Sneek Mar-athon 2014

On the shortest day of the year 21 dec 2013 just like a little kid I was waiting to sign up for the 1st edition of Sneek Marathon which will take place in the evening of the longest day of the year which is 21st of June.
When I was filling up my registration form... I was drinking coffee with cookies, 15 kg heavier with a 7 months baby in my belly...At that point I made a joke saying that I can always give my start number away because deep in my heart I couldn't imagine I could run another marathon only 4 months after giving birth...

Time flew by and before I knew it, it was few days before the big day! Honestly I was freaking out! I only did 2 long runs, my body is far from being ready to run 42.2 kms but still I wanted to run it! I had no pressure of finishing in any specific time. Christine my running mate has in mind to run a sub3 hours30 min and beat her Personal Best. I agreed to join her and help her if needed without being commited. @RunningRonald also accepted to pace Christine who is also not in top shape... but we all thought we start together and see how it goes....

On Saturday 21st of June I woke up without any stress as if I wasn't going to race! I started cleaning the house and finishing the laundry until my hubby said shouldnt you be resting?  Shortly after we packed we headed towards Sneek. The start wasn't until 19:00 and the nice thing that we were going to spend the night there.
Once we arrived and checked into our hotel, we headed to town to have a drink with Cis and Pascal.

Just before 19:00 we headed to the meet and greet point. It is always nice to see everyone else again!
Christine Ronald and myself dropped our bags and headed to the start. I was a little nervous just because I still have to run for at least 3 hours and my body is not used to it.

Start took off on time, a small group was formed made of Christine, Ronald, Raymond, km after km we were cruising at 5'/km. I had so much fun, joking and talking and without even noticing we were already around 25 km. From 25 km you feel that everyone is getting tired and the joking modus got switched to a more focused modus.

 At 30 km Ronald had to stop, Christine, Raymond and myself continued at the same pace. Between 30km and 40 km I enjoyed a beautiful sunset in the horizon. I should admit that the last 10 kms were not easy anymore, I speeded up a little bit because I just wanted to finish. I left Christine and Raymond and headed toward the finish line.

 Once the finish line was insight , a group of people on both side of the road was formed and at that moment I couldn't but just have a big smile on my face and all I could repeat is

HELL YEAH I DID IT!!!

To my great surprise, I crossed the finish line as 2nd in my Category and 6th overall in the female catgorie! Mar-athon rond Sneek en meer was super nice!! Next year I will be back on the start line and this time going for the 1st lady :)
Thanks to the wonderful organisation and all the volunteers who made this event succesful!

See you in 2015!