Tag Archives: Friends

The Last Race of the Year

Posted on by Renée
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Was Fabulous :)

Seriously I thought it was going to very cold or very rainy or very icy but it wasn’t so bad at all.

Unfortunately my family was not able this time to come out to Rotterdam due to the timing of the race. It was a kind of sad revelation on the Friday evening beforehand that I was going alone. On Sunday morning, I got myself up, fed and dressed and hubs took me to the train station to head out. It was raining at the time and I had on plenty of layers, plus I had my brand new camelbak that I bought not only in case I needed to carry my belongings (there were lockers but I wasn’t sure I would get one as it was limited), but also for my up and coming Half Marathon training, so I figured I might get wet but I would be ok. I ended up putting my valuables in a locker and carrying nothing but my telephone.

I tried to do the warm up but it seemed like a bit of a clusterfuck, so I just did some warming up on the sidelines where others were jumping and skipping. Soon it was time to get in my starting corral – the last one as per usual – and with only 7000 runners we were off only 7 minutes after the official starting time (not like the 7HL which was almost 1 hour after our own starting time!).

I ran naked. That is… I forgot my iPod! I used to think that I could never run without music, certainly not a distance like 15KM! It would be excruciating! I would never finish! In reality, it was fine. I run more and more often these days without music – if it’s dark and I’m alone I don’t use it, if I’m just running 5K or so I don’t use it, if I’m with the hubs or someone else I don’t use it. It’s getting easier to run without it. And, you know what I noticed? I run faster without it!

On this particular Sunday it was no different. I felt good, I was very ok without the music, I was in one of my favourite cities in the Netherlands how could it go wrong? My favourite bridge in NL is the Erasmus bridge, hence why you see me smiling in the above photo running across it.

Before the bridge though, would you know it, I ran into Joanna! We wanted to meet before the race but alas, it was not meant to be. Being that she is a small Filipina woman with a long black ponytail I knew I couldn’t be wrong (in a sea of tall blond Dutch people!) so when I ran up next to her I just said her name and she shouted and smiled and gave me a hug! We were determined to keep our paces though so one short encounter gave enough energy to keep going.

One thing I noticed about this race – no one was stopping. Every time I thought “I’ll just walk 100 meters” I noticed that no one around me was stopping. This was really good motivation to keep going.

Though we had 5 bridges in total, the van Brienenoord was the big one.

photo from http://www.rotterdam.nl/tekst:van_brienenoordbrug

The Van Brienenoordbrug is one of the longest bridges in the Netherlands (though I couldn’t find the distance quickly online) – and I have to say I’m really glad I ran over the Sacharov here in Arnhem a few times because that was probably the hardest part of the race, and that with still 5KM to go.

I loved running in Rotterdam and I knew based on my time that I was going to come in earlier than my planned 1:40 time. Very happy to report in that my arrival was at 1:37:05. 2 minutes and 15 seconds faster than the 7HL in November!



Best of all, cutest race bling EVER.

So, SO happy my dear friend Yvonne was able to come and see me finish and have a drink and bite with me afterwards!!

It’s been a GREAT running year, I’m so grateful I was able to start running again in January. I have no idea what 2013 will be like, but I do know that the possibilities are endless. Can’t wait to share my training and plans with you all soon!

Seven Hills and that Pesky Little Problem I have

Posted on by Renée
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Some of you may remember when I did this race two years ago…

I desperately wanted to do it the next year but I had that little knee problem and was out of commission for this event in 2011.

So as soon as I could run again (when was that, back in November or December last year?) I knew that the Zevenheuvelenloop would be done in 2012! Oh yes!!

I mentioned a few times this summer that I was training more hilly terrain and to be honest, I’m really glad I did. That, in combination with the stuff I did with the physio and then later at the gym (and at home) really helped me this time around in Nijmegen.

