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Once in a Lifetime....for now
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OOnegative wrote: »Must be the sequel to the Bible you’re typing......
Jaysus you're worse than a nagging wife!! :pac:
I'll be going out shortly for a few beers to awaken my literary muse and will return later on with a little tale of my couple of days in the Netherlands.
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Time to settle in with a glass of wine here soJaysus you're worse than a nagging wife!! :pac:
I'll be going out shortly for a few beers to awaken my literary muse and will return later on with a little tale of my couple of days in the Netherlands.
Sorry to hear about the physio verdict and the lay off. Hope the exercises sort it and you can get back to updating us on the regular with your running here0 -
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Amsterdam Half Marathon
Before: I entered this early in the year when I was getting back from injury, wasn't in the best of shape but somehow had just set at tiny 5k PB in the Bob Heffernan while feeling I had left a bit on the course. While initially targeting as my attempt to get sub 90 for a half I was feeling optimistic and entered the Tullamore half in the hope of getting the goal there and then having a free run in Amsterdam to improve on it. Then the hip started to play up so there was no Tullamore and nothing but a reduced volume of 9 min/mile runs and no sessions. I set myself a target of trying to do it at 8 min/mile pace and hopefully survive it.
The flight over was great, a few marathoners on board. Finding B in Schipol was hilarious. We spent 20 minutes trying to find each other even though we were about 20 metres away from each other! It was like something from Fawlty Towers!
From there my esteemed guide took us out to the Expo hall. We collected our numbers without any fuss and then left....yes we left! View the expo...not a chance...B was on a mission back to Den Haag!!!
So onto the train we get. There was a stoner asleep across the aisle from us. Next thing a conductor gets on. Not a conductor as we know them. This one was taking no sh1t! Stoner was either totally out of it or faking it very well. Not a problem to Ms Conductor...she shouted in his ear, pushed him, prodded him, knocked keys off the window beside his ear. He was having none of it and was staying in the land of Marijuana! B and I laughed...great attempt at avoiding a fare, the lengths people would go to!!Eventually he woke up and lo and behold he had paid his fare. This was a good thing. Next up Ms Conductor scanned B's card and found out he was a fare dodger. This was a bad thing! We had to leave the train....
Den Haag and the M family: Eventually we got to Den Haag. I was terrified. B had explained that he had a daughter. His description reminded me of a female version of Damien from the omen. She would hate everything about me! Lovely! Thankfully when we got to his house Damieness wasn't there. I met his wonderful wife L and full of life son O, both so so friendly. We decided to go to the local pub for a few beers. Little Miss Damien was at friends and would meet us there. Finally the moment came. A phone call to announce that she was nearby.....a shiver went up my spine.....the door opened and in she walked....the pub went quiet...I wet myself. Over she came to the table and quickly sat down to do some colouring. I ventured a timid gaze at her over my glasses and said hello....she smiled and said hello back.....and with that I began the most wonderful and enjoyable time over a couple of days with the wonderful S. Damien my arse....such a cute, bubbly, effervescent youngster! I played with her and O in every spare minute I had. She wasn't a great loser at Connect 4 (I wonder where she got that from!) B, those kids are amazing. I really can't say enough about how much I enjoyed my time in your lovely home in their company. I love them! L cooked at smashing meal of pasta and meatballs. They were excellent but I was a bit upset not to see B in his pinny doing the cooking.:D
Race Day: The wonderful L prepared us a breakfast of croissant and scrambled eggs which we ate as we watched the early stages of the marathon on Eurosport. Into the car then for the drive to Amsterdam. I sat in the back with the kids and the chatter never stopped. I only wished I was tense and chasing a time because they would have taken my mind off it completely and made me relaxed. We parked up and made our way down to the Olympic Stadium which was both the finish of the full and close to the start of the half.
Honestly this was unreal. The buzz about the place was brilliant. This was a big city marathon. This was what it's all about. No disrespect to Dublin but this was another level. I can't quite quantify the difference (the music was better) but it felt different. Maybe it was standing outside an Olympic stadium and looking up at where the flame once burned. Maybe it was cheering in the runners all chasing their sub 3 when we arrived.....I just don't know. All I will say is that it was stunning.
The Race: Well how can I do a race report when I didn't 'race'? I set out to run at 8 min miles. I ran at about 7:50 until about mile nine when I realised that if I didn't break out of my jog I'd have a slower HM time than Laineyfrecks for this year!! :pac: A flying finish got me home in 1:40:25
For details of the course and how to run it fast please see B's report. If I could summarise....great support, great course, great city....I fookin loved every minute of it. Finishing in an Olympic Stadium was the icing on the cake!!
After: B had done an absolutely amazing PB, I had survived. That could only mean one thing...Beer, and lots of it! B has detailed the pubs we went to, how expensive the beer is, how he got us thrown out of a pub and how we finished the night in Mc Donald's. By the way Utd got a moral victory against the Scouse.
The morning after: You'll be surprised to hear it involved playing with B's two youngsters for hours. It involved lots of chat, laughs and a few tears ( see losing comments above). Honest to God I could not have been made more welcome. I was humbled in truth.
Later in the morning: I got the train back to Amsterdam and sat in a church until my flight at 10pm that night
So it was a fantastic weekend spent in the absolute best of company, I met two fantastic kids, met the wonderful lady who keeps B on the straight and narrow, got to partake in an amazing event and had a ball from beginning to end!
The Upshot: I have been able to ignore all the fuss about DCM 20. My Autumn marathon next year will be right back in Amsterdam! I can't wait!!!!0 -
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OOnegative wrote: »And she went to bed tonight still asking for you...
Aw man stop pulling at my heartstrings 0 -
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That was a great read S, sounds like a lot of fun. Hope the rehab process goes well, you seem dedicated to following a proper build-up which is half the battle.
If you can't wait to see you little friend again I have a 20% discount code for the NN CPC Run The Hague on the 8th March if you want to potter around B's local training ground.. Message me if you want it:D 0 -
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Small mercies for them.....its coming home J!Wubble Wubble wrote: »Nicely done S. I was hoping for a few more stories though
Just shows how much things have changed in the soccer world, when Manc fans are talking about moral victories at home against the Reds :pac:0 -
Wubble Wubble wrote: »Nicely done S. I was hoping for a few more stories though
Just shows how much things have changed in the soccer world, when Manc fans are talking about moral victories at home against the Reds :pac:
That Villa game yesterday....the abuse I took after it. As if I wasn't already sick to the pit of my stomach! Haha. Anyway even though they haven't won the league since Jesus was a baby I will remain firmly in the ABL camp!! Never ever thought I'd see the day when I want to see Citeh win leagues.... ;-((0 -
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