Amsterdam - Marathon, Half n 10K - Page 53 - Events

RJK

15/10/2005 at 11:26

I'm in Amsterdam relaxing now! Good luck to everybody, this will be a great day.

xxxx
Rich.

RSG

15/10/2005 at 12:03

Am green green with envy. Good luck Rich. xxx

Ultracat

16/10/2005 at 22:58

Hi folks.

Lovely warm weather in Amsterdam, by 2.30pm when we started the half marathon the sun was shining brightly but there was a slight breeze thank goodness. Had a good race although I did find it congested at times and finished in 2.08. Great weekend.

How did everyone else do?

Clive Nottage

17/10/2005 at 09:18

4:29:44 for the marathon

I think I should apologise to all those who advised me not to run if feeling unwell....you were right....had a horrendous time....threw up three times between 20 and 30km......and really struggled......nothing in my legs at all.....

nice place....shame about the lack of support....and the cramped exit from the stadium which meant walking pace at times.....and the two drunks wandering on the road at 34km who took me out....other than that a great race.....but I never want to see another lemon Gatorade as long as I live!!!!!!

RJK

17/10/2005 at 09:39

I'm writing this as an archive message, so I can read it next year and remind myself that RUNNING MARATHONS IS STUPID!

Everything went fine until after the Amstel (thought that would be the worst bit, but the sun was gorgeous and the crowd support was suprisingly lively.

But then, predictably, the wheels dropped off at about 16 miles and the next 10 were the most atrocious grind. I hadn't trained enough, for sure.

Its a great event though. Only whine is that the new route through the town is rubbish; it cuts across the arse end of the centre and there was hardly anyone there. Last year we ran closer to the centre and threre was a great vibe.

Best bit - those lovely people who lined the streets along the north east section (forgot the name of it) - the children were handing out biscuits and drinks. I'll never forget that.

Hope it went well for you all.

Clive Nottage

17/10/2005 at 10:13

RJK - the way my body is feeling this morning, I agree with you....it is stupid....hasn't stopped me applying for FLM2006 though.....

I agree with you about the crown support.....the people who turned out were generally very supportive....just a shame that on many parts of the course there were none to be seen.....I remember it being six people deep during parts of FLM2005....

am back in Amsterdam in a couple of weeks, so hopefully will see some more of the sights this time!!!

Multi

17/10/2005 at 10:48

The state of some of the folk last night on the plane back served to re-enforce my thoughts that marathons are for nutters!!

I'll stick with halves!!

Pseudo

17/10/2005 at 12:41

Good to meet so many of you at the meal on Sat night - thought it was canny. Hope you enjoyed the night out in Amsterdam last night - I was in the Tara until 5ish when I had to leave for my flight - good of Rich to pop down and keep me company!

Good day for it. Shame the support wasn't the best, but I'd expected that to be honest. Also would be better if the route did go closer to the city centre - perhaps they will consider that once all the digging has finished! I did enjoy the lap of the stadium at 7 km (certainly a lot more than at 42 km - I was feeling pretty rough!)

Sorry to hear about your race Clive.

I struggled 'round in 3.18 - a pretty bad 1.34 - 1.44 positive split. Impressive slowing every 5 km - as seen on the website results graph! Legs felt similar to Berlin - pretty heavy all the way but especially tough from 30 km. Just not very fit at the mo but pleased to get 'round ok. Felt thirsty for a lot of the race - classic sign of dehydration - they could have done with some extra water stations, especially since the gatorade came in about 10 ml portions!

Legs a little stiff today but they have been a lot worse after other marathons. Ah well, only 2 weeks 'til the next one. Marine Corps in Washington...

Twin Dad

17/10/2005 at 12:42

what plane were you on multi ?

