But I'm getting ahead of myself! This was my (Austin, Celebration, Cologne, Margaritas and Manure 50k, Shawnee) 6th marathon. Between the transcontinental move, the crazy summer that work promised to be, and generally feeling burnt out on the idea of running really fast, I decided to take a much easier approach to training and the race in general. I followed the Hal Higdon 'Novice 1' plan, which had zero speed work in it. I also skipped most of the cross-training, although a move to the Netherlands dramatically upped my biking mileage most days.
Overall I was pretty consistent with my training. The plan only had one 20 miler in it, which I turned into a super-fun 21-mile run to Rotterdam one beautiful Saturday morning. My pace for that was a consistent 10:30/mile, which was also my pace for most of my other runs. Slow and steady. Periodically throughout training I'd marvel at past training cycles when I was aiming for a 8:40 race pace, but this was where I was in 2016. I also switched from Altras to Hoka One Ones partway through the training, which somewhat alleviated foot pain I've been dealing with most of the year, although post-long-run most weeks my feet were still making me pretty unhappy.
All that to say, that race-wise I was ready for a fun jaunt around Amsterdam, but probably not as physically prepared as I have been for other races - mentally though, I've been around this block before and knew what to expect!
Taper week also coincided with a visit from two awesome friends from America-land. They came in on Monday morning and we spent Tuesday wandering all over Brugge, Belgium and sampling a suite of the offerings from De Halve Mann brewery. Not a restful taper-kind of day but a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I did my best to make up for it over the rest of the week, and opted out of several dinners out and sightseeing.
Saturday morning, Travis and our friends explored The Hague a bit more, while I sat with my feet up and watched Gilmore Girls. Then we walked to the train station and took a train into Amsterdam, followed by a tram to the race expo. I started to get extremely excited as we walked towards the expo, seeing all the people carrying Mizuno bags. I realized that between the move and the culture differences, I've done almost all my training in complete isolation - it was amazing to suddenly see so many other people who had also trained for months and were going to do the same crazy thing as me the next morning! The Expo was pretty great - picking up my packet and getting my shirt were seamless and the shirt is super cute. After a few rounds around the stalls, we (impulsively) hopped in a cab to get to our AirBnB - I was done walking! Our AirBnB was a small apartment near a tram stop and the race start, and a bit to the west of the city center. It was cozy with a very comfy couch - so I resumed my morning activity of sitting with my feet up, watching Gilmore Girls, while Travis and our friends headed out to see Amsterdam!
I laid my clothes out, ate leftover pineapple rice that I'd brought from our house, and eventually decided it was bed time. I actually slept really well, and it was even more restful knowing that I didn't need to leave our apartment until 8:40 the next morning!
Race morning dawned! Banana + peanut butter + yogurt for breakfast, and then we headed out the door! Travis had my sunglasses to offer to me when I ran past him later. I had my handheld water bottle with lots of Gu (imported from America, of course!), a date-and-pecan bar, and tons of salt tabs. No music, no phone. We walked about a mile to the Amsterdam Olympic Stadium, home of the 1928 Summer Olympics. Our designated 'okay, meet me here after the race!' spot was a little brick building near the 500m-to-go banner - having figured out that detail, I headed off to try to find my way in!
My first stop was a giant crowd. Eventually this funneled into the tunnel entering the stadium. As we passed into the stadium the people I was moving with started cheering our way in, which gave me chills- so much excitement! It felt so triumphant, just to enter and begin the final wait. Once inside I found the 'green' starting area and immediately got in line for the PortaPotties. I chatted with an Italian man (he spoke no English, I speak no Italian, but we managed to exchange pleasantries and humanity). The race began with much cheering, and over the tops of people's heads I could see a large video screen showing Kenyans and Ethiopians heading out of the stadium. I stayed in line, inching slowly forward and wondering whether I'd reach the toilet before my corral emptied. Periodically, more cheers would erupt as another wave of runners was released (there were 16,500 people registered for the marathon alone!) Happily, I DID make it to the bathroom and had a few minutes to spare before my wave began. We slowly walked/jogged around a quarter of the track and then suddenly, in front of me was the starting line! The clock already said something around 40:00, so it took quite a while for us to get to the start.
And suddenly, we were off! It was so much fun to suddenly feel like I was doing something with so many others instead of running all alone as I had for my entire training cycle. The course started out by passing back up the way we'd walked down in the morning. I found that between tram tracks was a relatively flat area, so I tried to stick in that part of the street where possible.
