Dashing (Amster)Dames: April 2013

Gentle blog reader,

If we keep in touch then you know I was just on back to back vacations - to Dubai and then Malta. As you can imagine, I didn't do much exercising in either place. I managed a 1 hour 15 minute treadmill run in Dubai and a lot of walking, odd muscle tensing (riding scooter - don't ask, I'm just a nervous rider) and a little swimming while in Malta. This means when we got back yesterday and it was sunny I decided I needed a long run. Not because I crave running, nope, still dislike running. I've realized what I do like is after running, after showering, after stretching the sense of accomplishment I feel. That is what makes me want to go running. That and my clothes fitting a little tighter after more than a week of massive food indulging.

Soooooo, I laced up my sneakers, found sunglasses, filled three mini water bottles for my bat-belt, checked that my ipod shuffle had some juice (can't run out of podcasts mid-run!!) and set off. As I ran, I felt good.. not fast (lets face it, I never feel fast), but good. I recently read a RunnersWorld article (yup) about a new runner that had this whole experience of running and how he lived on a long long road which he never imagined being able to get to the end of. The end of this road was also marked by a winery, so it became a joke with his family when he set off for a run to say things like "should I pick up any wine?" etc... One day that guy set off on his run and he felt good - so good that he decided to keep on running. Now he noted the difficulty of running somewhere and back - you have to time the turnaround point right so you aren't essentially limping home at the end. Despite this, he ran to the winery. When he arrived there was no crowd to applaud him, no beam of sunlight that shined only on him and no medal. He turned around and ran home and when he arrived he was proud of himself.

I thought about this guy as I ran and made the decision to run out 7 miles and then turn around so that I would have a 14 mile run. When I look at the Garmin map I am amazed that I ran through several towns, but then I remember that Amsterdam is tiny and am less impressed. Anyway, I noticed that it was a little windy as I ran, but I incorrectly thought it was blowing sideways at me. That was my big mistake. That or the wind shifted. Hard to know, but one thing is for sure - when I started my run back it was full on into the wind. CRAP! My easy 14 mile run got pretty tough, but because I had to get home, I did it.

When training for the second 1/2 marathon I decided to up my mileage so that the last few miles wouldn't be painful on my knees and hips. My rationale was that if 10-12 miles was my regular run the running the 1/2 would be easier.. I was right, not only was it easier, I was able to run it (slightly) faster. That's all, this post has gotten really long. Here are some pictures from Dubai and Malta... many more on FB (see Annie's or Andrey's pages) or on Google+ (let me know if you aren't in the right circle to view them).