Activities in the weekend

In our preparations we do not always run together - actually we hardly run together... Yesterday Chantal ran the marathon in Rotterdam. It was quite hot but she had a great result with a finish time around the 3:35.

Sundaymorning and the sun is shining! A great day to run the ABN AMRO Marathon of Rotterdam.  Around  8.30 h we (Martine, Edwin, Gerrit, Elke and I) met at Central Station in Utrecht and went by train to Rotterdam. 

The ABN AMRO Marathon is one of the biggest running- events of the Netherlands. More than 22,000 participants stood at the start, among whom the absolute top of world athletes. Besides the participants there were hundreds of thousands spectators along the course. Martine and I did try to get in the same starting-box, so we could run together, but  “they” wouldn’t allow us, so we both went to our own starting box. It was so extremely busy!

After a short performance of Lee Towers (world-famous in Holland):  “You never walk alone!” (never more true) the start shot sounded. More than 22,000 people started running at the same time. Fair is fair: it made a pretty picture, all these people at the Erasmusbridge, but there were so many people and there was so little space, that it was almost impossible to run… and after all, that was the thing I came for.

After a while I decided to let go of speed and expected times and to enjoy all the spectators and all the DJ’s, bands and other musicians along the course. It was quite a party! And then, after 17 kilometers I could eventually run the way I wanted, at my own speed and running even started to feel good! My legs felt fine and I decide to forget about my watch and to enjoy the rest of the race. It was sunny (perhaps a little too hot), but there were lots of refreshment-posts. Before I knew it, there was the 40 km-sign! Only 2 kilometers to go! Ten minutes later I finished in 3:35:35h. Not bad after all… Martine, Gerrit, Elke and Edwin ran all very well (the heroes!).

The only bummer  finishing  this sunny happy marathon was the fact that my (and Martines) time-registration-tag hadn’t worked, so our times weren’t registrated. Oh well… 

And I (Jacomina) went for a run in her backyard - the 'voetstappenpad', a path around Hilversum. Unfortunately after two hours my knee protested (a recovery problem from Paris) - so I had to walk for quite a bit before I arrived at a bus stop. But hey, the weather was beautiful and the bus driver was very friendly. So recovery for both of us in the next week.