Unfortunately hubs’ was not able to run with me. Though he has tried, he just has too many problems with his hips. We are really not sure what to do – we thought maybe new and proper fitting shoes would help, and it did a little but not enough. We also discovered that he absolutely has to run his own pace to run a minimum of 5KM without pain. Running with me (ie slower) makes the pain come faster. So we knew at some point that a 15KM was definitely not in the cards for him.

I asked my running hero, Marcellus, if he wanted to take hubs’ place and he accepted :) This is a fairly big deal because while I don’t mind going all over the country to do races, most people I know stick to their own area. He’s Dutch, and pretty much lived here his whole life (except for one year in the US) and had never been to Nijmegen! (though this is typical; I, as a foreigner, have been to more places than most Dutch people have been in their own country). Marcellus is the one who encouraged me to keep going through my C25K program and convinced me to skip right over a 5K (and a 10K) for my first race to join the company running team to participate in a 12K. So, yeah, I was pretty excited to have him at least start with me at this race.

we’re actually smiling because it finally stopped raining

Unfortunately it had been raining all morning the day of the race, though this is not something we are not used to, and to be honest I always seem to have my best times when it’s raining so off we went from Arnhem to Nijmegen (a 20 minute train ride). We met M and another colleague at Starbucks before we headed off to our starting corral. It was cold and we weren’t due to start out until about 13:45 (we were in the last corral) but that time came and went with no sign of starting any time soon. Since we arrived around 13:00 I already questioned myself if I should try to use the loo again (I’d been about a 1000 times already) but I thought no, I’ll be fine, we are going to start soon anyway.

Two o’clock also came and went. Oh my God. Is this rain going to let up? Should I go to the toilet? I think I have to go to the toilet! What if I go and we start? Ugh!

I think it must have been about 14:30, somehow the rain stopped and clouds parted and suddenly the sun was shining! It was glorious! And finally… we were off! But now… I really had to use the loo…

photo courtesy of Loop voor het Leven (http://www.loopvoorleven.nl/loop-voor-leven/)

What I really wanted to accomplish was just beating my original time in 2010 of 1:39:26 and to be honest it was looking pretty good, BUT…

I really needed the loo.

And every time it seemed like I could go, the loos were locked up.

Finally around 9.5KM there was a portapotty that was open. Finally some relief!!

The bad news? I lost about 3 minutes in that damn thing! I did my best to make up some time and had a good couple of KM’s, but it wasn’t going to be my day to break any records. Oh, wait, but I did. My time? 1:39:20. Six seconds faster! Ha!

I seriously need to do something about my bladder!!

Letting Go

Posted on by Renée
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So that stuff at work that is going on? I’ve decided to let go of the stress that I’m allowing to take over my normal workday.

There are still things that are going on and decisions waiting to be made but clearly *I* have no influence over those things. So it’s time to let go.

By letting go that means I’m going to be more focusing on my work, my team and my goals. Let’s let the chips land where they may, whenever they are going to land.

With that, let’s move on to some cooler stuff!

It’s DECEMBER!!! WHAT THE ACTUAL BLEEP???? How did this happen??? I wasn’t quite ready for this month yet!

The last few months have been a whirlwind. It pretty much started with my birthday, my trip to Cornwall, my trip to Baltimore, a concert (hey I’m old, this is a big deal now), volunteering at the Amsterdam Marathon, and a quick trip to Brussels. There was also a weekend away in the Veluwe, some massive stress at work, and a 15K that I’d been looking forward to since the first time I did it in 2010!

I haven’t touched on the Marathon volunteering yet – Hubs and I actually signed up for this some months ago, just to see what it was like to be on the other side. I was a part of the starting corral team, in charge of the last corral. We had to try and get people to their correct starting areas but it was amazing how many questions we got as well, including “have you got any safety pins?” “which bus goes downtown?” “where do I leave my stuff?” “have you seen my uncle? we can’t reach him on the phone.” (really) Oh and we were on the Half-Marathon bit of the Marathon. My friend and colleague P was running and I saw another colleague as well as an Expat I know in Amsterdam. Pretty amazing to run into people you know where there are 40,000 participants in total!

