Amsterdam Half Marathon!

OKAY
I know there is an immense culture out there of people who just casually run half marathons, marathons and triathlons like it's normal. It's not. But I have great respect for all of you crazy people.

This weekend was the annual Mizuno Amsterdam Half Marathon 2016, as well as the full Amsterdam Marathon and I think a 10K that took place ... that same day.

This meant that Amsterdam became as crowded and crazy as a normal afternoon would be in New York City. In Netherlands-terms that means it was I.N.T.E.N.S.E.

I had prepared for several months before this event, but still, truthfully, did not feel very ready for it on the day of. The reason I decided to go for it goes back to March of this year, when I realized I was regularly running 10km + every time I would go out for a jog. I was stressed out, homesick, and overwhelmed at the time, and there was something about running and just going until I ran out of time on my afternoon breaks that felt unbelievably therapeutic. I have been a regular runner for years now, but running long distances was something completely new.

Years before, I rode in the Ride for Missing Children, a charity I am absolutely crazy about that takes place in New York State every fall. That was a 100-mile bike ride that I did with my Dad back in 2013, and adored every mile of. But since then, most of my sports events have been private training or running in 5Ks here and there - and one back in January with Bruno, Nike, and Kevin Hart. So, although I've been active and I don't think I've gone more than a week or two without training my body in some ways, running 13 miles was a much bigger challenge to me.

Anyway, Bruno encouraged me to join him for the half marathon back in July, and I signed up thinking "Why not!??! I can totally do that!" Since it was many months ahead of time, I had relentless confidence in my capabilities and planned all of the pizza and beer we would have in celebration already. We spent the summer going for runs with each other and also in the States with my family (he fared much better than I did in that heat and with the elevation. Holy crap, the Netherlands are flat.) Then, about two weeks ago, we ran about 15 kilometers to prepare.

In total I would say my training was: one very long run a week (maybe twice, depending on various factors such as time, health, energy levels, how angry I was about something that day, and so on...), usually 10K or more. Then a shorter run (5-7K) 2 or 3 times a week around that. I would stretch as much as I could think of, and had the worst kind of appetite ever. I couldn't stop eating. I mean that.

Two days before the main event, on Friday, I started drinking as much water and coconut water I could get my hands on. I did not stop hydrating. I went to pick up my bib and Bruno's, checked us in (something I didn't even know we could do. That was cool). And took a 2 mile walk through Amsterdam.

The night before, we ate pasta with chicken and broccoli, and attempted to get lots of shuteye... only to find out around 10:30 that we, and Bruno's upstairs neighbor, were all locked IN to the apartment building.

... And so began the most annoying chaos of all time.

Quick Back story: Bruno lives in a neighborhood that is surrounded by small shops, and not many apartment buildings. His apartment and his neighbors' are built just above a line of shops, and we have to access his apartment building through an alleyway behind these stores, until you reach the main door. The alley is often filled with random stuff, tons of bikes (there are bars around too, and I have a suspicion people just tuck their bikes away in there because it's easiest), and random odds and ends from the stores next to us. There is a main door you must unlock, go up the stairwell, and then you're at Bruno's door to his place. It doesn't feel unsafe, however there have been some strange theft issues (bikes going missing) in that alleyway, and we noticed someone seemed to be hacking at the sides of the main door and tampering with the lock. So, a door further into the alley way was put back in use, a lock was built for it, and we automatically had an extra level of security.

Then, ten days later (on Saturday night), that extra lock broke. None of us could unlock it with our keys no matter what we did. We threw ourselves at the door, called for help, and then waited about three hours until the Emergency Locksmith arrived to drill out the lock and set us free. That was at 1:30AM. He charged Bruno an arm and a leg and we angrily went to sleep by 2AM. We will never use that door or lock again, since there is an obvious fire hazard and, well, it didn't work out for us in the end anyway. TO PUT IT MILDLY.

The next morning, I was amazed when Bruno enthusiastically woke me, unable to hide his excitement about the half marathon and pumping me up. He hauled my grumbling butt out of bed, we made banana pancakes, and away we went to the Olympic Stadium to show off our Forrest Gump skillz!

