Jönköping Marathon

In October last year, I persuaded Petra to go for a marathon-distance training run, stopping at different Circle-K gas stations for coffee and cinnamon buns along the way. Running 14 km longer than she had ever done before, she finished strong and eager to take on a real marathon race. Yesterday, she did just that, along the southern shore of the lake “Vättern” as we both took part in Jönköping Marathon.

With severe weather warnings in effect, we set off in rain on the white Munksjöbron together with thousands of other runners, first heading east towards Huskvarna before turning back along the beach into Jönköping. Though less hilly than previous years, the course still came with 531 meters of elevation gain and a few sections on muddy trails which felt a bit unusual for a road marathon.

At 32 kilometres, we stopped to take a photo, and with Petra's parents cheering on, she finished in high spirits, even sprinting the last hundred meters down Munksjöbron where we had started the race 4 hours and 41 minutes earlier. With Jönköping Marathon in the books, I now plan to take two easy weeks leading up to Tallinn Marathon on the 10th of September.