We had to hang out for quite some time after the race started and afterwards I was certainly lucky that I have been doing a lot of strength training at the gym – our next task was to break down all the barriers at the start and finish areas of the race, including the entire section around the Olympic stadium. Oh my arms!!! P waited for us to finish up and then we went to celebrate with her by having a few beers and some grub that you don’t generally eat when being quite particular on a certain diet *winks* Conclusion on volunteering: It’s ok. Not sure I would do it again. Depends on the task.

watching the runners coming into the Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam was inspiring and awesome!!

hey, you get a free jacket and tee shirt out of the deal, why not volunteer?

PP ready to kick some HM a$$

I also made a very quick trip down to Brussels; my friend Dave had exactly 48 hours on this side of the world and his main purpose (besides getting to hang with two gorgeous ladies) was to visit the Hard Rock Cafe in Brussels. You see, Dave has a thing for HRC. And I can’t say I blame him because I do love to go to HRC much much more now that I’m out of the US than when I was living in the US. This is probably because it does remind me a bit of home but also I’m a sucker for music and nostalgia. Dave’s been to like 1 billion HRC’s in the world and I’m sure he’s not done yet. I missed Dave the last time he was in Amsterdam (I was in Milan) so I had to go, there was no way I was going to miss him again!

it was a cold but absolutely stunning fall day in Brussels!

pinky and dave together again!

one of my favouritest people in the world – Y! aka the DutchBitch

look at that glorious sky!

Next post I will share some good stuff that happened in November – my little weekend away with the hubs just 25 KM from home and my 15K that I ran with my running hero M (he took the place of Hubs, since hubs wasn’t able to participate).

I still have quite some things to update, but let’s leave it at this and hopefully I’ll be back in the swing of blogging again!

Have you had a crazy period recently behind you? How did you cope? What do you have going on this month, besides the holidays?

Fitbloggin – part II

Posted on by Renée
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Did I tell you guys I also got to meet Tara and Meegan?

this photo thoughtfully nicked from Meegan’s facebook page

So Saturday I somehow messed up the clock on my phone and was up 1 hour earlier than planned but still too late for the 6am Boot Camp (yeah that was never going to happen anyway). In fact we were all up within about a half an hour of each other and managed to go downstairs for breakfast. There was a jump fitness class scheduled that I decided also NOT to participate in. Jumping on a trampoline and my bladder do not mix! It looked like great fun though!

After jump fitness was Sue and Sam‘s Zumba class! I have done Zumba before and this wasn’t much different than the classes I’ve been to, with the exception that the moves weren’t really explained, just performed. Tons of energy though, loved both of them and was totally impressed with their mad gyrating skillz! I’m unsure if I would continue Zumba here at home, mainly because I have limited time, however if anyone has a DVD recommendation, I’m open.

After class more chatting, snacks and of course coffee (I think Michelle was concerned with my coffee consumption; not to worry, I am in fact a professional) and then upstairs for a shower.

In the afternoon, I attended “When you have a lot to lose” which to be honest I was afraid I didn’t really belong – as I mentioned before, I’m not one of those people who had/has to lose more than 100 lbs and I haven’t been overweight my whole life. I have however had body image issues since I was 10, however and I believed I was “fat” and “ugly” and abused my body pretty badly for a good chunk of my life.

When you sit in a session like this and you hear people telling their stories you soon realize that issues faced are not only for people with a lot to lose. I identified with so many people. I told myself I wasn’t going to cry yet I was already in tears when Nikki spoke. Then when Alan spoke up I completely lost it. Not because I’ve been through the same thing with Nikki or Alan or Amy or Kenlie – I cried because I really felt love and compassion in my heart for them and hated to know they had suffered or were currently suffering. In a way if one of us is suffering and it affects us so deeply, does it matter that we have 10 or 100 lbs to lose?

