Rotterdam Marathon
Re: Rotterdam Marathon
Wow ..quick week .
Early flight last Saturday morning at 6 arrived in Amsterdam for half 8 where we were picked up by Peter a Dutch friend of mine . He drove us to Rotterdam to our hotel giving us some local knowledge along route . Arrived at the hotel and got freshened up and Peter took us to the city centre . We dropped the girls , , Trish her sister Bernie and a friend of their's Lynda at the Expo . Myself and Peter took a trip and boat tour around the city . Its fantastic to see . When Trish was at the Expo she bagged me an entry in the 1/4 marathon simply because we were Irish
. We then returned Back to the hotel for fodder and bed .
Marathon Day .. girls were up early to get the breakfast then back to the room for Prep. ( this was the start of my downfall.. ie lack of food .). then Bags packed and 'Timing Chips ' fitted and then Taxi to the Start . I said good bye to the girls and wished them well . I left the bags in the drop zone and headed on my way to my run . ( second mistake ...left water and Jellys in me bloody bag ) .. anyway got to the start of my wave which was No.3 and stood around in the heat waiting to start with my mouth getting dry with every min . I knew I was in trouble . The waves were huge I only realised at the end there was 11, 000 runners in the 10.5k race !! Race starts and I.m struggling to even move or walk . After a k or 2 the road widened and I was able to get free of tge crowd and start running . I got thru wave 3 only to catch wave 2 in an open park . With the footpaths blocked I along with others had to run on the grass and even jump a few fallen trees . Got to the half way mark and water stop and picked up 2 cups with sponges . Drank these and freshened up and started at a nice pace but the damage was done , calves burning and roastin due to the heat I got across the line in my worst time ever of 54.30 .
Freshened up and waddled to the 28k marker to catch the girls . Picked them up on the tracker at 25k . Got me flag and supplies ready for the girls . Lynda first and a big cheer and a wave and a Mars Bar given to her and off she went . A few minutes later Trish arrives , I shout and wave and immediately she spots me and makes a beeline for me I think fook what's wrong , then theres a big hello and smile and runs to me for a hug and salty kiss and she sprints off , I wash my mouth out and think to myself ' shes fookin Flying ' all good she's never ever done that before in all the races I.v followed her . Turns out she decided at the start to just display the distance on her watch ...no pace or time ... she just ran and took it all in . Berni was a few minutes later all smiles and happy out also to have seen me . Soon after this her stomach cramped again for the second time . I shouted at some other Irish runners and waddled to about a km from the finish . Lynda thru first again but this time Trish was closer behind her !! Still all smiles she grabbed the flag and ran across the line hit stop on the watch ..a new PB of 3.45 she was ecstatic .
We all met at the Hilton Hotel lobby and hugs and kisses all round . A drink was had and photos taken as we soaked up the atmosphere around us . Lynda finished in 3.35 .. Trish with her 5th Marathon in a little over a year in 3.45 ..and Bernie in 4.35.
Overall it was a fantastic weekend . Lovely city . Easy to travel . Good food . Nice people . well run event . Not that expensive either . We hope to return next year . I have a argument to settle with my race .
Thank Jim for getting this idea rolling and sorry you didn't make it .
Early flight last Saturday morning at 6 arrived in Amsterdam for half 8 where we were picked up by Peter a Dutch friend of mine . He drove us to Rotterdam to our hotel giving us some local knowledge along route . Arrived at the hotel and got freshened up and Peter took us to the city centre . We dropped the girls , , Trish her sister Bernie and a friend of their's Lynda at the Expo . Myself and Peter took a trip and boat tour around the city . Its fantastic to see . When Trish was at the Expo she bagged me an entry in the 1/4 marathon simply because we were Irish
. We then returned Back to the hotel for fodder and bed . Marathon Day .. girls were up early to get the breakfast then back to the room for Prep. ( this was the start of my downfall.. ie lack of food .). then Bags packed and 'Timing Chips ' fitted and then Taxi to the Start . I said good bye to the girls and wished them well . I left the bags in the drop zone and headed on my way to my run . ( second mistake ...left water and Jellys in me bloody bag ) .. anyway got to the start of my wave which was No.3 and stood around in the heat waiting to start with my mouth getting dry with every min . I knew I was in trouble . The waves were huge I only realised at the end there was 11, 000 runners in the 10.5k race !! Race starts and I.m struggling to even move or walk . After a k or 2 the road widened and I was able to get free of tge crowd and start running . I got thru wave 3 only to catch wave 2 in an open park . With the footpaths blocked I along with others had to run on the grass and even jump a few fallen trees . Got to the half way mark and water stop and picked up 2 cups with sponges . Drank these and freshened up and started at a nice pace but the damage was done , calves burning and roastin due to the heat I got across the line in my worst time ever of 54.30 .
Freshened up and waddled to the 28k marker to catch the girls . Picked them up on the tracker at 25k . Got me flag and supplies ready for the girls . Lynda first and a big cheer and a wave and a Mars Bar given to her and off she went . A few minutes later Trish arrives , I shout and wave and immediately she spots me and makes a beeline for me I think fook what's wrong , then theres a big hello and smile and runs to me for a hug and salty kiss
and she sprints off , I wash my mouth out and think to myself ' shes fookin Flying ' all good she's never ever done that before in all the races I.v followed her . Turns out she decided at the start to just display the distance on her watch ...no pace or time ... she just ran and took it all in . Berni was a few minutes later all smiles and happy out also to have seen me . Soon after this her stomach cramped again for the second time . I shouted at some other Irish runners and waddled to about a km from the finish . Lynda thru first again but this time Trish was closer behind her !! Still all smiles she grabbed the flag and ran across the line hit stop on the watch ..a new PB of 3.45 she was ecstatic . We all met at the Hilton Hotel lobby and hugs and kisses all round . A drink was had and photos taken as we soaked up the atmosphere around us . Lynda finished in 3.35 .. Trish with her 5th Marathon in a little over a year in 3.45 ..and Bernie in 4.35.
Overall it was a fantastic weekend . Lovely city . Easy to travel . Good food . Nice people . well run event . Not that expensive either . We hope to return next year . I have a argument to settle with my race .
Thank Jim for getting this idea rolling and sorry you didn't make it .
Re: Rotterdam Marathon
Well Done Trish on a great run. Nigel thanks for the report.
Re: Rotterdam Marathon
Super time well done Trish. Thanks for report Nigel