On the way to ORANJE

Long weekend. So many marathons to run in Ireland. Tullarone, 100 K Donadea, Derry, Cork (where I have started my marathon adventure). Can run three days in row. And probably I would do that if I was in better fitness form. So, maybe next year. June long weekend 2016 we are spending on small city break in Amersfoort. When was looking for places to spent long weekend and if possible to run I have found small event in heart of Urtreht region in Netherlands. When research that place it looked quite nice. Not too expensive, with nice views and interesting places to visit…

I have been asked by Bozena to keep amount of runs and visits outside Ireland to minimum. Which is quite hard to do. I would like to try as many different marathons in different countries as I can. And even that I have already used my assigned limit of marathons outside Ireland Bozena was quite kin to that one. Probably cause both of us never been to Netherlands before. New experience, new research in country of many canals. Day of the flight was (still is a havoc). To catch flight at 7 PM I had to go to work at 6 AM, skipped break to be able to get hour of training run. Got home and in next 45 minutes I have packed suitcase and got dogs ready for their weekend stay with minders. Don’t know how dogs know that we are leaving but that pair is always excited. I just hope that excitement is cause by them thinking that we will take them with us and not by spending weekend with Brendah and Alan. Anyway, today was the same. I was packing luggage and dogs were running here and back with excitement. Every time I was near shoe cabinet were we keep leashes Kulka and Lucy started to jump and bark. Dogs just know. When we arrived on the airport we could see that there were plenty of flights delayed. First thought was – ‘Ours will be to’. And we were correct. But as usual Ryanair informed passengers about that fact just 20 minutes before scheduled departure time. Typical Ryanair. Officially flight delayed by 25 minutes but after checking watch was more like 30 – 35 minutes. Anyway, on the plane now. When we will land in Amsterdam not step would be taking train straight to Amersfoort. Another 45 minutes of travel and then, last part, 10-15 minutes walk. Mercure hotel should be in centre of the town, just 300 m from starting line of the marathon. Should be quite convenient. Will see. Quick nap now? Will be probably stressed out by train part (finding proper train and so on) of the journey…

I was correct about train but not part with finding it. We had to take that train 3 times. First to get just half way to Amersfoort, second to come back to airport and then to get to hotel. By mistake I took same Samsonite suitcase but unfortunately wasn’t ours. Good thing was that on ours we have our mobile number, so they could find us quite quick. So, instead of us being in bed before midnight we were there half one in the middle of the night. Walk from train station to hotel was just about 10 minutes. We had to wake up guy on the reception to get to the building. Thanks God that room was quite spacious and comfortable. We went to sleep really fast. We had three days in front of us in Netherlands. Nice sleep. Next day we have assigned to sight seeing task. Sun in full swing, not a cloud in the sky. Couldn’t think about anything better for city break. Of course that is not really working when you are Irish. We are used to rain, wind and maybe a week, two weeks tops of sunny weather during whole year. Sun – yes, but not too much. That can kill you 😉 Anyway, we have spent whole day wandering around old town. Picked up bib, visited local shops. They have many shops with cheese, plenty bakeries. You can just spend days enjoying food. Nothing else. And when you think that it is what Amersfoort have to offer food-wise you are somehow brought to the ‘HOFF’. Market where you can buy fresh flowers, food – cheeses, meats, pastry, bread… All is there and fresh. Of course we couldn’t resist the temptation and we bought local coconut cakes and some other pastry (sorry, don’t remember the name). You can’t resist when you see price. Fruits for just fraction of the Irish price. So much was hidden in those small streets of that town. We saw gates into the Old Town, visited small cafeterias, bought cheese from cheese shop. Basically we just got lost in the small streets of Amersfoort. Decided to go to museum to see little bit of town history (interesting part) and exhibition of one of the local painter from mid 20th century (not interesting part at all). It was slow, relaxing day. All was very good, just too hot. Ended our day in Sushi Bar and… that was an experience. Apparently this way you are ordering in any shushi bar in Netherlands. 5 rounds per customer and 5 pieces per round. Usually you have one piece of sashimi or similar but 3 simple sushi rolls. Looks like not much but we were done after 3 rounds each. Full. Sushi bar was near the hotel so we decided to get a nap and continue sightseeing in the evening. And of course nap was longer than expected. So, evening we have spent in hotel preparing for marathon day… Well I could prepare gear and stuff but not my body.

