Fancy a race you don't immediately think of? That's exactly what we had. I generally find races in interesting places exciting; Natalie does too. So we had the idea of travelling to the Orkneys, the second most northerly archipelago in Scotland (only Shetland is further north), to run the St Magnus Marathon, the most northerly marathon in the UK. We were no sooner said than done. Two days before the race, we took a rental car up north, and the day before the race, after a relaxed, thoroughly enjoyable parkrun start in Thurso, we took the ferry to the Orkneys. After a 90-minute cultural tour of the eponymous St Magnus Cathedral, the Earl's Palace and the Orkney Museum, and a visit to the Italian restaurant in the island's capital Kirkwall, the pre-marathon day was already over.

It started to rain heavily on Sunday morning just in time for the marathon. In addition, after only two kilometres, a first challenging climb awaited me, which I had to master alone, as I was in the lead from the beginning. Gradually the weather got better, I found my way into the race and my lead grew. As a result, several villages and beautiful stretches of road were passed with views of the beautiful Orkney Mainland coastline. As the race progressed, however, the course would become more challenging thanks to some climbs and the wind would increasingly come from the front. I tried not to let this stress me too much, but just ran as I felt at the moment. After 42.195 beautiful but at the same time demanding kilometres, I reached the finish line after 2:45:04 hours, improving the course record by around eleven minutes to the surprise of the organisers and spectators, and also celebrating my second marathon victory after my victory at the Dresden Invitational Run 2020. As Natalie won the St. Magnus 10K, which was also part of the St. Magnus Marathon, in 38:30 minutes with a lead of almost three minutes and also set a new course record, we were able to start our return journey on the ferry less than 24 hours after our arrival, happy and satisfied.

It was beautiful in the far north, and the St. Magnus Marathon from Kirkwall to Birsay was definitely a great experience!