Autumn

Up till now we're only aware of autumn because of the chill in the air. Suddenly, a week ago, it became biting cold. But soon we'll be able to enjoy the colourful side of the season. This is what we're looking forward to:

"Flanders will never let go of Brussels"...

... because Brussels is also the capital of Flanders, according to the Flemish prime minister Kris Peeters as reported in flandersnews.be.

Ah, yes, indeed. So that's why, I suppose, the great majority of the Brussels population are Flemish speakers, isn't it? Or let's put it another way. The Flemish intend to have a French-speaking city as capital of The Great Independent Prosperous Nederlands-Speaking Republic of Vlaanderen.

Go to Rome and ask the people there which nationality they consider themselves to be. Go to Moscow, Prague, (avoid London...), Paris, Berlin, etc. Then go to Brussels "the capital of Flanders". According to Meneer Peeters the Bruxellois are Flemish. Ha!

Which marathon in June 2011?

Just finished a marathon? Wishing to build up to a marathon in around 8 months' time? Not sure which one you should do? Following is a selection of interesting marathons that will take place in June 2011.

Pride of place goes to the Santa Claus Marathon on 18 June 2011, in the Arctic Circle: Rovaniemi, Finland (Lapland)

Lapland in the north of Finland is not the place one would most associate with June, and certainly Santa Claus is definitely more closely linked with December rather than the beginning of summer. But... in this period the sun never sets inside the Arctic Circle. Besides which, although the fruits of Santa Claus's work are delivered on Christmas, he still has a home and an office where he works all year round, and these are situated in Lapland.

The logical conclusion of this is that a marathon is organised at around the summer solstice, starting "next to Santa Claus's office". The marathon starts at 6pm, and there's a half marathon starting at 8pm, with Santa himself watching. Soon after you will cross the Arctic Circle (66'32'35"), which earns you a 'Diploma of Arctic Circle Crossing', and you get a picture at this point, which you may "keep for posterity".

The route is easy and very scenic, going downhill for the initial part and then quite flat for most of the remaining part. It's not crowded at all, and a look at previous results indicates that you could easily obtain a good placing in your category if your standard is just above the general average.

The marathon finish is at Lordi Square in the town centre, and presentation of prizes is at midnight, under the Arctic midnight sun.

Sounds interesting, doesn't it?

Closely related to the Santa Claus Marathon is the Midnight Sun Marathon on 25 June 2011, also in the Arctic Circle, this one being in Tromsø, Norway. In fact, there's an offer for a 'combined' half plus half marathon, one following the other on successive Sundays, first in Finland and then here. The principle is much the same, although here the theme, as may be observed from the name, is the midnight sun itself. Santa Claus is allowed to enjoy his residence in Lapland.

Here are a few of the more interesting looking marathons for June 2011:

Big Five Marathon on 25 June 2011, in South Africa, among the wildlife of the African savannah
Rock 'n' Roll San Diego Marathon on 5 June 2011
Utah Valley Marathon on 11 June 2011
Laguna Phuket International Marathon in Thailand on 12 June 2011
Kona Marathon, 26 June 2011, on the Big Island of Hawaii
Safaricom Marathon, 25 June 2011, organised by the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy in Kenya.

Closer to home, then, there are:

The Night Run - the ING Europe Marathon in Luxembourg starting at 7pm on 11 June 2011
LGT Alpin Marathon on 11 June 2011 in the Alps in Liechtenstein
Marathon de Vendee in France - held on 4 June 2011, in conjuction with a 100 km race for those of a more robust make-up...
Europa Marathon on 5 June 2011 in Gorlitz, Germany - "running across two countries"
Amersfoort Marathon on 12 June 2011 in Amersfoort, The Netherlands
And finally, this one not for the faint-hearted, starting at altitude 1000m and finishing at 2010m, with a 2201m peak along the way, is the Marathon du Mont Blanc at Chamonix in France, on 27 June 2011.

And there are many others... For a more comprehensive list see the website Worldmarathons marathon calendar.

Which marathon?

In my 'How to run a marathon' series (see the Subjects list) I had suggested a period of 8 months as the optimum interval between successive marathons, or to build up comfortably, i.e. without undue pressure, from an easy training schedule to a marathon.

So, in this new series, Which marathon?, I will do a bit of research about those marathons coming up in 8 months' time and feature one of them in some detail. This takes a bit of time, and soon it will be time to go to bed, so the first article in this series will have to wait just a little bit more.

In the meantime, until I carry out the research for June 2011 on your behalf, dear reader, I suggest you start training for it. You can pick up the schedule in How to run a marathon, starting from your present level of fitness. Number 15 in that series contains the entire suggested training schedule.

Enjoy your running, and do your best to avoid getting injured!