168 min
Start 12.00
Distance 27.5km
(I think my official time was around 2:47 but I jogged back to my bike afterwards and this is the time I have on my clock. But let's start at the beginning...)
Left for Apeldoorn in thick mist. Barely 50m sight so mist lamp on and speed right down. About halfway there it cleared a good bit though it was still dull and grey and misty, just no longer the impenetrable fog I'd left home in. Parked my car in Jan and Anke's drive and within minutes the first suspicious neighbour had come to ask if she could help me with anything. I explained what I was doing there and she seemed reassured that I wasn't after the family silver. I'd planned to cycle into town to register and collect my startnumber before bothering the neighbour-with-the-key, as I thought he might be having a Sunday lie-in, but before I'd sorted out my stuff and got the bike out the car he too had apparantly spotted me and came across to see what I was doing there. (Neighbourhood watch is obviously alive and working like clockwork in this particular corner of the world.) So, with the key stuff sorted already I cycled off to find the place where I had to sign up.
Helped a Lithuanian fill in his form, collected my 'free' t-shirt and got back to the house where I spent a pleasant hour listening to another episode of
The Extra Mile Podcast on mYpod while I pinned my startnumber to my shirt and looked through the running magazines I'd picked up. Studied the route and played with the cat. Got to the start in plenty time, took a few photos while we were waiting for 12 o'clock.
I'd decided not to make the same mistake as in Amsterdam by starting too fast so I took it easy for the first 10k, letting lots of people overtake me without trying to keep ahead when I heard yet another set of footsteps gaining on me. I did have a short sprint just after the 1k mark as I spotted a Scots flag hanging off a shirt and ran up to say hello. I didn't actually achieve the ideal of a negative split (when the first part of your race is run slower than the second half) but there certainly wasn't as ridiculous a difference between start and finish as in the
Urk/Zwolle extravaganza. Around the middle of the distance (and I don't even know if it was an exact measurement, but somewhere between 13 and 14 I heard someone say we were halfway round) I had 1:21 on my clock. My half marathon time was 2:09. Just after 18km I got a stitch in my side (right, low down) but by running a bit awkwardly for a few minutes and breathing in deeply and blowing out as hard and quickly as possible I got through it and could speed up easily for the last glorious downhill bit. (I wonder if that had anything to do with the sportdrink I took by accident at the 15k drinkpost? I'd only drunk water and tea before then as I usually avoid unknown sugary drinks.)
I stopped twice to take photos - I'd decided not to stress about getting as fast a time as possible and just to enjoy the run. Various people along the way asked about
the book I was as usual advertising on the back of my shirt and I enjoyed telling them about it. Some others knew it already and made appreciative noises. I was just surprised that I am in fact capable of running and talking at the same time as it's not something I do very often. Also met one woman in
Vibram 5 Fingers and had a chat with her about them. At one point towards the end there was a bit of panic when various people started shouting 'Car! Car!' when we were on a bit of closed off road. I suspect Apeldoorn still has a collective trauma from the
Koninginnedag drama last year... (The car had warning lights on and was coming very slowly.) The last bit was all downhill and I felt great as I was fairly certain I was going to get to the finish inside 2 hours 50.
After I got in I walked back up towards the house, seeing the 3 hour marathon finishers and also the fastest runners in the 8km racing in.
I'd been warm enough during the run but when I stopped I noticed I was cooling off, even though I'd pulled on the warm trousers and jacket I had in my bike bags. Got back to the house and my fingers were white and frozen. Peeling off my clothes I saw that they were all wet through. Despite the cold I'd been sweating more than I realised. (I had on a high necked sleeveless shirt + a long sleeved t-shirt with my Born to Run t-shirt over this. My hat and neck buffs I'd taken off after the first few kilometers and my gloves had been on and off throughout the race depending on the wind.) Got into the bath and ate grapes and drank fruit juice and water and read my book for a while. Felt fine - none of the collapsing feelings I'd had in Zwolle in November afterwards. The forecast wintry showers didn't happen till I was on my way home in the car so I drove home at about the same slow speed I'd used in the morning but was still home before dark.
I really enjoyed the day - the route was well set out with the last bit downhill (after going up gradually to the dizzy height of 90m above sea level - ha! ;-) Must remember never to do a whole marathon there though as they have to do another circuit uphill - when we were running down the last bit we met slow runners on their way up. I really don't think I could have faced that. Oh and I'd been mistaken about it being an off-road event. I'd thought from the pictures that it was on trails through the woods but it was all on roads or cycle paths. I think I learnt a lot today about pacing and enjoying the route and the company of other runners.
The tail end of the storm that had been raging over most of Europe all day was drizzling to its end when I looked at the Rain Radar to see if it would be possible to have a dry run before dark. Not really, but I decided I'd rather run in the wet and the light rather than wait till later when I'd be limited to lit streets. Went out to the Soesterduinen and kept as much as possible to the edges to keep out of the wind. Wasn't actually soaked completely through but was still fairly wet and cold by the time I got back.