The weather was perfect, and though crowded, the running wasn't uncomfortably packed. I felt great, and settled into something that felt good. I was acutely aware that I should probably have been running slower, since I was about 50 seconds faster than I had been for most of my runs, but it felt so good! It was sunny and I was in Europe, finally doing my marathon, running through a park past dogs and people with signs in so many languages! So I went with it.
We went through a beautiful park, and then after some turning, went through the tunnel underneath the Rijksmuseum, which I had been extremely excited about since I saw the course map. It was pretty cool - glass and art! There was a sculpture of a large cat in one of the windows :) Then out and I began looking for Travis and our visiting friends, who I'd been hoping to see at the 6km/9km mark. I totally missed them (and they totally missed me) at the 6 km, but I saw them at the 9 km. In between those two were several DJs playing old songs! At 9 km, Travis offered me my sunglasses, which I declined because while I expected sunshine, I also had been getting really frustrated with sweating on my sunglasses, so I decided to go without. Then I was off again - not expecting to see them again until the finish!
I remembered from the race map that the next notable thing was an out and back down President Kennedylaan. I was amused, since there's also a President Kennedylaan in The Hague - apparently he was popular. This was the 13 km mark. Highlights included a woman with an American flag, which I found inspiring but when I said (quietly!!) "USA! USA!" as I ran past her, she just kind of looked at me and unenthusiastically said "oh, yeah..." which was pretty disappointing. Seriously, don't have an American flag at a race in Europe and be prepared to enthusiastically cheer Americans who identify themselves!
The next part of the route went down the Amstel River for quite a ways, and then back up the other side. This was absolutely beautiful. I was starting to feel tired (which I was a bit nervous about, since it was not even the halfway point) but there were wonderful things to look at. I saw sheep! And crew shells on the river! and a large boat with music! And these crazy people on those jetpack things where you levitate above the water, with music playing, doing tricks! That was amazing. Also, the estates we were running past were amazing, gorgeous little (or big) brick houses, that looked like they would be magical to step inside. Occasionally the homeowners would be outside cheering for us! One of the houses had a crazy glass-encased gym looking out over the canal and their giant inground swimming pool. Those people had better be really fit, because that gym seemed incredibly appealing.
Also, there was a large windmill. I love seeing those here!
Right as we crossed over the river (on a pretty bridge), I thought 'wow, there's been a lot of great DJing and stereos, but not a lot of live music. I could go for some horns!' and then turned the corner and could suddenly hear an amazingly peppy jazz group that had somewhere around 6 trumpets in it- what joy! That definitely put more of a spring in my step!
I went through the half around 2:12:30 - not too shabby - but I was definitely feeling tired and I knew that this was because I'd started out pretty zippy. Right as I passed through the half gate I tucked in behind a pretty tall guy and his friend who were running next to each other, and just stared at this guy's back and let myself go into autopilot for a few miles. This was a very effective strategy. Eventually I heard one of them say something to the other about pizza and I piped up "I could go for some pizza!" They looked back at me and I shrugged and said "oh, by the way I've been following you guys for a few miles" and we started to chat. They'd come over from London, one was Irish and the other lived in London. It was their first marathon and we talked about training, our goals, how we were feeling, and pizza. After a mile and a half or so we passed under a bridge and they had a big gang of friends and family there to cheer, so I kept going while they slowed way down to chat and we lost contact.
As I continued I realized that I was feeling pretty tired and definitely missing having comraderie. I loved the international nature of this race- there were runners from all sorts of nationalities, (based on the huge range of names on bibs), and people cheering in lots of languages. Few of those people were cheering in English, however, so it wasn't quite as much of a boost as it might otherwise have been for me. I tend to assume I can make 'race friends' by making sarcastic or funny comments and seeing who reacts, but with so few people talking around me in English, that seemed like a non-starter. So I felt even more alone than I might otherwise have, running a race by myself.
However, the course continued and so did I! After the out-and-back of the river, the next few miles were pretty uninspiring and dragged on. I was excited to hit mile 18, but then lost track and was bummed when the next watch-beep was only mile 19. Marathon math is hard! I've done enough races, though, that I knew to just keep chugging along and the miles would pass! Mile 20 felt like a big accomplishment - ironically, because the race was measured in kilometers, no one around me seemed to notice we'd just hit that landmark!!
The course got more interesting - old buildings, more twists and turns, pretty streets, and way more crowd support - in the remaining miles. I was hurting and really focused on getting to the 23.1 point- the first of the two 5ks that follow mile 20. At 23.1 I stopped and walked for a little bit, then mustered my strength and tried again. There were a lot of people walking off and on at that point, possibly because of the heat and possibly just because we'd all been running for at least 4 hours and were tired! Then I tried to get back into that last 5k, but after struggling through 2 of them I realized my quads really, really hurt, and I was having a terrible time imagining running for another 3 kilometers.
