Today was the day: 10 km marathon of Rotterdam

Today was the day!

Today was the day that I finally participated in a race in the marathon of Rotterdam! I was born and raised in Maassluis, a small town nearby Rotterdam and this annual marathon was a big thing for me as a child. I watched it on tv and always dreamed of participating, even it that meant giving out cups of waters to the runners! But I thought that something as a marathon would be impossible for me and that it only  was for the real athletes. Then life happened and I forgot about the dream, had different interests and gained weigth in my twenties. I would lose the weigth, gain it again, lose it and then gain it again.

When I turned 31, I thought 'No more'! I started going regurlary to the gym and watched what I ate. Then last summer I went on holiday to Spain. There was a small gym at the appartmentcomplex and hotels where we stayed but it wasn't very professional. Then we were in Valencia where there was a large park in front of our hotel, I had my running shoes with me and thought that running would be a good option instead of going to the hotel gym. So during the holiday, I ran regurlary. And when we got back home, I continued running, joined a running team for a short time and learned techniques how to run the best way that suits me.  By now I learned that besides the whole marathon I could also run a 5, 10 or 21 km. In that time I was fit enough to run a 10 km. Then life happened again, I stopped exercising and gained some weigth again. But then it happened that I thought about that dream I had as an child about running in Rotterdam.

So at the beginning of this year, I decided that I mattered too and to life a healthy life, I needed to go back to the gym and I started exercising again. In January I decided to run my very first 10 km in The Hague. I ran the 10 km in March and set a personal record of 1h03m and realised that I could just as well enter myself in the 10 km in Rotterdam and so I did. And today was the day!

This morning I made a breakfast suitable for champions: oatmeal with a banana, a teaspoon of almond butter, a tablespoon of yoghurt, a tablespoon of granola, chia seeds and coconut seeds. I felt full immediatly but I ate it 2 1/2 hours before the start so I knew it would be digested enough by the time I would start.

S. went with me which was very nice because he's starting to become my personal coach/manager! Really nice to have, ha ha! Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of pictures of the event because there wasn't enough time and because I was too focused before the start.

S. did make a small film as soon as he saw me. You can only see me in the first second!

I eventually ran a new personal record of 58minutes and 46 secondes! While running, I felt good and had a feeling that I could finish within the hour. When I finished and saw the time, I nearly cried of happiness! Look how beautiful this medal is!

I made a special playlist for this race:

Genesis                             Turn it on again

Gavin DeGraw                  Not over you

Ik dans, dus ik besta      Het Goede Doel

Nooduitgang                     Het Goede Doel

Forever                              Chris Brown

Eye of the Tiger                Rocky IV

Dance in the Dark           Lady Gaga

The Flood                           Take That

Music Inferno                   Madonna

Dancing in the dark        Bruce Springsteen

Crazy                                    Seal

Makes me wonder         Maroon 5

Binnen                                 Marco Borsato 

* For the Dutchies who are reading this blog, if you know these songs of Het Goeden Doel you probably know that these song have a great beat and this is nice while running! For those who don't know, Het Goeden Doel is a Dutch band and had their glory days in the 80's! My sister loved their music and for me this is nostalgia!

What about you, have you realised a childhood dream/ And do you have a song you love that is so bad but you love it anyway?

Talk to you soon!