During May John ran the Sunderland 10k and has now completed his 50th Park Run which is held at 09:00 every Saturday at numerous destinations across the world (but sadly not in Spain) with John running in England, Scotland, New Zealand and South Africa, whilst Claudia and Brigitte ran the Gaurdamar Medio Maraton (21k) not long after their heroics at braving the cold at the Hanover 42k.
Our Viking runner is Staffan who hails from Sweden where, as his photos confirm, it can get extremely cold, yet it doesn’t deter him from regularly running through some beautiful countryside when he is not in Gran Alacant.
He started running 10 years ago when he realised his weight and his waist line were not what they should be and decided to do something about it. Initially he found the running hard and didn’t enjoy it, but realised the faster he ran, the sooner he finished, which is a philosophy he has kept to this day. He has now completed several 21k races, regularly running 10k in training but two races are up there as amazing experiences; The 2015 Berlin marathon (which was won by Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge who, three years later broke the marathon world record in Berlin) and then in March 2019 Staffan was one of 200 runners in the Frozen Lake 21k. This frozen Norwegian lake is normally used to test cars but on this day they ran a course full of twists and turns (see map) which meant he could always see all the other runners. And of course, it was flat. I imagine he had to wear special shoes to get traction on the ice.
His best times are 3hrs 37.27 for the marathon, 1hr 38.09 for the half marathon and 42.09 for the 10k which are fantastic times.
When he is away on business or holiday he likes to run in a completely new place
which is always a good experience and a good opportunity to see the place from a new perspective. In March this year, for reasons he doesn’t know, he started a run streak, i.e. running every day, something he is enjoying to the point he has no end date in sight and at the time of going to print he will have run 85 days consecutively. In between running, he likes to ski, obviously, he is Swedish and he enjoys getting out on his bike and is an avid watcher of the three main grand tours; The Giro, The Tour de France and La Vuelta.
And so, after 10 years since he started running how is his weight and waist line?
In his own words, “10 years later I am 10kg lighter and a proud member of the Gran Alacant Runners”. And we, Staffan, are proud to run alongside of you.
Stop Press: Entries are open from 1st June for next year’s Santa Pola 21k which will be held on Sunday 22 January 2023. The entry fee starts at 18 euro for the first 1000 entries and can be found at
www.Chiplevante.com
