Another weekend, another planned marathon

Planned marathon: Amsterdam Marathon, the Netherlands

The Plan: with an ultra (50-ish K) coming up in a month, the plan is to approach this thing as a training run. Yep, another one of those 'here goes nothing' ones. ;)

Oh, and Barborka on the Run - this girl is going for a huge PR in the Amsterdam Marathon. Mark my words, babe! :)

Friday Wisdom

Made possible by India Arie. :)

Berlin Marathon recap and photos

I loved this year's Berlin Marathon (September 30th 2012). Not a secret. What's not to love when you manage to BQ? A slowpoke BQ, but still - a BQ is a BQ, right?

The race is extremely well organized, volunteers are really friendly, it's easy to get into the start area and there aren't crazy long lines to get your butt into the porta-potties. The course is nice and wide. It's a very scenic course too. Plus, you really don't notice that there are another 43,000 runners out there. The course does measure long, though, probably because of the huge avenues you run on - lots of weaving around other runners from left to right. My Garmin is usually spot on with the KM markers, but said 43K instead of the usual 42.5-ish K (I always get some extra meters in during a marathon - apparently I suck at following the blue line).

What I also loved: running into Wendy and Dieter during the race. What are the odds? :)

As for the stats: hit the half way mark after 1:45:01, and crossed the finish line after 3:32:57. Yep, that hip was definitely killing me - flared up after 11K, and got progressively worse from that point on. Then again, that BQ was well worth that sore hip. Boo Haa! I could not stop smiling for the entire week post race. How cool is that? :)

What I didn't love about this race? The photos. Oh boy, did I manage to get some ugly race photos. Wanna see?

These were taken at the 36-ish K point. Could also have been 38-ish K point, though. This part of the race is a bit blurry-ish.

Oh yeah, this might just be the worst race pic ever. Keep those eyes open, dork! And yes, my  nose was congested to a point where I needed to open that mouth to some air into my lungs. Not the best look. Understatement of the year.

Okay, let me introduce you to the horror of the finish line pics (time on clock is gun time, not my chip time). 

Those weren't too bad, were they? Well, let me make that up to you with these beauties.

Let me introduce you to the 'What the F, did I just BQ?' look. You'd think I'd be smiling, huh? Well, guess again - apparently I was in shock.

So, I think we could state that - as far as messing up race pics goes - I've reached a new low. ;)

I'm on the cover of Runner's World Magazine

Well, sort of.

Berlin Marathon, I might just love you

Full race report coming asap, but for now...

Berlin Marathon 2012: you've been good to me. After this year's ultra training schedule and the lack of speedwork because of that, I did not expect it to happen. I did not dare hope it to happen. But it did. I finished the Berlin Marathon in 3:32:57. Over the moon. Cloud nine. What was on my iPod when I crossed that finish line and danced (yes, danced, although it might have looked more like a wobbly hobble) through the finish area? I know, I have the worst taste in music. ;) Get over it.