRunDK #EveryRunHasAPurpose

Such a joyful long run this morning. I got to see the sun rise over the sea, I met my mother and brother (quite a surprise), and I just had a blast out there. This was week 37 of #52weeks52halfmarathons. I'm still testing the #Runna app, tweaking the settings to best suit my preferences. Distance: 21.29k (total: 102k) Pace: 5'31" #ParisMarathon in 155 days. #running #MastoRunDK #EveryRunHasAPurpose

An early and easy morning run. It was nice, and I felt good out there. Not much to report, really; it was just a run. This was the third test run of the #Runna app. I look forward to Thursday, where I'll do intervals, and it'll have to show its true colors. Distance: 10.6k (total: 112.6k) Pace: 5'33" #ParisMarathon in 152 days. #running #MastoRunDK #EveryRunHasAPurpose

Intervals. 5 x 1k @ 4.55. Plus 3.5k warm-up and 2.5k cool-down. This was FUN! And occasionally fast. And hard. But mostly fun. Have a good one, folks. Let's make it a beautiful day. Distance: 12.96k (total: 125.56k) Pace: 5'22" #ParisMarathon in 150 days. Edit: reposting this as part of my thread; sorry for the confusion. #running #MastoRunDK #EveryRunHasAPurpose

An amazing morning run. It was cold (0 degree C), and it was pitch black when I started, but over the two hours the sun rose and I got to watch the world wake up. I spotted hares and a flock of geese, a young deer just 10 meters from me. My free trial of #Runna expires now, and I won't move to a paid subscription. #NikeRunClub is better for me. Week 38 of #52weeks52halfmarathons. Distance: 22k (total: 147.56k) Pace: 5'35" #ParisMarathon in 147 days. #running #MastoRunDK #EveryRunHasAPurpose

On a writing retreat with good colleagues, I started the day with a run. This one was technically challenging. The light from my vest reflected in the raindrops on my glasses, making it hard to see were I ran. That combined with some uneven roads made it ... interesting. All in all, this was a run where I collected XP. Distance: 6.89k (total: 184.45k) Pace: 5'30" Edit: pace corrected #ParisMarathon in 144 days.

Morning intervals: 8 x 80 secs of various fast paces. Again, mixing things up on speed runs (and in general) was so much fun. Due to windchill, it felt like -7 celsius out there (this one's for you, @pfernandes@mastodon.social). Cold, but nice and clear. A minor issue with the #nikerunClub app is that it doesn't count the light running I do between the intervals. It is what it is. Distance counted: 3.92k (total: 188.37k) Pace: 5'06" #ParisMarathon in 142 days. #running #MastoRunDK #EveryRunHasAPurpose

As @coachbennett@mastodon.online says, "commitment is not giving up, it is giving more." This is about running, and this is not about running. This was a long run through the cold and beautiful dawn. I felt good; this was nice. A big shout-out to the drivers who slowed down when they met this solitary runner in the dark of the countryside. Stage 39 of #52weeks52halfmarathons. Distance: 22k (total: 210.37k) Pace: 5'40" #ParisMarathon in 140 days. Edits: typos.

Boy, that escalated quickly. My easy morning run with quite some hills in rainy Aarhus turned into stage 40 of #52weeks52halfmarathons. At 10k I just felt like #running far today, and YOLO got the best of me. This run was heavily #MastoRunDK-supported. @nerdd@mstdn.social suggested Aarhus Ø and Riis Skov as good places to run. @jimmyhartington@mastodon.social provided the soundtrack (Radiohead, "The Bends"). Thank you!! Distance: 21.28k (total: 231.65k) Pace: 5'49" #ParisMarathon in 138 days.

A nice afternoon run in Elsinore. It was fine, and Kronborg (the castle of Hamlet) is impressive. This was likely the last time I used my pair of pink Nike Pegasus 41s. But they have covered 1,256k, so we literally had a good run. Distance: 5.99k (total: 237.64k) Pace: 5'27" #ParisMarathon in 135 days. #running #MastoRunDK #EveryRunHasAPurpose

I pushed hard to get a fast run in this morning. It worked out well, though I would have loved to go a little longer. This was the first run of my new shoes. I still use a pair of Nike Pegasus 41, so I couldn't feel much of a difference. But I know these are an improvement. It's December 1. Happy Christmas - or what you celebrate. Let's make this a good one without any fear. Distance: 5.95k (total: 243.59k) Pace: 5'07" #ParisMarathon in 132 days. #running #MastoRunDK #EveryRunHasAPurpose

This was a hard fartlek to start the day with: two minutes of hard running, one of easy, repeated seven times over. This was fun. Fittingly, my soundtrack was Springsteen: "And hard times come, hard times go Hard times come, hard times go And hard times come, hard times go Hard times come, hard times go Hard times come, hard times go Yeah, just to come again" Have a good one! Distance: 6.12k (total: 249.71k) Pace: 5'01" #ParisMarathon in 130 days. #running #MastoRunDK #EveryRunHasAPurpose