On Sunday, June 9, 2024, I ran the Torshavn Marathon in the Faroe Islands, an AIMS-certified race. I took on the full marathon while my wife ran the half marathon. The weather today was overcast at around 7–9°C, with wind chill making it feel like about 5°C—a bit chilly, but great weather for running. Five runners from Taiwan took part this time, three of us doing the full marathon. The full marathon course completed two loops through the city before heading out to the outskirts, offering breathtaking views of the fjords and the sound of cascading waterfalls. Uniquely, there were more sheep along the route than people, and their bleating kept us company as we ran. The turnaround point for the full marathon was in the small village of Kaldbak. With roughly 600 participants sharing the course across the full marathon, half marathon, half marathon walk, and 10K, it never felt lonely out there.
The first half went smoothly. At the 8 km mark, I unexpectedly ran into my wife and told her she might have taken a wrong turn, as we shouldn't have crossed paths this early. It turned out that the half marathon also required two laps through the city; after completing one lap, she had asked a volunteer and was somehow directed over this way. I told her to head back and run the second city lap, while I continued toward the fjords on the outskirts. Heading out, I ran into strong headwinds and just did the best I could, finishing the first half in about 2 hours and 5 minutes.
During the second half of the marathon, I ran into a fellow Taiwanese runner and told him he was doing great, running around tenth place overall. After hitting the marathon turnaround at 23.5 km, I faced fierce headwinds again on the way back, groaning through the struggle. At 38 km, I saw my wife again and we snapped a photo together on the course. After walking up a long slope, I switched into focus mode and pushed straight through the final 5 km to the finish. My finish time was 4 hours, 19 minutes, and 1 second—about seven minutes faster than the Spitsbergen Marathon the week before—earning third place in my age group (60+). My second half was around 2 hours and 14 minutes, a 9-minute difference between the first and second halves, which felt like genuine progress.
My wife also successfully finished what was effectively an ultra-half marathon, marking the first time she completed two half marathons within eight days—I really pushed her into quite a deep rabbit hole when I talked her into this.
This race is held in the Faroe Islands, where a general strike that began on May 14 remains unresolved. Buses were suspended, supermarkets had run out of fruits and vegetables, and gas stations were out of fuel (which heavily impacted rental cars). Traveling between the airport and the guesthouse relied entirely on taxis (two taxi companies were operating: Bil and AUTO). Getting here felt like overcoming hurdle after hurdle, but fortunately, I managed to finish smoothly. When traveling independently, you have to go with the flow and sometimes do some serious brainstorming to achieve the best outcome.
# Marathon #159 # 5th back-to-back weekend overseas marathon # Results link: https://my.raceresult.com/262720/results # The day after the marathon (June 10), the strike finally ended