I took stock of my situation and realized that 1) I had no time goal, 2) I had no idea how long I'd been running anyway, 3) my head was threatening a headache, and 4) no one but me cared what I did. So I gave myself permission to walk. I put a big smile on my face, took big-fast-I'm-Will's-sister steps, and walked for about one kilometer. This was a major move on my part, giving myself permission to just walk and be okay with it, but I'm glad I did it. I was young and alive, walking down a path in a park in Amsterdam, almost done with a marathon, on a gorgeous sunny day - how glorious!
However, I was also a tired girl who wanted to be done running a marathon, so I forced myself to start up again. I ran past some people in giant pink rabbit costumes that said Duracell, which thoroughly confused me because I could've sworn that Energizer was the one with the bunny. I walked a teeny bit more and then committed. The last kilometer was triumphant. I saw Travis and our friends and for the first time in hours heard people cheering for ME SPECIFICALLY - such an encouragement! And then the next bend, with the 500 meters to go sign in view, the stand I was running past began playing one of my all-time-favorite pump up songs - Shakira's Waka Waka (This Time for Africa) , which was the World Cup theme song from 2010 and never fails to get me jazzed. I started singing out loud as I picked up my pace and entered the OLYMPIC STADIUM.
We came in the the same way I'd entered with the cheering pack at the beginning of the day. Now, the stands were a lot more full of people cheering for us. The route took us about halfway around the track, with 'meters to go' signs every 25 meters. It seemed like there was nothing to do but run hard - what else can you do as you round the bend of an Olympic track? - and I felt amazing as I ran down the straightaway and finished my marathon.
My final time was 4:37:43. Not my fastest, but not far off from what I expected to hit (I was thinking I'd be around 4:30). My splits show I was pretty steady through the 30km mark (18 miles or so) , and then slowed way down - this definitely syncs up with my recollection!!
I'm a bit of a crier at finish lines (I'm a sucker for finish-line YouTube videos) and almost started bawling, but didn't feel like dehydrating myself too much, so I held it together. I was thrilled to get my medal, and so so proud. Because our pre-arranged meeting spot was back out by the 500 m to go mark, I didn't stop moving after getting my medal - just headed back out, getting funneled through a line to get a banana and a bottle of Gatorade - then walked back up the route, cheering for people charging into the stadium as I had just been.
I got to the right location - but on the wrong side of the road! I could see Travis and our friends on the other side of the road, but between us were two sets of metal barricades and a whole bunch of marathoners. I started yelling their names - a woman next to me noticed and we laughed together at how entirely unobservant they all were! After about six tries, they heard me, and we walked together back up along the course on opposite sides. Finally we reached a crossing point, and they came over! Reunited!!
I was happy to be fêted, to chug a lukewarm yogurt packet, and to hand my water bottle off to a more lucid person! Then I took my shoes off and walked in my sock feet all the way back to our AirBnB. Being an adult is fun sometimes! Shower, clean clothes, medal back around my neck, and we wandered back out onto the streets of Amsterdam to find food. We found a great Australian-style pub, where the beer was perfection and the eggs and chorizo weren't bad either! Then we took the tram into the center part of the city, where we wandered around. The rough plan had been to follow a Lonely Planet walk that went from a cheese store through some old churches and then ended as a jenever distillery. The churches were closed, but we found a different cheese store, got lost, got found, found a castle and the original Dam, got lost again, then found a canal and the distillery! I had a wonderful little glass of a raspberry port wine.
Tram home, with a stop at an Indonesian takeaway spot for more protein in the form of chicken satay and rice! We played a round of Hanabi, and then I tumbled into
Race notes:
I was prepared to finish a marathon, but not much else. Next time, I need to do a training plan with some actual workouts built in, and more than one 20-miler. Also, I probably won't do another marathon until I have some friends to run with again!
I was very consistent with my salt (every 4 miles) and my Gu (every 5 miles), which I was pleased with. The salt was definitely necessary because of the heat. The Gu was good, and around mile 18 I ate my pecan bar which I was also happy to have. At each water stop, I refilled my bottle with water, and grabbed a wet soaked sponge to squeeze over my head and mop off my face. All in all for fuel and heat mitigation, it was a winning strategy.
The Amsterdam Marathon was very well organized- great expo, great price, great race shirt, great medal, great logistics. Totally happy with it. Most of the course was really good, beautiful and distracting. Very few portapotties (and men peeing basically everywhere they could along the course, possibly these things are related?).
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