Amsterdam Marathon 2016

It is done!! i did it !! I run a PB (Personal Best) at Amsterdam Marathon and finished at the podium for being 2nd dutch lady in my category. Still not believing …

On the same date, 16 October but 5 years earlier on this olympic stadium in Amsterdam I finished my first marathon. I almost forgot how it felt to hear the speaker man while approaching the entrance of the stadium, I almost forgot how it felt to have  the adrenaline rush pumping in my veins while running  the last 200m towards the finish line . On October 16th 2016 I got to experience all this all over again! Waw!!! `What a feeling ! What a perfect day, it couldn’t have been any better…I am not sure where to start from or how to put this into words!

Road to Amsterdam Marathon 2016

My preparation for Amsterdam marathon started beginning of August When I was in RIO at the summer Olympic games. I feel lucky that I got this opportunity to go to Rio, be with my family and be part of this amazing event and be able to support my sister who was qualified for the Marathon with an unbelievable time  of 2h44’.

Living the Olympic spirit was just a big motivation for me. I woke up every morning, extra early and run along the beautiful beaches. It was amazing to see how many people were running at that early time of the day!  What a sporty city!

Beside Running I got to see many new places and watched many events like athletics, Beach volleyball, Gymnastics, swimming...I really had a blast! 

Despite the weather conditions in Rio, my sister ran a great race. It was not her PR but that was to be expected with this kind of heat and humid on that day in Rio

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.

Rotterdam marathon 2015

This is my first Rotterdam marathon. I heard so many positive feedbacks of how amazing is to Run in Rotterdam. I signed up for the race within the first minutes after the registration was open and booked a hotel together with some firends

My last few weeks of training after Utrecht marathon felt good but somehow my right calf was annoying me after every training. With some foam rolling I kept going with my training without taking the good time to recover.
6 days  before Rotterdam marathon I run De loop van de haar a fast 10 km and I finished on the podium.

My goal for Rotterdam marathon is to run a personal best and that is a sub3hours6min. Ruben my running mate, agreed to pace me to a PR. Ruben have paced me in the past so I am used to his way of pacing, somehow he knows when I need to slow down or go faster and that make him a perfect pacer for me. He sets the pace and I follow! How simple is that! ( not really :) ).

One day before the race I went on my last run to end up coming home with tears because of a severe pain in my calf. I honestly knew at that moment that Rotterdam marathon won't be a smooth run.
I went to the expo picked my startnumber and got my foot/calf tapped, hopping It will relieve the pain.

In the evening we had dinner at the Hilton and I got the pleasure to be surrounded with all the elite runners! It gave me extra motivation and made me more excited for the race. Of course I Had to take a picture with the trio sisters from Iceland.

Utrecht Marathon 2015

Since Chicago Marathon back in October, I haven't found the peace and the time to keep up with my blog. After Chicago marathon I had a pneumonia and I was not feeling fit until the begining of this year.
Starting this year with the goal to run Rotterdam marathon on April 12th under the sub 3 hours. I knew that was a very ambitious goal, Between cold winter, work, family and kids, it left me with too little energy to focus seriously on that goal. At the begining of the Year I had such a hard time to step out of the door to go on a run after I have layed my kids in bed. With a little bit of disipline I still made it oud there but I could feel that it is no more fun especially when it comes to Intervals training. /
I sat down with my trainer and decided to exclude those short intervals from my training...At that moment I started enjoying running again. It is true you don't get faster without Interval training and hard work but you have to keep your eyes on what is the most important for you, is it running fast without pleasure or enjoying every run and speed will eventually come?
I chose to go for the 2nd option, sub3 for Rotterdam is not my goal anymore, I am far from that level but eventually one day this goal will be reached.

Chicago Marathon 2014

12-10-2014

Each marathon has been incredibly special in its own way, and No. 6 proved to be more emotionally and mentally powerful than I even imagined.

I flew to Chicago on Wednesday to stay with my sister who lives there. First night I was terribly jet lagged and went on a run at 4 am. It was just a peaceful and beautiful run! I was so excited to be there and hardly could wait to be at the start of the marathon! Throughout the day I felt I was coming down with something… My sweet sister went straight away and got me all kind of medicine to fight the flu.

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!