by Rannveig Loken, Norway
Ranneig managed to creatively weave the components of her hobby deep into her daily existence thus creating a complex bundle of hobby, travel and work.
Here she shows us some of the incredible views she encounters while training for the marathons. I have always enjoyed running – it is an important part of my life. When I was young, I liked to take part in rallies-the team spirit was really nice, and we had to do well as a team. I also took part in shorter runs – 800m, 1500m running with friends.
Later on, I took part in 10 km races and did some regular training with colleagues from work. I also tried longer runs, half marathon, and 30 km run in the forest of Oslo Norway, Nordmarkstraveren.
It was one of my super fit friends from work that invited me to take part in my first marathon together with her- Nordmarka Forest Marathon in 2010 (Oslo, Norway). I did not take the training seriously and had not checked the recommendation of a training program for a marathon. At the age of 42, I managed to finish the hilly marathon-but it was painful. My family still pull my legs and said that I could not move for two days after the run. I was not motivated to run any more marathons after this first experience, too hard and too painful.
Some years later, another friend wanted to run her first marathon, and invited me to join and, I was again convinced to take part in a marathon. We choose the local marathon in Oslo in September 2019, with short travel and low budget. This time we studied how to train and practice, to improve the experience of the marathon run. Some of the training for the marathon we did together, other parts on our own. On a weekly basis I tried to have one longer training session from 1.5 up to 4 hours as we approached the race.
In addition, there was one weekly training session with different interval sessions, and the last trainings on slow past 30 to 60 minutes. This was the start of many marathons runs. One of the training sessions was the Midnight sun marathon in Tromso, Norway June 2019, just before the CIGRE SC B5 Colloquium in Tromso, Norway. We started at 23 (11pm) degrees and rain, not sign of the midnight sun at all, but the people along the road cheered us on, and in the end, it was really a nice experience.
We discovered that there are some World Marathon Majors, and the one we really wanted to try was the New York Marathon in November 2022. It was my first trip to New York, and my joke was that I would only see the roads of the city. It was a great experience to run through the different parts of New York and discover the atmosphere in each of them, the people said we were beautiful, strong and all sorts of encouragement along the route.
The year after, in 2023 we travelled to Berlin and took part in the World Marathon Majors in Berlin with many other runners from around the world. I was very impressed by all the food stations and services along the route. My goal to get below 4 hours was also not possible this time. Some of my training before this race took place in Cairns along the beach promenade during the CIGRE Symposium in Cairns, Australia 2023.
In 2024 we decided to take part in two marathons in a year. The Copenhagen marathon in May was a positive experience for me, it felt less tough than the ones before because I managed to keep a good speed. Finally, I managed to finish below 4 hours, 3.54.47, my personal goal, yeah! In November we took part in the Chicago marathon, our 3rd World Marathon Majors, it was great to take part in such a great event running the streets of Chicago and also along the lake front. We had nice food and drinks to celebrate another marathon.
After the good experience of training during CIGRE Symposium in Cairns, Australia in 2023 I found that it was possible to train before breakfast when you travel to conferences and meetings. The daytime and evenings are often filled up by meetings and dinners. I started to include my training gear on most of my CIGRE trips and include training in many countries. Before the marathon in London in April 2025, I included training during my holiday in Alicante in Spain in October 2025.
During a visit to CIGRE CO in November 2025 I had training session along Champs Elysee in Paris, France. During my first visit to Hong Kong in January 2025 for the DPSP conference I also had time for training along the waterfront.
I continued my travel from Hong Kong to Los Angeles where the wildfires were on all the news. The conference venue for the IEEE PES conference was far enough from the fire to allow me to run along a river, but with no water in it.
The next CIGRE Steering Committee meeting was in Oman in February 2025, and it was safe for me as a woman to take a taxi to the seafront from the meeting venue and practice my running in a nice sunny path.
My training continued during the holiday in Lisboa in Portugal in February Spain and the run along the beach front is really nice. During the CIGRE NRCC meeting in Estonia there was only time for a short training session in the old town. The next business trip took me to Brussels in Belgium where I passed the international high court on my morning run. The next part was again in Paris, France in connection with a conference where I represented CIGRE. I then travelled to Bilbao in Spain where I took part in the DPSP conference and included training in the nice city.
The World Marathon Majors in London in April 2025 was almost too warm, with more than 20 degree and sun in London. How is this possible, rain and 10 degrees is more normal. We had Easter holiday in Wales including training, and the travel to London was only a short distance by train. It was great to see the streets of London without cars and filled up with all the nice runners. I really liked to say hello to Big Ben towards the end of the race. For the second time I managed to finish below 4 hours, very happy indeed.
