PainFree Race

Honestly, I am not sure where to start from,  I am over excited!! Today was a big achievement!
I finished  the 8 km of Amsterdam marathon, without any knee pain before, during and after, the pain that has been lingering around for the last 9 months!!
Since a month I have been able to run without pain, but I did have in between many ups and downs. Everyday since I postponed the surgery to release my IT band, from Oct 11th to end of November, I wondered if I made the right decision. My knee is not strong, I dont believe I can run and finish without having to stop because of the pain!

Today was simply a great day! At 7:30 John en Ans came and picked me up. John a little bit nervous is going to run with Christel the marathon and his goal is to have a strong finish . We parked the car and walked to De Hardloopwinkel in the Stadium where the tweetup is held.  Joan is such a great host she arranged coffee, drinks and cookies for whoever wanted and also she let us drop our bags and use her W.C Thank you Joan for the great service!

Christel, John And Me

At De hardlopwinkel I met with tweeters runners, it is always a nice social part where each one of them is here today with a goal, from finishing to a PR to a sub3...As for me, I felt walking down memory lane....Amsterdam Marathon 2011 where I run my first marathon....but this time it is in a different circumstances, different distance, different goal.

Today I am running the 8 km and my goal is to run with a good feeling and keep my knee under control. Ronald and Max were also at the start of the 8 km. At 10:00 the start took off. The atmosphere, the music the crowd pumped me up and here I am ready to unleash the energy in me...

The first 2 kms were a combination of running and skiing :) zigzagging between the runners it was very crowded! Between 2 and 8 km I picked a nice tempo, my knee was quiet "no sound, no pain", my little legs were just running, I felt I can go on forever on this rhythm.  I saw the kms coming by so fast and I didn't want the 8 km to finish but at the same time I couldn't wait to finish just to scream because I felt strong even though not working out much since my injury I can qualify myself as "Officially Out of shape"!

YAY! NO PAIN!!

The time was the last thing in my mind, I didn't care for anything but to finish without pain! One month ago I couldn't even run 2 km without crying of pain and today I am proud to have finished the 8 km and be able to run back to De Hardloopwinkel where I left my bag.

At my arrival, @Salvatius offered me a massage, it felt great, Thank you!! Joan was getting ready for the HM and @RunningRonald and @RunPowerMax just arrived from finishing the 8 km. Then we headed to watch the Sub3ers finishing the marathon before Ronald gets ready for his second race of the day.

Jan making sure my legs are loose

I am super excited that my day turned out to be the way I wanted to be!

Official Time 33:24
Category: 11th !!