Sneek Marathon 2015

Have you ever run a marathon purely for the fun? No time stress, no goals...just run and enjoy every km of this beautiful 42,195m marathon called Sneek Marathon.

What is so special about Sneek Marathon?
Sneek marathon 2015 is the second edition of the evening marathon which took place on the longest day of the year which was on June 20st. The longest day because the sun disappears around 22:30. Since the start is at 19:00 basically you don't need any light while running if you are planning to finish within the 3.30 hours.

This year marathon was on Saturday 20th of June. On a beautiful saturday I headed with my hubby to Sneek where we got to spend the night at Stadsherberg hotel a few min walking distance from the start. We stayed there with Wolf Family, Ruigendijk Family and Sander.



When we arrived to this cute little hotel we headed to the downtown to join  Sander, Cis, Pascal, Wendy, Ruben and his parents for a drink. Ruben had plans to run with me and of course running with your favorite running mate made this marathon even more fun.

At 19:00 pm we gathered with lots of other runners (Richie, Niels, Ron, Ans...) behind the start and ready to take off. Robert and the non runners headed back to the restaurant to have more drinks and dinner . Robert was tracking Ruben since my startnumber was lost somehwere and I had to have a last min replacement. In meanwhile Ruben and I at a nice easy pace we cruised through the beautiful surrounding of Sneek actually we were not allowed to go too Fast from our coach.
On the way we found ourselves running next to the Bruce brothers. Without even realizing we were going faster and faster. At some point we heard from some supporters that I was the 4th lady!!
Deja vu in Utrecht Marathon!! From not having a goal to a new goal in an instant. My goal now is to finish on the podium! Ruben without even asking me he knew what I wanted. That's what good running friends are for!

Mike, Ruben and myself stayed together while the other Bruce brother went ahead of us on his own pace.

I have no idea how but kms were flying by, 10km, 15km, 20km, 25km, 30km but still no 3rd lady insights. If I am correct around 34 km when my body started aching I saw a little bit on the far side the 3rd lady. At that moment I couldn't feel any pain anymore, motivation mode was on and my eyes were set on the lady ahead. At 35km they were giving a power bar gel, Picked one and kept going. It must be around 36 km where I was running side by side with the 3 rd lady, we stayed together for few minutes and when I tried to speed up she passed us again. I still remember Ruben with his hand telling me "easy" . He was right because at 37km I was leading again and Ruben assured me that the distance between me and her was getting bigger.

At the point Mike was behind I was just super excited to finish on the podium, I remember at 40km point I look at Ruben in disbelief (Laughing moment) Damn we did it again!! How great is that.

In meanwhile at the finish line Rob, Wendy and the rest knew that I was about to finish they came to cheer us up. In the last few hundred meters Mike joined us for a last sprint towards the finish line!!

Crossed the finish line as 3rd lady with a time of 3:17:33

Sneek Marathon weekend was one of the most fun marathon weekend ever.  We had a blast after the marathon all of us!. Have You ever realized That Being a marathoner it teaches you how to fight through life, how to never give up even when everything hurts and use every day to be a Better person than the person you were yesterday?

Some things in life you don't plan for it, it just happens, not sure why it happens  just like when you are training for the marathon you get injured or sick, These were not part of the plan but we learn to accept these hard situations we learn to become stronger and keep moving forward.
I learned that no marathon is the same and each one of them empowered me with a wonderful experience. Life is a similar journey everyday you learn something new and everyday you learn how to fight through life. We fall we stand we fall we stand, it is OK to fail we are just humans, far from perfect... life doesn't stop we learn from every fall and we keep moving forward. We should stay strong because strong is the only option we have.  Life is beautiful despite all the obstacles, we are fighters and each one of us need to take his own road to make it to the end and don't forget to enjoy every view on the way because these are the happy moments!

Sneek weekend will forever stay a good memory with good people.