THE LONG RUN
Weight: 80 kilos
Time spent running since 15 November: 15 hours 54 minutes
Distance run since 15 November: 148.6 kilometers
Time left: 16 weeks
The farewell service for my uncle Joop was very good. Chui Hsia came along to the crematorium in Bilthoven, where we met up with my oldest brother, my sister and, most importantly, my mother. Then there were a great many cousins whom I had not seen in ages. Plus, of couse, my aunt Jo, my uncle's wife for about 60 years I think.
People spoke with so much affection of uncle Joop... My mother's favorite brother, son of a baker and himself in the business of making bread and cookies, first in my grandfather's bakery and shop and later in a large factory. A man with a genuine interest in people around him. A wicked sense of humour, too. I have fond memories of the many birthdays at our house where he, amidst the rest of the extended family, would sit cracking jokes with that eternally radiant face that characterised him... Such a pity he's no longer around.
The running, meanwhile, has gone reasonably well. I skipped one 40-minutes run on Wednesday, but Thursday's and Saturday's were good. And today I pushed my barrier by running 120 minutes (aka two hours!) non-stop. For the first time I wore a belt with little bottles of powered water, and I think the regular drinking helped keep me going. Never mind I felt a bit silly, being over-gadgeted and all. At least I kept running.
That long run was in the Tervuren park, a bit out of town at the back of Brussels' colonial museum. I did three laps on the Waranda walking track, which - I did not know this when I started - includes eight sets of steps with a 54-steps total. Here you see some of them. Don't look like much, but believe me they break your stride big time!
Tervuren is a town that harbours many wealthy foreigners, mainly people in high positions in the European Community or executives of Belgian branches of big multinationals. For me the main attraction of Tervuren, apart from the sports facilities at the British School where my football club does pre-season training, is the lovely fountain which stands in the middle of the rundabout at the approach of the town. Never fails to make me smile.
Okay. It's Christmas Eve, so I will go and enjoy it with my loved one (the other loved one, Sanna, has gone to sleep). Tomorrow we hit the road for Ermelo, where we'll cook an Irish beef stew with potato mash and garlic bread for twelve people.
Merry Christmas, y'all.
Sunday 24 December 2006
Sunday 17 December 2006
NEW SHOES
Weight: 80 kilos
Time spent running since 15 November: 12 hours 22 minutes
Distance run since 15 November: 115.1 kilometers
Time left: 17 weeks
When I went running on Wednesday, my right shoe broke. The little rim where the holes are for the laces snapped at one hole and it was difficult to tie the shoe back in a way that worked. Anyway this pair of Adidas had been my running mates for many kilometers and I knew already before the snap that their moment of retirement was approaching. I needed new shoes.
On Thursday, I spent my lunchbreak at the Decathlon sports megastore. They had two different kinds of Asics shoes of which I knew they had tested well, but the cheaper of the two apparently tears around the big toe after the first 500 kilometers, or so it says on bulletin boards. Yes, I had done a bit of homework. There was this pair; brilliant but rather expensive. The only alternative was the Nike Pegasus Air, much cheaper and equally praised by running shoe commentators (is that a fulltime job? Does it pay? Where do I apply?). But the Nike is too narrow for my foot. So the Asics it was after all, which is good because they are orange.
I pondered about what I would have done had the Nike been a perfect fit. You see, I still feel obliged to boycott Nike for their sweatshop policies and exploitation of the world's poor. Now I know perfectly well that other companies are no angels too, and the Asics I bought were indeed manufactured in China. But Nike remains the emblematic company for all that is wrong, and giving up my Nike boycott would mean giving in to consumer cynicism. No? Oh, yes, I don't tank at Shell stations either...
On Friday I gave my new shoes their first run and boy are they good! They propel me forward big time (Chui Hsia claims that I always say that of new shoes, but I tell you these runners REALLY propel!). They absorb shocks brilliantly and weigh almost nothing. Only thing is, the heels are markedly different from my old shoes and I get a bit of cramp in my lower legs when running uphill. But I guess that'll pass.
Today was the Gaston Roelants 10k race. Weather was very, very nice: cold, dry and sunny. Before the start I saw Tine and Vincent, and also Georges who runs marathons for charity and gets others to do the same. But from go I was on my own - amidst 2,500 runners, that is - as the others sprinted off at their individual paces. For seven kilometers I managed to run at six minutes per kilometer and the last three I accelerated, finishing in just under an hour (58,18). I'm quite happy with that result.
Then, when I came back home, I learned that my uncle died this morning. He was my mother's favourite sibling, so it must be very hard for her. I spent the rest of the afternoon in town with Sanna. She had a great time, but my post-race feeling of exultant happiness never returned.