I wasn’t prepared for heat on the day. Marathon was starting at 10:30. Before that there was 5 km for kids and 10 km run. We were starting as last group. Half, marathon relay and full marathon. But at time of the day we were starting it was already about 25 degrees (at least) and not a cloud in the sky. Canon blast and we were off. Quite narrow but not for long. Runners have spread out. More room to run. And of course… I did my thing. Went to quick. Was telling myself that I want to get 3:40 – 3:45. But still most important was not to visit toilet. With second thing I have succeeded. But first I’ve died. And it was just after 12 km mark. Why? I don’t know. Weather, body tiredness. All together… Possible. Only thing which was keeping me from DNF was idea of finishing marathon in another country. First 12 km in pace 4:45 and 4:50. Stupid fella. Paid for that. Next 3 hours something I was suffering. Trying to convince myself that I still running/jogging. But that was just pathetic. I was so weak and tired that for the first time I have stopped to rest and to talk to my Wife. And that wasn’t even first loop done. At this stage there was still about 2 km to half way mark and I was dying. When was turning last time before half way someone called ‘Alan, see you soon’. Ohhh, that person was really mistaken. It took me another 2 hours and something to being seen in the same place. Time to time I had to walk for a bit. Was trying to lie to myself that I’m doing that to charge batteries little bit to be able to run for next half a hour. But that wasn’t working. Still plenty to go. Had to drink quite a lot which meant that too much liquid was in the belly. Electrolytes down, so drunk some isostar but was missing any oranges. Just bananas. Damn it. I was just counting km marks. Wanted these to go quicker. Last 3 km and someone on the side was offering runners orange quarters. That was nice. Quick chat with Lady who was giving oranges. When I said that I’m from Ireland she said ‘Oh, you just know rain then’. That was true. Slow moving towards finish. Made it. My name was called before finishing. Marathon Club Ireland called as well. End… thanks God. So much sun. Moved straight away into shade. Drunk three bottles of water. Wanted just to get under the shower. Colder shower. Just sit there for quite a while.

Killer of a weather. After couple of hours spent in hotel we went out for a while. Was already evening so most of the shops were closed. Just restaurants opened. We went to Italian restaurant. Drunk one of the most expensive beers in our life, called ’32’. Really nice and quite strong. Evening stroll around the city. Noticed that even that Ireland is called green island in Netherlands there are more parks, green spaces and forests. Nobody calling Netherlands green… Enjoyed last day in Amersfoort. Next day small trip to Amsterdam before heading back home. Next day we went for quick breakfast, packed our bags and we were in the train back to Amsterdam. Bags left in the lockers and we went into Amsterdam. Cause we had just about 5 hours we decided just to wonder little bit in the centre. That was enough time to see really nice exhibition of Word Press Photo. Moving, hard to describe with words. Great photographs mostly showing cruelty in the world. Nice pictures but after seeing that all humour was sad. Had quick lunch and were trying to find famous coffee shops. Saw just one until we got at the south end of the city centre. There every third shop was with ‘coffee’. It was funny to see fact of checking ID when accessing that type of shop. With some time left till our departure we were just taking our time walking around Amsterdam canals. And we were taken by surprise when we walked into ‘Red Lamp District’. Everyone knows about ‘Red Lamp District’ but not everybody knows where it is exactly. We haven’t got a clue until we walked there. Kinky shops, pubs, clubs. Not many ‘ladies’ in the windows. Was little bit too early for that. But still quite an experience to see all that and actually do some shopping there. Nice couple of hours in Amsterdam ended. Needed to get back catch train to airport and our plane…

Netherlands is the place to visit again and not necessary to run.