3hrs 24 mins 8 secs

excuses
HR a bit up due to slowly catching the lurgy
right hamstring hurting more and more as the route went on.....if it had been a left leg hopping race , I'd have been in with a shot, but my right leg was having none of it

Training had gone well ish but I was aware that I had a bit of a right hamstring issue, thought it probably be OK though
Race time predicters had me at about 3.18, so I had a dream of 3.15 which I was fairly sure I couldn't do and a figure of 3.27 (previous pb) which I felt I ought to beat. So all in all I am very happy with 3.24 given the circumstances. I certainly didn't feel that I could have done better on the day
I liked the stadium start and finish and the run through after about 6km, and the rest of the course was pretty flat. I thought the river bit was going to go on forever though

I agree with some others about Marathons - I've done 4 now and London 2006 will be my last

Singing (Christmas Carols) Angel

17/10/2005 at 13:30

The half was a bit of a disaster for me I'm afraid. Going good up to 20k then managed to trip on an uneven bit of pavement, went flat on my face and cracked my head open on the tram line. So I now have 5 stitches and a lovely black eye and no medal cause the red cross people wouldnt let me carry on. Gutted was on for a pb too!

Pseudo

17/10/2005 at 13:33

Sorry to hear that Running Angel - gutting! Know where you're coming from - I tripped and fell at 25 miles in the Edinburgh marathon, but at least I finished and got my medal.

Welsh Poppy

17/10/2005 at 13:35

Ah well sounds like you all had not bad times and enjoyed the trip.

Multi

17/10/2005 at 14:00

Sorry to hear about that, RA. For what it's worth, Paula has had her fair share of facial/cranial injuries whilst training so you're in good company. Wishing you a speedy recovery.

Welsh Poppy

17/10/2005 at 14:08

RA

crossed post would hate for you to think i was unsensitive

I am so sorry hope you feel better soon.I too know where you are coming from in my 1st marathon fell at mile 4 ended up blood splatter knees damaged head grazed etc but I did manage to finish and get medal.

puts everything else in perspective hope you are able to find some positives it was just a freak accident !!

Ultracat

17/10/2005 at 18:28

RA sorry to hear about your accident, those tram rails were certainly a bit of a hazard at times.

WP how did you get on?

Scott Martin

17/10/2005 at 18:32

Brilliant !

Had a great time and ran a 10 minute PB - 3:12:49

Legs sore now though !!

RSG

17/10/2005 at 19:32

Congrats to those who did well and sorry to those who got injuries.

WP - cmon - how did you go? (or did you post somewhere and I missed it?)

The Juicer

17/10/2005 at 19:58

Have been looking forward to gettting on here and seeing how you all got on! Sorry to hear about the mishaps, and quite relieved to hear that everyone seems to think it was kinda tough.

Great to meet many of you on Saturday night for the pasta and pizza - cheers Pseudo for organising that :-)

Well I can't count how many times I've said 'never again' in the last 30 hours or so. God I forgot how demoralising and painful this marathon running malarky is! Me and Prue set out to try for the 4hour mark, but really we went out too quick. We were on target at 5k and 10k, about 20 seconds behind at 15k, 1.5 minutes at half way and from there it just went pearshaped. We just got slower and slower. The final straw came when the 4.15 pacer with the orange balloon came past us at around 36km. I decided then that I would hang onto him for dear life, and that if I could salvage anything from the race it would be a pb (previous 4.19). I managed to stick with him, and cross the line in 4.15.28. A new PB but still a tad disappointing!

Felt completely overwhelmed by the whole thing at the finish line and just sat on the grass blubbing and crying!!!

And yes, that river went on for ever!!

Welsh Poppy

17/10/2005 at 20:02

Sorry

Sadly it never went well lots of factors missing shorts,being sick all saturday night,tram not turning up and not getting to stadium until 5 mins to start of race stuck at back could not get in my pen all going well till half way running on empty dispite eating 6 gels ankle in pain and calf seizing up last 12 k was run on sheer willpower felt so sick on the last 200 metres finished in 4.13 and find that new shorts bought had a long label on it and find it has cut left me with 6" cut no wonder it felt sore and blood on shorts.

Jane -how did you do?

Welsh Poppy

17/10/2005 at 20:07

Juicer well done on finishing you did well a PB is a PB no matter what.