Copenhagen - nice city, nice marathon

Last week Chantal and I were a weekend in Copenhagen; for the city but also for the marathon. Together with friend Marcel, I went there on Thursday - we took our bikes to discover the city. Chantal came with a colleague on Saturday and did some site seeing by bike as well (we're Dutch so we love to cycle!). The city is really beautiful and the Danish people are nice and relaxed. And just like most of the tourists, we saw the little mermaid, the new harbour, the castle, Kristiania, etc. On Saturday evening we would meet each other at the Meatpacking District; there we had a nice dinner, some beers and went for a stroll to get ice cream. It was a lovely evening...

But hey, there was also a marathon we wanted to run! That evening Chantal and I decided to run together - we're supposed to run those eight days in the TAR together.
Sunday morning - hardly any race jitters. Chantal was relaxed because she would run with me (I'm the slower one of our team). I was relaxed because I wanted to race fast - hmm not true, I was relaxed because all the participants were relaxed. Really amazing atmosphere at the start, everybody nice and friendly, nobody pushy or what ever. Chantal and I took our places close to the balloons/pacers of 3:30hrs. That is fast for me, but I felt good and I gained some confidence during the trail the week before.

 

The temp was nice, there were some clouds in the sky, sometimes a little bit of sun (let's say sunny intervals) and some rain would come. Ideal wheater to run a marathon! So off we went, the first KMs just a little under 5mins and after the 20KMs a bit above. At 25KMs I shouted to Chantal to run alone further - I would stop. My knee was hurting. Chantal looked back and was disappointed, but understood that my knee was more important than a nice finish time. So she ran further and I started to walk a little. My knee is a known problem - it doesn't like running on flat, paved track for a long distance... It started to rain a little, so I started to run again because I didn't want to cool down. My knee was still able to run at a decent speed, so I went on to 30KMs. At that point I was far away from the finish, so I decided to run/walk further on. I watched the time go by and a lot of participants go by.. I decided that if I could finish within the 4 hrs, I would try that. And even though I had to limp the last few KMs I just made it in time. Chantal ran a very decent 3:34:04. And yes, we were happy with it. I knew there was a risk that my knee wouldn't hold. And next time we try to stick together...

First edition from Trail "Koning van Spanje"

Yesterday I (Jacomina) ran the first edition of the trail "Koning van Spanje" (King of Spain) in the south of the Netherlands. Mudsweatandtrails organised this trail from 28.8KM (also a 10.8KM version) - for an ultra as me, it was a short trail. The trail is named after the King of Spain climb in Gulpen. A hill that was occupied by the King during the 80-year war. This though climb from over 1KM uphill was at the start from the trail.



Last weeks I had some trouble with my knee (left over from the 80KM in Paris), so I was a bit nervous. But I knew, that with trails it is allowed to walk uphill and than my knee could recover a little. With that in mind and an enormous vibe to run the trail, I was anxious to start.
The first KMs I started quite fast, at least, I wasn't overrun by all the other runners. A few steep climbs, so I could walk uphill. After 8KMs we splashed through a river - mud in my shoes, big smile on my face and I really got into a flow. Slowly I went faster and faster - I hardly felt my knee, so that was a good sign. As I ran with my Camelbak, I could run through the refreshment posts; overtaking even more runners. Time flew by and suddenly there were only 3,4KMs left according to the French guys who were on my heels. I couldn't believe them (in Paris I was misinformed too many times by the French). But they were right and suddenly I recognized the last hill before Gulpen; we had camped right on top of it.

The last decent was quite steep (I knew as we went by car! uphill the evening before), but at the top I already could here Steve. Steve was the bagpipeplayer who welcomed everybody at the finish line. Very nice trail, very good organised and this afternoon a check on the knee at Velofit...

Link:
Video on local TV 

Say "cheese" after one minute

Our first donation!!

Yes - last week we received our first donation!!
Bram, a member from our triathlon club, made us very happy with his support for Pink Ribbon. Bram was diagnosed with cancer last year (blog in Dutch) - we were very concerned. Fortunately, after treatment, he was declared 'clean' beginning of April this year. And now, he supports the fight against breast cancer; for us he is a hero. Thanks Bram!

Pink Ribbon and FUwL

Next to our dream of running the Transalpin, we have another dream; a world wherein cancer is no longer a deadly disease. In the Netherland, every year 13,000 women and 100 men get to know that they have breast cancer. Everybody can get breastcancer. Therefore From Utrecht with Love supports Pink Ribbon, a public charity that creates awareness for breast cancer, provides information to those affected and promotes research to find a cure for this deadly disease..

Wouldn't it be beautiful to realize this dream?! Therefore From Utrecht with Love is looking for sponsors who are willing to support with money or materials to achieve our sports goal and support Pink Ribbon.You can support From Utrecht with Love and Pink Ribbon in several ways, but given the intended purpose we think primarily of a financial contribution.

Keep an eye on our blog as we're gonna organize an adventure event, an auction and we're gonna sell rocks from the Alps. For companies it is possible to 'buy us' for organizing a clinic on trailrunning, a session for teambuilding, etc.

All donations are welcome - accountnumber: 19 8482 035, inz. FromUtrechtwithLove.