Adventures of a marathon girl

Hi y'all, Another two weeks have passed since my last update but I have not been sitting around doing nothing. In the past two weeks my brother, sister and me have been busy organizing my parent's 45th wedding anniversary. We made sure my parents could enjoy the party so we took care of decorations, food and drinks. We arranged  (cooked/baked) and brought over all the food and drinks and an amazing set of volunteers from the church my parents used to visit made sure non of us had to lift a finger serving it all. The party was beautiful and very emotional too. The number of guests was heart warming and the love everybody showed for my parents was touching to the core. Most people are shocked and horrified to see how rapidly my mom's bulbaire ALS is progressing and knowing the 100% mortality rate of this disease makes each and every moment with my mom precious. As y'all know I am fundraising for the ALS association in the Netherlands and me and my family are impressed a...

Hi y'all Last week I was being my own biggest enemy. Being back in Amsterdam with all the distractions and the same-old same-old training routes, sort of bummed me out. I didn't wanna do the work and I felt bad about myself for eating horrible stuff, not sleeping enough and all that ended with me postponing workouts and feeling low about that as a result. I ended up fixing the training sessions anyway but I didn't feel as good about them as I did in Spain. So what is happening? Not working is happening. I have always had this issue. I can juggle the completely insane work-hours with all the extra's when I have a fixed schedule. Oddly enough that makes things easier for me. As soon as that is gone (think exam weeks / holidays) I kind of fall apart. Having no schedule equals having no goals, no deadlines, nothing to hold on to and I can't handle that. If I do not have these life buoys I am at drift and I go completely overboard one way or the other. I either binge...

Hi Y'all, The journey is beginning to take a toll on this traveler. I am but 75 days away of this incredible thing called marathon and I'm starting to feel the miles. The road is hiding under the dusty rain washed shimmer of summer, my shoes are wearing out as am I. But I trot on, back straight, shoulders down and my head held high. Tired or not: this story has not yet come to a close. This road is a dangerous one, full of weary travelers like myself and untrustworthy characters bound to prey on the likes of us. We must always keep a watchful eye and a clear mind for on the magical road to marathon finish there will come a time when you'll need to have your wits about, a time where you will have to face your foes and fight them.  I thusfar encountered and battled a few foes. The first foe was a dodgy fellow named disbelieve. I could see it in the eyes of a few people and it made me doubt myself. Can I actually pull this one off? Can I make it? Feeding straigh...

Hi Y'all, The journey is beginning to take a toll on this traveler. I am but 75 days away of this incredible thing called marathon and I'm starting to feel the miles. The road is hiding under the dusty rain washed shimmer of summer, my shoes are wearing out as am I. But I trot on, back straight, shoulders down and my head held high. Tired or not: this story has not yet come to a close. This road is a dangerous one, full of weary travelers like myself and untrustworthy characters bound to prey on the likes of us. We must always keep a watchful eye and a clear mind for on the magical road to marathon finish there will come a time when you'll need to have your wits about, a time where you will have to face your foes and fight them.  I thusfar encountered and battled a few foes. The first foe was a dodgy fellow named disbelieve. I could see it in the eyes of a few people and it made me doubt myself. Can I actually pull this one off? Can I make it? Feeding straight into my fe...

Hi Y'all To those reading along on my fundraising page   heel hard lopen tegen ALS  I also blog in Dutch there and sometimes this page and my fundraiser page have the same content more or less. Like today. SO I'm sorry if you're following both but remember I am running this full marathon because I want to raise money for scientific research on ALS and raise awareness at the same time. So what's been up this week? Running got me in a somewhat philosophical mood this past week due to the weather I guess (it's absolutely ghastly around these parts!) and maybe due to the fact that losing my job is a much debated topic now that the end of the academic year is upon us. So this past week I have had my mind wrapped around the concept of time. It is precious, I always seem to run out of it or it outruns me which is even worse, I'm constantly wondering where it's gone, sometimes you just want to speed it up and then there are times when you want to freeze it. So w...

Hi y'all, Two weeks since I last updated you on my journey to marathon finish line. What's been up? Well to begin with I entered the final weeks of the academic year before summer and for a teacher that means the crazy van just rolled into town. Everybody is stressed out, tired and ready to for that summer holiday to start. With just 3 weeks left and a growing stack of term papers, exams, graduations and other stuff to deal with...it's crazy time in crazy ville. So what's a girl to do? Try to maintain your calm and taking each day as it comes along, roll with the punches and just breathe through it. Easier said then done when you are at the end of your rope and dangling above a cliff  with a mile drop. But I try. To keep my sanity I run, you've figured that out by now and honestly last week was a good one runningwise and it ended with me running my Half Blood Prince Half marathon in 2 hours and 29 minutes. My third half marathon and I felt surprisingly go...

Hi y'all, It's confession time. I have to come clean to all of you. I have turned into this: It is the truth and last weekend I have portrayed some serious runholeness. Summer came around again and turned the heat up to amazing beach worthy temperatures and what did I do? Right....I ran two events and some more because I am training for an endurance race. Leaving the love of my life, my family and even my friends all to themselves. I honestly felt guilty but I found a way to make time for my love and we ended up enjoying a few hours in the sun together zipping (non-alcoholic for me) brewskies. A weekend that was crazy and fun and felt like the promise of a classic summer holiday to come. A teacher's life does have it's perks. So what did I do? Last Saturday was brutally hot and I had my mind set on running 10 miles so I registered for an 11km race at Vondelpark that was organized by Reade; the centre for rehabilition for people with muscle diseases. My mom goes ...