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. The heaviest year so far was 1996 when I recorded around 4000 kilometres for the year. I have written memories from some of the best runs of my life between 1995-2000 in Finnish into "On the road again" (pdf).

Years 2000 and 2001 I had such a load of other stuff going on that I had to loosen principles and slip on the bookkeeping. 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 3 months without any running). Upon return, I was hardly able to do 1000m at 3.25 and dropped to the track totally finished at the end. That experience started my return. The next spring I already did a 3600m Cooper and in the fall managed to do a sub-34 street 10K. Now for the season 2006 I have joined a running club and started competing for real again. 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 2.40-2.45 should be possible. In my youth I competed on track and cross-country. I've also competed every year in orienteering and taken part in Jukolan viesti, the biggest orienteering event in the world, since 1991. To get some picture of my development in running here are some of my best measured performances:

• 5000m on track in Espoo 2006, 15.59 (position 4th)
• Helsinki City Run in Helsinki 2006, half marathon (21.1 km) in 1.13.59 (position 3rd)
• Lauttasaari-juoksu in Helsinki 2005, c. 10 km in 33.53 (position 3rd)
• L'Oreal Twosome in New York 2000, c. 10 km in 35.28 (position 6th, age should be 23)
• Pääkaupunkijuoksu in Helsinki 1997, c. 19.8 km in 1.10 (position 13th)
• Reserve Officer School orienteering champion in Hamina 1995, course 207
• 5000m on track in Porvoo: 16.29 in 1994 (qualifying for national youth championships)
• 3000m on track in Nastola: 9.39 in 1993 (age 16)
• 1000m 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