From there many of us just sort of floated around, talking with each other, taking pictures, participating in fun things like the Grow Soul Beautiful Yoga poses and Oakley’s Performing Beautifully campaign where several of us received a pair of sunglasses. I also got to speak to Annelies from Attune Foods, turns out she’s half -Dutch and even had relatives that lived in or around Arnhem! How cool is that??

Now that’s what I call “performing beautifully”

At some point the four of us roomies went out for dinner where I had crab cakes (again), beer, corn on the cob and other noshables when suddenly the wind kicked up and the heavens opened up, with an umbrella from another table nearly knocking Robby’s eye out (I’ve decided that it’s always exciting with Robby no matter what) and slightly dinging Michelle’s shoulder. Luckily we all lived with a silent moment of “thank dog that didn’t actually go in Robby’s eye…”

After dinner was the reception, which was, in my opinion more promotional stuff (things to win, coupons and goody bags to take home) a free drink (or two if you were lucky to have someone give you a drink ticket) and some food items (that I didn’t participate in, because I just had dinner – though I had a two bites of potato something or another and 2 bites of a cupcake I think) but mostly it was about talking to newly made friends, mingling and getting more photos (something I regret I didn’t do much of).

And the end of the reception we were going to go to the bar with our own wine, only to find out we couldn’t go to the bar because some local football team was in town. We ended up talking to Mark from the Biggest Loser (at home winner, season 10) as I had actually been in a few tweets with him earlier so I wanted to introduce myself to him so he could put a face with the tweet. Since we weren’t really able to go to the bar, the responsible ones went upstairs to bed, where we prepared for the next morning’s early alarm – the 5K was taking place at 7am!

Look at these peeps ready to go for the 5K!
FitBloggin Day 4 9-23-2012

Even the trainer thought it was too early to be photographed!
FitBloggin Day 4 9-23-2012

loving the start, it truly was a beautiful morning in Baltimore
FitBloggin Day 4 9-23-2012

Flickr Photos are courtesy of Carrie D Photography

My last post on Fitbloggin will probably be scattered with thoughts, swag, other friends I was happy to meet and the rest of the day, saying goodbye and the long journey home.

September: That’s a Wrap!

Posted on by Renée
10

79.2 KG

That’s what the scale told me this morning.

My first thought was to curse at it or throw it out the window but it only took a couple of seconds to come back to reality. You see, I did this, not the scale, and I wouldn’t throw myself out the window now would I?

We all know how mental September has been. I’ve made a point to tell everyone I know. It was an absolute blast – from my birthday to meeting new friends local and abroad, to a 10K in my home town to biking in England (and having a kind of scary accident ) to Fitbloggin.

Food has not been entirely off the rails but I reckon I’ve had more beer this past month than in several months prior. More beer = more wheat, right? And for someone who claims they are off wheat, well, it’s a little hypocritical.

So this little number on the scale, it’s 2.2 KG higher than the lowest number I saw in September and dangerously close to that 80KG mark that I really despise. This means it’s time to refocus and have some goals:

1) I will not only log into MyFitnessPal every day, I will actually log the food I eat as well.
2) if I am out, for whatever reason, and I am unable to log electronically, I will do it the old fashioned way and the enter when I have a chance (I am volunteering at the Amsterdam marathon this month and will be away from the computer at that time)
3) the whole month of October I will be beer-free
4) I will go to the gym twice a week. No excuses.
5) I will run minimum twice a week.
6) I will continue to not eat the chocolates from work, the entire month of October. (not cutting out chocolate in general, just not mindlessly stress-eating from the candy jar.

I would like to see that 77 again this month, though I’ve trained myself to not weigh very often, and I don’t want to start that jumping on the scale 12 times a day habit again. Goal would then be to weigh-in on November 1st with this result.

Did you have a crazy month? Are you ready to crack down again? What are your goals for October?

I suffer from PFD – Part I

Posted on by Renée
8

That’s right.

Post-Fitbloggin-Depression.

And I’m in a bad way. It could be enhanced by hormones or jetlag but honestly, I just feel, well… empty.