Oh, yes, I read this description of someone's first marathon which is really hilarious. You'll find it on this blog, just click on "Marathon, The First" on the right hand side.
Weight: 80 kilos
Time spent running since 15 November: 12 hours 22 minutes
Distance run since 15 November: 115.1 kilometers
Time left: 17 weeks
When I went running on Wednesday, my right shoe broke. The little rim where the holes are for the laces snapped at one hole and it was difficult to tie the shoe back in a way that worked. Anyway this pair of Adidas had been my running mates for many kilometers and I knew already before the snap that their moment of retirement was approaching. I needed new shoes.
On Thursday, I spent my lunchbreak at the Decathlon sports megastore. They had two different kinds of Asics shoes of which I knew they had tested well, but the cheaper of the two apparently tears around the big toe after the first 500 kilometers, or so it says on bulletin boards. Yes, I had done a bit of homework. There was this pair; brilliant but rather expensive. The only alternative was the Nike Pegasus Air, much cheaper and equally praised by running shoe commentators (is that a fulltime job? Does it pay? Where do I apply?). But the Nike is too narrow for my foot. So the Asics it was after all, which is good because they are orange.
I pondered about what I would have done had the Nike been a perfect fit. You see, I still feel obliged to boycott Nike for their sweatshop policies and exploitation of the world's poor. Now I know perfectly well that other companies are no angels too, and the Asics I bought were indeed manufactured in China. But Nike remains the emblematic company for all that is wrong, and giving up my Nike boycott would mean giving in to consumer cynicism. No? Oh, yes, I don't tank at Shell stations either...
On Friday I gave my new shoes their first run and boy are they good! They propel me forward big time (Chui Hsia claims that I always say that of new shoes, but I tell you these runners REALLY propel!). They absorb shocks brilliantly and weigh almost nothing. Only thing is, the heels are markedly different from my old shoes and I get a bit of cramp in my lower legs when running uphill. But I guess that'll pass.
Today was the Gaston Roelants 10k race. Weather was very, very nice: cold, dry and sunny. Before the start I saw Tine and Vincent, and also Georges who runs marathons for charity and gets others to do the same. But from go I was on my own - amidst 2,500 runners, that is - as the others sprinted off at their individual paces. For seven kilometers I managed to run at six minutes per kilometer and the last three I accelerated, finishing in just under an hour (58,18). I'm quite happy with that result.
Then, when I came back home, I learned that my uncle died this morning. He was my mother's favourite sibling, so it must be very hard for her. I spent the rest of the afternoon in town with Sanna. She had a great time, but my post-race feeling of exultant happiness never returned.
Oh, yes, I read this description of someone's first marathon which is really hilarious. You'll find it on this blog, just click on "Marathon, The First" on the right hand side.
Monday 11 December 2006
INTO THE WOODS
Weight: 79 kilos
Time spent running since 15 November:9 hours 25 minutes
Distance run since 15 November: 87.9 kilometers
Time left: 18 weeks
Yesterday I had the nicest run to date. We were in Ermelo, the village where my mother lives and where I spent a large part of my school years. Running there is so much nicer than in Brussels and I ended up going for 100 minutes. Through the village I went, past my old school, past both football clubs, through the forest, past the old water tower at Groevenbeek, and back home from there.
I ran slowly and managed to keep my heart rate below 150 (the average over 100 minutes was 142, much lower than what I get normally).
The forests around the old Groevenbeek estate is where I spent much of my time as a teenager. I used to go birdspotting or walk Tessa the dog there.
Tessa was of mixed breed with clear boxer characteristics. We got her after my father finally gave in to the constant begging of his six children. Dad had his conditions: a small dog only, no bitch, and he himself was not going to walk the animal. Then he went to the pound and got a mid-size female dog which he took out for walks rather often...
Pity I don't have any pictures of her any more.
So I know these forests well. Yet, I hadn't been to the estate for decades and was pleasantly surprised to see it again, especially the afore-mentioned tower.
On the subject of running past landmark buildings: I'm signed up for a run in the Park of Laeken this Sunday. Not only is this the park in front of the Belgian royal family's palace, it also incorporates the recently restored Atomium, built for the World Exhibition in 1958. My parents went to visit back then, and I'm pretty sure my mother must have been pregnant with me at the time. So this run means REALLY going back to my (extremely) early childhood...
The race is named after Gaston Roelants who apparently was quite a runner in his days. I fear I won't do him justice. Not only am I not good enough for that, the race also follows the night of my football club's Christmas Dinner. I'll be glad enough if I finish the ten kilometers in not too much more than one hour.
