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 there for swimming so it felt like a good race to run. It was my plan to run the other 5.5km back home. Arriving at Vondelpark I immediately noticed the crowd that turned up was fast. Seriously fast. So that was quite intimidating but I figured I would just do what I came to do and that was run the five required laps and finish somehow so I could run back home. When the gun went off I tried to find a pace that I could endure in that scorching heat for an hour or so but it was tough. I wanted to quit after each lap because everybody else was so much faster then me but I stuck with it. Each lap I told myself that if I could finish that one, I could do another. So I ran five laps and for the first time in my life I finished as the last participant. I didn't even feel bad. I was just so glad it was over. One of the fast guys high-fived me and I left the course for my remaining miles back home. Had I thought the laps were horrible? At least they gave me something to hold onto in that overwhelming heat. The way back home never felt so long. I had to walk twice because I thought I was gonna faint, which ofcourse I didn't, and I cursed a lot. I cursed so much I could just hear my dad saying:
Somehow I managed to make it home in one piece. As I dropped on the floor I was happy to have done it but I was also just really done with the whole running thing. Why on earth did I decide to do this? I can't do this! And what if training at Gran Canaria feels this bad? All these questions raided my mind for about half an hour. After a cooling shower, a protein shake and a really good lunch (thank the heavens and the love of my life for sunny-side up eggs with cheese and whole wheat bread!) I calmed down. I just ran 10 miles in 27 degrees Celsius. That is quite alright actually. In two hours I managed to run 16 kilometers that means at this pace I can finish an entire marathon in 5 hours and 16 minutes and that is 14 minutes faster then I anticipated on running it. In scorching heat. I am doing fine.
Sunday I was scheduled for a good old fashioned fun run. A color run over a 4km track in The Hague at an event called Colorrain. We got a fair warning for fair haired people about the color powder used at this event and that is why I bought tremendously crazy looking purple wigs to protect us from turning into Freggles permanently. As we (I ran this one with a dear friend and this was her first running event even!) drove all the way over to the Hague it dawned on us that those wigs might just not be the brightest idea ever because the heat was still on and summer wasn't planning on leaving soon. When we parked the car we immediately noticed the turn up was bigger then we expected and the crowd was a mix of families with young kids, some students and some disabled people. The course itself was centered around the Kyocera stadium, home to ADO Den Haag (soccer club) and had three colorstations and two cheerstations along route. After crossing the finish we all got another bag of color powder and when the last runner crossed the finish line we all threw that powder in the air creating a huge color explosion. It was fun and I am so happy that my friend's first race experience was such a fun one. I needed a little fun in a run to get back to why I love running so much. This run featured families with little kids and it was just so much fun to see them run, skip, yell and have a good time with their parents. For me it was my first color run and even though I absolutely had fun and I loved the idea of the colored powder I don't think I'll run one again soon. I had fun yes but the powder just got everywhere and it took me two showers to get every last bit out and off of me. I do understand why people love running these color runs. The vibe is a good one. So much for tuns of runs and fun. And I promise to be less of a runhole as a wife, daughter and friend to all concerned.
That's it for now, until we read again.
As always, Love Marlies
It's confession time. I have to come clean to all of you. I have turned into this:
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 there for swimming so it felt like a good race to run. It was my plan to run the other 5.5km back home. Arriving at Vondelpark I immediately noticed the crowd that turned up was fast. Seriously fast. So that was quite intimidating but I figured I would just do what I came to do and that was run the five required laps and finish somehow so I could run back home. When the gun went off I tried to find a pace that I could endure in that scorching heat for an hour or so but it was tough. I wanted to quit after each lap because everybody else was so much faster then me but I stuck with it. Each lap I told myself that if I could finish that one, I could do another. So I ran five laps and for the first time in my life I finished as the last participant. I didn't even feel bad. I was just so glad it was over. One of the fast guys high-fived me and I left the course for my remaining miles back home. Had I thought the laps were horrible? At least they gave me something to hold onto in that overwhelming heat. The way back home never felt so long. I had to walk twice because I thought I was gonna faint, which ofcourse I didn't, and I cursed a lot. I cursed so much I could just hear my dad saying:
Somehow I managed to make it home in one piece. As I dropped on the floor I was happy to have done it but I was also just really done with the whole running thing. Why on earth did I decide to do this? I can't do this! And what if training at Gran Canaria feels this bad? All these questions raided my mind for about half an hour. After a cooling shower, a protein shake and a really good lunch (thank the heavens and the love of my life for sunny-side up eggs with cheese and whole wheat bread!) I calmed down. I just ran 10 miles in 27 degrees Celsius. That is quite alright actually. In two hours I managed to run 16 kilometers that means at this pace I can finish an entire marathon in 5 hours and 16 minutes and that is 14 minutes faster then I anticipated on running it. In scorching heat. I am doing fine.
Sunday I was scheduled for a good old fashioned fun run. A color run over a 4km track in The Hague at an event called Colorrain. We got a fair warning for fair haired people about the color powder used at this event and that is why I bought tremendously crazy looking purple wigs to protect us from turning into Freggles permanently. As we (I ran this one with a dear friend and this was her first running event even!) drove all the way over to the Hague it dawned on us that those wigs might just not be the brightest idea ever because the heat was still on and summer wasn't planning on leaving soon. When we parked the car we immediately noticed the turn up was bigger then we expected and the crowd was a mix of families with young kids, some students and some disabled people. The course itself was centered around the Kyocera stadium, home to ADO Den Haag (soccer club) and had three colorstations and two cheerstations along route. After crossing the finish we all got another bag of color powder and when the last runner crossed the finish line we all threw that powder in the air creating a huge color explosion. It was fun and I am so happy that my friend's first race experience was such a fun one. I needed a little fun in a run to get back to why I love running so much. This run featured families with little kids and it was just so much fun to see them run, skip, yell and have a good time with their parents. For me it was my first color run and even though I absolutely had fun and I loved the idea of the colored powder I don't think I'll run one again soon. I had fun yes but the powder just got everywhere and it took me two showers to get every last bit out and off of me. I do understand why people love running these color runs. The vibe is a good one. So much for tuns of runs and fun. And I promise to be less of a runhole as a wife, daughter and friend to all concerned.
That's it for now, until we read again.
As always, Love Marlies
Reacties
Een reactie posten