What an amazing, crazy weekend. How crazy was it to fly to go to Baltimore, MD just for 4 days??? I thought I had lost my mind when I bought the ticket to Fitbloggin back in January, and originally I was going to share a hotel room with Paola who unfortunately wasn’t able to go as of a couple months ago. I thought maybe that was a sign I shouldn’t go, but I put it out on twitter anyway, “did anyone need a roommate for Fitbloggin – I lost mine and need to share a hotel room with someone?”

What do you know. Robby answered the call.

my kind of girl

My first thought was excitement, because I really like Robby, and I’ve been chatting with her and reading her blog on and off for about 3 years. Then I thought “does she know me? does she have any idea if she really wants me to stay with her? what if she doesn’t like me?” Yeah. Dumb, I know.

Then at some point two others came on board. Michelle and Melissa. With how nervous I was and those old feelings of insecurity cropping up (and self-doubt “what the fuck am I actually doing??”) I had zero to be worried about. I could not have asked for 3 better friends to stay with last weekend, women I didn’t really know at all, who were just, for lack of a better word, amazing.

L to R: Melissa, Dawn, Michelle, Pinky, Robby

My extremely long day of travelling on Thursday was all about getting checked in and registered as soon as I got to the hotel (driving from DC to Baltimore is hell during rush hour – I learned the cold hard truth that not all airports are like Amsterdam that have a train directly to where you want to go, right at the airport), and immediately I met more amazing women, including Sheryl

Bitchcakes and Pinky together in one room! (and yes that’s a red velvet donut in my hand as well…)

Kelly

Pinky and the CurvyFitGirl

Meredith (Mer)

isn’t she gorgeous?

Dawn

performing beautifully of course

These were of the first of many – there were several others as we trudged along to a bar called the Green Turtle so Robby could watch her beloved Giants play football during which we luckily witnessed a Dine ‘n Dasher apprehended by a Flying Bartender and our very own Robby, who put that little fella in his place until the cops arrived (Exciting stuff!). I ate a crab cake something or another (I was recommended to eat crab whilst in Baltimore) but at some point I just really needed to get some sleep so I hopped in a cab with some others and went back to the hotel. As luck would have it, my girl Kenlie was in the lobby so I finally got that long-awaited in person hug!

hug number 372 (we were making up for all the hugs we wanted to give over the last year or so, in a very short period of time)

I needed sleep and we had a early start for the morning!

Robby was out later than we were so she slept while Michelle and I got up early to go do cross-fit. Yes, cross-fit! I was totally pumped about trying it and with Reebok as our sponsor I was pretty sure there was a possibility to get our asses kicked. While I’m sure it wasn’t like a true WOD it was a chance to know what it was all about. Michelle and I were pretty much already wrecked after this class as were several others. Afterwards we had some breakfast and then later attended Cathe Friedrich’s class. Wow. I guess she didn’t get the memo that we just did cross-fit. My abs and thighs – ouch.

Cross-Fit in Action:
FitBloggin 2012 Day 2 - 9-21-2012

With Cathe after the workout:

Between the workouts we had breakfast which was graciously provided for by several different sponsors – we had eggs and quinoa and Weight Watchers cheese and plenty of other stuff. Let’s just say we did NOT go hungry nor did we eat a bunch of crap that weekend (well, mostly not!) After Cathe’s workout we walked around, got free stuff, tried lots of yummy samples of things. Spent some time with the Reebok ladies (and got free stuff) and talked with Martha McKittrick for a longer period of time about the health benefits of maple syrup. See the video for Robby’s, mine and Michelle’s 5 seconds of fame.

At some point we realised we were going to miss the Self-Acceptance and Weight Loss discussion hosted by Shauna, KC Anderson and Mara Glatzel, if we didn’t go up to our room and finally shower and get dressed like normal people did, so we hobbled upstairs (after 3,682 squats one tends to hobble) to do just that. Melissa finally arrived and was graciously greeted by me half-naked and Michelle in the shower. It was adoration at first sight.

