Adventures of a marathon girl

Hi y'all Well...I did it. I ran the hills in San Francisco. Was it all I hoped it would be? It was and more. The race was intense in all aspects. You can run as many bridges and steep ramps as you like but it will not be the same as that last hill between mile10 and 11.  So what did it feel like? Well... Starting coral: Firmly planting your feet on the road, listening to the most amazing speech I have heard in a long time. 'Today someone will look at you and you will be their inspiration'. Listening to the buzzing of the growing crowd and how it all stops and turns into the most impressive silence ever when an amazing voice sings the national anthom, the walk up to the starting line and the first real steps into the race. Fulton road and golden gate park: Oh my...that is a steep steep hill. Keep on going just keep running even if it is in a dribble tempo and WORK THOSE ARMS! My...survived and there is the park. First toiletbreak. Can you believe this? We are lin...

Hi y'all Today's training ended the long and tough part of my schedule so that means I'm officially in my taperweek. This was killer week. With a 14km run last Thursday that circled Amsterdam and even included running up and down the stairs at Nemo. This week ended with an 18.5km run. Yep. And I pulled it all off while working and dealing with some serious things. Want to see my runs? check m out here  https://runkeeper.com/user/Seilram/profile Just a few more days before we cross the ocean and fly to the USA, Not my first transatlantic and not the first time we're going to San Francisco but boy-oh-boy I am looking forward to this trip. Not in the least because the love of my life gets to join me. His physician told us that it would be in his best interest to actually take the trip. Not that I'm keeping score but YIHAAA. I know this doesn't make sense now but I will tell y'all  as soon as I can. Sander joining me was the best news we got last week. I ...

Hi y'all After being part of the amazing Dam-tot-Damloop and having so much fun I am confident I can actually pull off the distance in San Francisco. The hills I'm a little nervous about but I'm doing everything within my options to get stronger so my legs will be able to carry me up and down the hills without losing too much time. This means I started seeing a physical therapist and I'm working on core stability and strength too about three times a week. I do have some breaking news  but I can't share it yet because not all details are clear. As soon as they are I promise y'all a memorable update. As for now....I have been training for the hills in San Francisco. How? Well....last Sunday my love set out a race course over 7 kilometers that included two pretty steep bridges: Amsterdamse brug and Schellingwoudebrug. Just a few pictures that Sander de Boer made for you to enjoy. Thank you Sander for being there all the way. I love you! At the base of the...

Hi Y'all Today I ran the biggest event in the running world. I ran the Dam-tot-Damloop. 10 Miles from Amsterdam to Zaandam and you run straight through the IJtunnel (how-low-can-you-go...below sealevel to the max!). It is an amazing run that you should run if you have never done it before.At the start I felt confident and happy. I knew I could do this because in the past weeks leading up to this event I ran this distance twice already. Not so much the distance I was worried about more finding my own pace and my inner calm. But I managed to focus on myself and I ran a nice race. Not fast, nothing to brag about in that sense but just a steady, calm and nice race. ANd boy did I have FUN. I had FUN. Really!! After the finish line Goofing around with Marianne And than there was my super amazing husband man. The man of the hour. My man. I love him. There he was. After ten miles of sweat and a guy actually emptying his NOSE on my CALFS....there he was....

Hi Y'all Now the title of this here blogpost might ring a bell to few out there. Yes part of the lyrics of an hilarious song called 'The sicknote'. I can hardly describe the immensity of this week and looking back at the past maybe three years even I can only think that it must become very difficult to understand what is laid out on the path me and my love call our life. Let's try a summary of this week: On Monday my mom called. She tested negative on myasthenia gravis. Hurray and hallelujah would be a normal response were it not that this only means that she is now facing the very real option that it is ALS. The not-knowing right now is horrible. My mom is one of the strongest persons I know and as she broke down in tears it crushed my heart. I love her and I do not want to lose her at all, let alone to ALS. I'm scared and I feel utterly useless. There is just nothing we can do but wait for new tests at AMC hospital. Than on Tuesday night as we were on an adve...

Hi y'all After yet another week of teaching and dealing with normal life it seems to become a little easier to combine it all. I wrap my running schedule around my commuter distances to work and that helps. If I'm not running than I'm riding my bicycle to and from work. It's about an 11 or 13 km bike ride depending on the route I take. So switching biking to work for running back makes up for the 11km on Thursday. Now the title of this blog should be warning enough. So if you do not enjoy the dirty parts of running than by all means...STOP READING RIGHT NOW AND GO ABOUT YOUR NORMAL BUSINESS!! Good for you. Even after a fair warning you have decided to stick with me and read on. As you are well aware of I'm running for MLDS (CLICK HERE TO DONATE) a foundation that fights to create funding to help people with stomach/liver/bowel issues. Now after the past few weeks I figured let's see what is happening to me on those 8km-something-runs when I am in dire need of...

Hi y'all NEW DONATIONS ARE IN ON MY FUNDRAISING PAGE !! THANK YOU GUYS!!! After a complete week of working and keeping up with my schedule I think I am either completely crazy or insanely awesome. So for no good reason at all I'm inclined to stick with the latter. So what has been up? Well...two short runs, 2 long runs, work, hospital stuff and finding out what I have to do in order to complete my admission proces for my Educational Doctorate. Yes...I want to do that. But math and me are no friends and I have to take the GRE exam and guess what? Quantative reasoning is a huge part of that. However if I can run 34 km in a week (and I thought I couldn't that either) than I must be able to fix that math issue I have in 3 months right? Now the runs this week were challenging. Last thursday I had to run 13km and on km 6 I realized that I really really really needed a toilet so I turned around, took a shortcut, ran home (Sprinted is more like it but did you know that makes ...