Afsluitdijkrun, Beirut HM and Marathon

The Afsluitdijk is a major Dam in the Netherlands, constructed between 1927 and 1933 and running from Den Oever in North Holland province, to the village of Zurich in Friesland province, over a length of 32 kilometres (20 mi) and a width of 90 m, at an initial height of 7.25 m above sea-level.
Afsluitdijkrun took place om March 10th after a successful edition 1 in 2012. A 30km run from Den Oever to Zurich. A perfect training for the Boston marathon. The week before I had pain in my calves and it resulted in a sensitive knee. The whole week I was wondering if I am going to manage to finish the 30 k on Sunday.

I picked  Marcel and Christine up from Marcel' s house in Zaandam and drove to Zurich. Marcel was injured and didn't run but stood on the side of the road to take some pictures. Christine wanted to run it as a training for 'Marathon de Paris'.
The day of the 30k the weather was better than the predicted forecast but the wind was very hard. I wanted to run at 5' the km and I wasn't sure with these circumstances if it was possible and especially with the doubts of being able to finish without any pain!

Ready to sprint the 30 km ;) against the wind with Rene and Christine

20 van Alphen

I have been training for 2 good months since my knee injury,  training has been going well, it has became part of my daily life. My knee has been doing much better but not 100% !! After my ski vacation and the 30k in the dunes my knee started to feel sensitive. With some good care my knee is being under control but it can be unpredictable!! Since I enjoy racing so much I thought why not give it a shot and run the 20k of Alphen aan den Rijn?
This is my first 20k race ever, so this is an automatic PR :-) @runningRonald is part of the organisation/coordination of the business Run, he has been so busy preparing for that day!!
When I signed up for a race, I received my start number at home with a sweet message from Ronald. Thank you RR!!

On Sunday March 3rd, the day of the race after a nice breakfast with my boys, they dropped me in Alphen around 12:00. The start of the race was not until 13:30. I walked toward the business center after reading Ronald post. He invited bloggers/twitters to use the business lounge facility and get to meet and greet other running mates. I also got to meet his sweet wife Miranda who has also been working hard to make this event a success!
The business center is a real fancy lounge. It was very nice, not too crowded and enough places for everyone!!

Thank you again for letting us relax in the business center :-)