HCA Marathon 2026
On September 27th I ran the HCA Marathon in Odense — named after Hans Christian Andersen 🤠 — just two weeks after Mors 100 Miles 😅. I parked at a Park & Ride on the outskirts of Odense and took the light rail (Letbanen) 🚊 into the city — super easy.
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Race |
HCA Marathon 2026 |
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Date |
2026-09-27 |
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Www |
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Type |
Road |
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Position |
274 of 2579 finishers |
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Duration |
3h23m02s |
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Distance |
42k |
| Strava Official | |
Nano Summary ⚡️
I gambled 🎲😂. The day before, Garmin had my training readiness at “Poor”, status “Strained” and recovery at “High Need” — but I still optimistically lined up with the 3-hour balloons 🎈. That went fine through the first half (1:30:07)… well, honestly until around 18–19K. Then my power just decayed exponentially, cramps were knocking before 30K, and the rest was pure damage control 😇🫣. Not recovered enough from the 100 miler, I think — lesson learned 🙃.
The race itself was excellent though 💯🥳: perfect weather, spectators cheering all around, musicians, DJs and choirs, tunnels and the city center — never boring. I suffered a lot and struggled to truly appreciate the moment, but I finished in 3h23m02s and I’m still happy and proud 🤠.
Impressions 📸
🚌 Pre-race…
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🚀 Race…
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🏅 Post-race…
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Recommended? 👏🏻
Absolutely yes 🤩.
HCA Marathon is a lovely city marathon with a great route through Odense, a perfectly run organization, and a fantastic atmosphere all the way around 🥳. Add a nice t-shirt and medal on top, and it’s an easy recommendation — just show up a bit more recovered than I did 😅.
This one gets my top rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️