Weight: 79 kilos
Time spent running since 15 November:9 hours 25 minutes
Distance run since 15 November: 87.9 kilometers
Time left: 18 weeks
Yesterday I had the nicest run to date. We were in Ermelo, the village where my mother lives and where I spent a large part of my school years. Running there is so much nicer than in Brussels and I ended up going for 100 minutes. Through the village I went, past my old school, past both football clubs, through the forest, past the old water tower at Groevenbeek, and back home from there.
I ran slowly and managed to keep my heart rate below 150 (the average over 100 minutes was 142, much lower than what I get normally).
The forests around the old Groevenbeek estate is where I spent much of my time as a teenager. I used to go birdspotting or walk Tessa the dog there.
Tessa was of mixed breed with clear boxer characteristics. We got her after my father finally gave in to the constant begging of his six children. Dad had his conditions: a small dog only, no bitch, and he himself was not going to walk the animal. Then he went to the pound and got a mid-size female dog which he took out for walks rather often...
Pity I don't have any pictures of her any more.
So I know these forests well. Yet, I hadn't been to the estate for decades and was pleasantly surprised to see it again, especially the afore-mentioned tower.
On the subject of running past landmark buildings: I'm signed up for a run in the Park of Laeken this Sunday. Not only is this the park in front of the Belgian royal family's palace, it also incorporates the recently restored Atomium, built for the World Exhibition in 1958. My parents went to visit back then, and I'm pretty sure my mother must have been pregnant with me at the time. So this run means REALLY going back to my (extremely) early childhood...
The race is named after Gaston Roelants who apparently was quite a runner in his days. I fear I won't do him justice. Not only am I not good enough for that, the race also follows the night of my football club's Christmas Dinner. I'll be glad enough if I finish the ten kilometers in not too much more than one hour.
Sunday 3 December 2006
TO DREAM THE IMPOSSIBLE DREAM...
Weight: 79 kilos
Time spent running since 15 November: 5 hours 55 minutes
Distance run since 15 November: 55.6 kilometers
Time left: 19 weeks
The other day, when I was doing the last of four laps in the park, I imagined it being the final kilometers of my first marathon. The vision of me running into the stadium (does the Rotterdam Marathon finsh in a stadium? Should look that up) was so vivid that I got all emotional when finishing. That's how conditioned we are by TV and Hollywood: when real life starts looking like what we see on the screen we Pavlov into the screen emotions. It was all Chariots of Fire, Fame (I'm gonna live forever!), and To Dream The Impossible Dream.
I had just finished a leisurely 7 kilometers.
Still, it made me think about what finishing the real thing will be like. My expectation is that for the greater part of the 42+ kilometers the struggle will be (well, feel...) enormous and heroic, but that when I reach the finish line there'll be little left. Maybe in my head a voice will sing, "Is that all there is, is that all there is..."
So what am I doing this for? Beats me, so I would love to hear your theories, dear audience!
This week started badly. I missed my Tuesday run because of a painful left ankle and postponed Wednesday's till Thursday. But today was good: 12 kilometers on the belt in 80 minutes, and surprisingly the second half was much easier than the first.
Oh yes, did I say where my training schedule comes from? I use the Asics running site where you can build your own programme and keep track of your progress. I use the Dutch site of Asics; in the past I found the American one to be bugged repeatedly.
Weight: 79 kilos
Time spent running since 15 November: 5 hours 55 minutes
Distance run since 15 November: 55.6 kilometers
Time left: 19 weeks
The other day, when I was doing the last of four laps in the park, I imagined it being the final kilometers of my first marathon. The vision of me running into the stadium (does the Rotterdam Marathon finsh in a stadium? Should look that up) was so vivid that I got all emotional when finishing. That's how conditioned we are by TV and Hollywood: when real life starts looking like what we see on the screen we Pavlov into the screen emotions. It was all Chariots of Fire, Fame (I'm gonna live forever!), and To Dream The Impossible Dream.
I had just finished a leisurely 7 kilometers.
Still, it made me think about what finishing the real thing will be like. My expectation is that for the greater part of the 42+ kilometers the struggle will be (well, feel...) enormous and heroic, but that when I reach the finish line there'll be little left. Maybe in my head a voice will sing, "Is that all there is, is that all there is..."
So what am I doing this for? Beats me, so I would love to hear your theories, dear audience!
This week started badly. I missed my Tuesday run because of a painful left ankle and postponed Wednesday's till Thursday. But today was good: 12 kilometers on the belt in 80 minutes, and surprisingly the second half was much easier than the first.
Oh yes, did I say where my training schedule comes from? I use the Asics running site where you can build your own programme and keep track of your progress. I use the Dutch site of Asics; in the past I found the American one to be bugged repeatedly.
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