Odense City Half 2025

This weekend I just ran a half marathon in Odense, Denmark 🇩🇰: Odense City Half.

The route starts and ends in the city park “Munke Mose” and is essentially a loop format where you run 4 x 5K. The first loop, however, has a little extra part to it (to get the extra 1.1K in).

I was there early (I always am at races) and I positioned myself near the front runners. Just behind the 1:30 pacers.

The first 10K went well. The first 3K a bit too fast though; 3:57, 4:01, 4:04. But I felt great and not like I was running above my limits. I then settled into a pace near 4:10 which is what I really was aiming at. My objective was not to go all out - it was to run comfortably strong (hard effort, but controlled). I think I did that in the first part at least. But then during the 3rd loop I started to loose power: my pace naturally dropped. That surprised me 😂. Normally it happens as a result of a noticeable hard effort - but not this time though.

My heart rate was rather stable at an average of 131 bpm (red graph). My cadence was also pretty stable at around 182 (purple). As was my perceived effort (worked, but felt OK). At the end of the last loop however there was one noticeable sign; my right calf was almost about to cramp. So from that point on I held back a bit to not trigger the cramp. Speculation: There could be multiple causes (perhaps 🤷🏼‍♂️) … It was rather warm, there was some noticeable head wind at selected segments, … and it was only a week ago that I ran the 42K SkyTrail race (and perhaps I was only superficially recovered).

That aside I did attempt to minimize the “damage” by staying calm and focused. And I think it still ended really well; A 1:31:00 official time producing a 47 of 577 finisher result can only make me proud. In terms of Strava PBs it also went well; a “3rd PB” half marathon time of 1:29:46 (still makes me happy even though it wasn’t the offical time 😂) but also 3 x “2nd PBs” for the 10K, 15K and 10M distances.

I am happy I didn’t crash fully and dropped several minutes. Sometimes you apparently just have to adapt. And I am happy for having run this wonderful race with a very cheering crowd on all parts of the route (it really helped to keep up the spirit).

The best thing was that my family came to cheer for me. I will obviously not mention the part that I was too fast and so they missed me entirely. I will also not mention that I had to text them that I was at the finish-line hanging out 😂. Haha that was a first (turns out they have struggled to find a parking place … since the city was pretty crowded due to the very same event here 😉). But hey … it was just lovely that they came afterwards so I could show off my lovely new shiny medal.

Recommended?

Yes!

The race route brings you through different areas; the park, some living areas and into the city pedistrian streets. It gives a very good and varied course. And the fact that it is a loop format - which you have to complete 4 times - can either be seen as a positive thing or a negative thing. It depends on you. For me it was OK. I must admit that it was a bit mentally hard to go into loop 3, knowing that it has to be completed together with yet another loop. But at least you know the entire course - no nasty surprises. All in all it worked fine for me.

The race organization was super professional. They have tried this before and were very geared to handle many runners (1300+ registered runners at least) and their supporters. Many toilets, quick check-in, a bag service (to keep your stuff for post-race), a nice finisher medal, a nice t-shirt.

This race gets an almost top of the line 4-star rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️