Made these from scratch! I will link this recipe soon!

This was overwhelming. I was nervous. I was excited. It was warm, and sunny, and SO CROWDED. I am 5' tall, and the average Dutch person is about 6' (THE AVERAGE DUTCH PERSON), so mostly I saw butts and backs and elbows until we were finally off.

The best part of the run was by far the first 10 kilometres. Every few minutes we passed another silly-costumed DJ blasting music at us, pumped our fists in the air and cheered and kept on running. Bruno and I were in the Green section, which was supposed to be a 6 minute Km. He can easily make this time or faster when he runs, but I generally run about 6.5 / km, so I was a little nervous to be there. But the adrenaline and music meant that I started booking it way faster than I should have, and we were running at about 5:15-5:30 per kilometre for the first 10K.

At about 12K, though, I started to get tired. We had hydrated like crazy ahead of time, and they had cups of water and gatorade, as well as bites of power bars to grab, every 5K or so... but I noticed the music stopped and we were just... running. For a realllyyyyy long time, it felt like. And uphill, which I was not expecting. But okay, what's another 9K when you're used to running 15K for long runs?? I was enjoying the sun, the views, the cheers from the crowd and the bleeping noises that would happen every time we ran past the scanners that took our bib numbers (this way, my Mom at home could actually SEE my and Bruno's times every time it scanned us!) I was tired, but we kept going, and I was bound and determined to make it at least to 16 before I would stop for any reason.

So, we made it to 15K, at which point I felt sure I was going to collapse. My time had slowed down, but we were still running, and I got a burst of adrenaline when I realized we only had 6 K to go, which was a typical short run for me. I had to laugh when we went past a spectator who had made a sign that read "Bet it feels like 6 months to you!"
...Yes. Yes it did.

We made it to the last 3 K, and the route went into Vondelpark at this point. Bruno had told me before we started that by the time we got to Vondelpark, we were basically done with the run as it is so close to the Finish line. But let me tell you this: by this point, even 1 kilometer felt impossible to me. I suddenly turned into the raging version of myself, angry that it was taking so damn long for one kilometer to end and that this whole freaking run is uphill!!!!!

Bruno would cheer me on: "You're amazing!! Give me a high five!! You are going to complete it!" And I would scream back at him "STOP IT, WE AREN'T DONE YET, THIS IS NEVER ENDING, MAKE IT STOP!!!!" I then tried to walk, in my delirious state, and he did not let me. I'm not sure how he talked me off of that ledge, but he did, and I kept going, hating the world, my body and everyone around me.

I will note that at this point in the run, many many people were going down. I was shocked to see this, because you don't often hear about it, but there were several people around us who were way beyond their capacity and could not handle the stress anymore. One man collapsed on the side of the road beside Bruno, and when Bruno helped him up the look on his face was one of blank confusion. I hope he stopped the run at that point - it is never worth hurting yourself to cross a finish line.

I realized that I was doing okay, my breathing was fine and even though my legs were killing me, it was not that bad and 1 KM was too short a distance for me to walk unless I absolutely had to. So, we finished, crossed the finish line, and I burst into hysterical laughter and immediate apologies for all the angry I had thrown at Bruno for the last laps. We finished with:

21.60 Kilometers

TIME : 2 hours and 18 minutes. 

(My original goal was to finish in 2 hours 30!)

It was a great feeling, and a very cool accomplishment, and then we limped our way home with our medals, bananas and gatorade and stuffed our faces in pajamas on the couch.

I will say, I look forward to doing it again next year mainly for the psychological aspect of it all, as well as the awareness of how important it is to truly pace yourself. I think I would have enjoyed the run much, much more if I had taken more time in the beginning 10 Km, but I was so excited and adrenaline-fueled at the time that it just didn't work like that this time.

There is a huge difference, once completing 21 Km, because now that number is not as scary to me and I honestly think if I train the same way next year, I could get a better time. But for now, I plan to do yoga, nap a lot, and avoid running altogether for at least the rest of this month.

Yay!!! :)

Thank you to all of you who supported the day of, and who inspire me to live a fit, active life, and of course as always to Bruno, who is the ultimate coach and the best team mate I could ever ask for in life.