Well, theoretically I reached the 20k cut off point in today's race in time but as as it was clock time and not chip time (and my wave crossed the start about 6 minutes after the clock started) in practise I didn't... Which to be honest I was very happy with. 'Honour was maintained' but I was obliged to head for the finish of the half marathon rather than doing the extra circuit to get to 30k. The race was a lot easier than Egmond last year as it was all on cycle paths and in the more sheltered parts of the dune/forest area behind the beach rather than on the sand itself. Weather was kinder than forecast as well. Drizzly rain and none of the wind that stopped us getting on to the beach the day before. Well organised event, I liked how the fast runners (who were finishing the 30k) joined us slower ones for the last few miles to the finish. Towel as 'prize' at the end was handy to put round my shoulders as I walked back to the van, which I'd parked the night before at the back of the sports hall at the finish.
The Plan is: to run a marathon in every county in the Netherlands.
Last Dutch county marathon completed!
Zuid Holland ~ Rotterdam, April 1997 4:22 (pre-blog days, so no link to a race report as with my later marathons) Flevoland/Overijssel ~ Urk/Zwolle November 2009 4:53:30 (this is 'cheating' a bit as the race begins in one county and ends in the other, so I'm going to run it again this year to make one whole marathon for each county) And here it is - the second Zuiderzee Marathon, November 2010 5:03(?) Utrecht ~ Utrecht, April 2010 2010 4:52 (no offical time as last minute entry and Utrecht then makes you pay lots of money for practically nothing) Brabant~ Eindhoven, October 2010 4:50:08 (Great crowd support.) Zeeland~ Burgh-Hamstede/Zoutelande, October 2012 5:59:56 (First one where I thought I might DNF.) Noord HollandBeemster, May 2014 (4:45:??? - no official time released)
I watch God's face falling slow slow, even orangier and the clouds are all colors, then after there's streaks and dark coming up so bit-at-a-time I don't see it till it's done. (Room ~ Emma Donaghue)
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They drove on into the last of the day's blue, so pale, haunting and intense in the way brief things are. (Romanno Bridge ~ Andrew Greig)
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an oyster light that lasts for hours before the sun is actually up and so has about it a diffuse and magical quality (The Weight of Water ~ Anita Shreve)
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in the far sky a huge bank of slate-blue cloud was shutting down like a lid on the last, smouldering streak of sunset fire. (The Book of Evidence ~ John Banville)
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Oriental sunsets of soupy jade and marmalade (Ghostwritten ~ David Mitchell)
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the mournful, bittersweet color of a day's end, that piercing golden bask over the landscape made all the more aching for the fact that it wouldn't last. (The Post-Birthday World ~ Lionel Shriver)
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It's so beautiful at this hour. The sun is low, the shadows are long, the air is cold and clean. (Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close ~ Jonathan Safran Foer)
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low-flying clouds of red and purple, lit from below with dark gold (The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society ~ Mary Ann Shaffer)
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a daybreak like a row of sparkling dinner knives (A Long Long Way ~ Sebastian Barry)