My training continued during the NRCC CIGRE Symposium in May 2025, Trondheim, Norway. The next international trip including marathon training was in Glasgow, United Kingdom in June 2025 for the PAC World conference. There are some nice trails along the canals in Glasgow where you can enjoy the water, trees and canal boats.
The CIGRE Colloquium in Osaka, Japan for SC B5 took the training to a new level, for me it was warm in the morning, about 30 degrees so I needed to bring along water for my run. In august I had holiday in Orust, Sweden, a nice island where running is along the waterfront and forest, and we could end the run with a swim in the ocean. The business travel to a user meeting in Nurenberg, Germany also gave me a possibility for a run while discovering the historic city. In September I also had meeting in CIGRE CO and had time to enjoy the streets of Paris, France again during my morning run.
It was more challenging to run close to the conference venue we used for the CIGRE Admin council meeting in Istanbul, Turkey. I decided to run towards the Bosporus channel and run along the channel instead of trying to keep run in the busy local streets. I found a taxi that could take me back to the hotel after the nice morning run.
The CIGRE Symposium in September 2025 took place in Montreal in Canada, and there was a channel I liked to run along with many other runners in the morning. During the CIGRE Steering committee meeting in Lyon, France the hotel was next to a nice park where you could run when it opened in the morning. This must be one of the best locations for a runner like me to have a CIGRE meeting. In October I combined the APAP conference in Jeju with the CIGRE Colloquium for SC A2 and D1 in Seoul in Korea. It was really nice to run along the beautiful Jeju island and to discover new parts of Seoul during this CIGRE trip.
In November 2025 a group of friends travelled to Nice to take part in the Marathon des Alpes Maritimes, from Nice to Cannes. This is a marathon where you follow the coastline of France and there was a lot of nice views along the route. After the race we had a bath in the sea to enjoy the nice location of the race. There was some problem with the free train on our way back from Cannes to Nice, but we had seats and could relax. After a nice shower we enjoyed some of the really nice French food and drinks.
After this race we started to discuss what the requirements to take part in the World Marathon Majors in Boston 2027 was for our age group. We started planning races we could take part in to be able to join the marathon without using a professional organizer.
My CIGRE calendar was already filled up with travel and plans, the best event for me was the Barcelona marathon in March 2026, so I registered to the event and continued my regular training.
The next business trip took me to CIGRE CO in Paris, France in February 2026 where I also included training without the need for spikes on my running shoes.
The next holiday was in Malaga in Spain and the path along the coast was good for training in February 2026. During the DPSP conference in London, UK in March 2026 the run along the Thames River gave some nice morning view. I have included a picture of the sunrise and the Tower bridge; I had to take a few moments to enjoy it.
I then travelled to Barcelona in Spain to take part in the marathon, this time I travelled on my own but met a lot of nice people. I had booked a visit to La Sagrada Familia including the towers the day before the marathon.
The tower was closed due to the heavy rain, but it was possible to enjoy the rest of this impressive cathedral. It was strange how the weather changed from heavy rain the one day to blue sky and sun on the day of the marathon.
I like the city of Barcelona and enjoyed seeing La Sagrada Familia from different angles as we were running the marathon. I was proud to manage to finish my third marathon below 4 hours!
I have registered for two more marathons in 2026. The Medoc marathon takes place in September, just after CIGRE Paris session 2026. It is disturbing to see all the damages from the wildfires in the area around Bordeau in France, I hope the local people will get help to rebuild their lives.
There are also wildfires in Spain, but it looks like the area in Valencia have not been hit this time. The last marathon of this year will be the Valencia Marathon in November 2026, we managed to register for the race, it is really popular.
I am not sure how long I can keep up this hobby, but for the time being I really enjoy travelling to different places and training with good friends.
Biography:
Rannveig J. S. Loken – Head of Protection department, Statnett, Norway, CIGRE TC Chair.
Received her Master of Science in Electric Power engineering from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in 1992. She works in Statnett, the TSO of Norway, currently Head of Protection department in Statnett. In August 2024 she became the TC Chair of CIGRE. Her special field of interest is protection and control for the transmission system. In addition, working in Cigre Working groups is of great interest – she is currently a member of WG B5.86. Rannveig is in the Advisory board of PAC world, Committee member of IET DPSP, and Member of the International Advisory Committee APAP.
