Running man on Stinson Beach, California, 11.11.2002

Cool stuff: Click here to see a short video clip from Venice Beach, California, in August 2003.

I've been training long-distance running systematically and kept records of my runs from 1992 when I turned 16. My running careers can be split into two. The first "juonior career" spanned roughly the years 1992-1998. The heaviest year was 1996 when I recorded around 4000 kilometres total. I have written memories from some of the best runs of my life between 1995-2000 in Finnish into "On the road again" (pdf).

Since that peak in 1996 my training started to slowly fade. I moved to Helsinki and focused on university studies and related activities. Finally by 2000 I had such a load of other stuff going on that I stopped keeping track of my runs altogether. I just jogged randomly. I tried to return a few times in vain until I literally fell to the bottom in the summer of 2004 in Chile. A wine & meat diet for three months without any running whatsoever made it. Upon return to Finland, I was hardly able to do 1000m on Otaniemi track at 3.25. I literally dropped to the track at the end, totally given up everything. That experience started my return. I started to run again, little by little.

Enter my "senior career". The next spring I already did a 3600m Cooper based on frequent 10K training runs around Lautttasaari island. In the fall I managed to do even a sub-34 minute street 10K. Encouraged, I joined the running club Sjundeå IF in spring 2006 and started competing for real again. Since then I've recorded my personal bests in all distance from 3000m up. I came back to the thing I was once good at. It keeps me sharp, on the edge, where I got to be.

I'm currently training for a marathon and will hopefully run it in the near future. Something like 2.35-2.40 should be possible. In my youth I competed on track and cross-country. I also competed in orienteering and took part in Jukolan viesti, the biggest orienteering event in the world, every year between 1991-2003. To get some picture of my development in running here are some of my best measured performances:

• Espoo rantamaraton 2008, half marathon: 1.12.47 PB position 1st)
• 10 000m on track in Helsinki 2008: 33.26 PB (position 5th)
• 3 000m on track (indoor) in Helsinki 2008: 9.19 PB (position 6th)
• 5 000m on track in Porvoo 2007: 15.53 PB (position 5th)
• Länsiväylä-juoksu in Espoo 2007, c. 18 km: 1.01.18 (position 2nd)
• 5 000m on track in Espoo 2006: 15.59 (position 4th)
• Helsinki City Run in Helsinki 2006, half marathon: 1.13.59 (position 3rd)
• Lauttasaari-juoksu in Helsinki 2005, c. 10 km: 33.53 (position 3rd)
• L'Oreal Twosome in New York 2000, c. 10 km: 35.28 (position 6th, age should be 23 - last race before a long pause)
• Pääkaupunkijuoksu in Helsinki 1997, c. 19.8 km: 1.10.47 (position 13th)
• Reserve Officer School orienteering champion in Hamina 1995, course 207
• Jääkäriprikaati Cooper: 3700m in Sodankylä 1995
• 5 000m on track in Porvoo: 16.29 in 1994 (qualifying for national youth championships)
• 3 000m on track in Nastola: 9.39 in 1993
• 1 500m on track in Nummela: 4.29 in 1993 (age 16)
• 1 000m on track in Kuusankoski: 2.58 in 1992 (age 15)

5000 m in Virkkala 1993 (left) and Porvoo 1994


10 000 m in Myyrmäki 1995

Here are some links:

• New York Road Runner's Club. Check their site if you want to compete in Central Park - one of the best running locations in the world.
• Bay Area Orienteering Club. These guys organize orienteering in SF Bay Area.
• Runner's World. This is actually a magazine but a good site too.

Three principles to become a good runner:

• keep track on your runs
• keep your easy days easy
• remember to run fast and on different terrains once a while