We were in fact late for the session but not by too much. To be honest, I’m going to have to go back to this subject at another time because my head is swimming with all kinds of thoughts regarding acceptance. I’ve written about it a lot (I think) since for 2.5 years nothing happened in the weight loss department and I was pretty much forced to accept where I am now or be miserable and angry for a very long time. In any case, a great session, which you can also read about here.

I believe after that I attended Emily‘s Session “Using Social Media to Drive Blog Traffic” – again Emily is a blogger at Skinny Emmie which I have a great amount of respect for; I’ve been reading her blog for a good couple of years and I just really like her a lot. So it was good to get some ideas from her (that I now really need to put into action, or rather, I feel like I do) to improve my and your lowfatpie blogging experience. And of course it was lovely to meet her afterwards.

At some point we lost a couple of the girls so Melissa and I hung out for a bit. We walked over across the road and had some delicious eats and beer (because let’s face it, after all that exercise, it was necessary) and after dinner we reconnected with our roomies to all go to the evening Ignite session which is described as

… have 14 fellow bloggers and fitness enthusiasts sharing their thoughts, knowledge, talents and experiences in 5-minute, high-energy, fun presentations.

This was great fun and I even won a winter running cap with speakers over the ears for coming the farthest for the conference.

Afterwards there was mingling and deciding what to do and eventually 5 of us went upstairs (since Dawn wasn’t sleeping in our room but still our sister from another mister) and basically had a few drinks but more importantly lots and lots of laughs. We later went down to the hotel bar for a few more bevvies where I was able to talk to Alan for a bit and my lovely Kenz again as well. At some point we went to another room where Sue was celebrating her birthday (it was, after all, after midnight) – it was a very full hotel room to say the least! We didn’t hang out too long, because even though our Zumba instructor for the next morning was seriously getting her drink on, we didn’t want to have any sort of strange alcoholic beverages still swimming around our bellies for her class.

I seem to only be up to Saturday now, so I’ll stop here so that you can go take a break or a nap or have a 5 course dinner, whatever you would rather be doing right now other than reading this recap.

Cornwall – Women’s 40KM Cycletta

Posted on by Renée
13

This weekend was amazing and dynamic on so many levels. It was physically and mentally challenging and there were highs and lows.

I had an incredibly busy week but did my best to think clearly about my trip ; what did I need to bring? Could I fit it all in one case? Was I going to be able to have time to check in or get my train ticket arranged ? Passport? Race pack? Food?

Each time I do something new I learn that I still need to have a little more patience with myself and to learn to be less controlling. Roll with life a bit , you know? So this trip was just another chance to not only enjoy life but learn something too.

My flight was at nearly 4 pm Friday, it was tricky checking in online and I took half a day off anyway so I left work and was headed to the airport already at 1pm. Checking in there was smooth and I just had carry on luggage for once in my life so I had plenty of time to kill before boarding.

Eventually we boarded and after a quick flight we landed in Exeter. I thought I would get the bus quickly “downtown” and then the train to Penzance and how hard could that be, right? Well…

I landed around 16:15 and I made a reservation for the train at 17:45. Plenty of time. I went inside the main hall at Exeter International Airport, and checked at information where to find the bus and when it would be departing. Seems I just missed a bus, and the next one was at 17:00 arriving at the train station at 17:35. Hmmmm. What to do? The kind woman at the desk told me it was probably around 20 quid to get a taxi. All right, I’ll be cheap and wait.

“international” being the key word here

As I was waiting I kept thinking about it. What if we run late? What if I can’t find out where to get my ticket? What if I miss my train? I’ll take take a taxi, it will be worth not having the stress. So I go outside and… No taxis.

I wait. And I wait. And there another couple there, and they are waiting. They ring for a taxi. Yet still no one arrives. Finally I can see my coach arriving. It’s 5 o’clock.

I walk back and get on the bus. We arrive just in time. I pick up my ticket at 17:42. I run up and over the footbridge to the platform. The train is absolutely packed. Here I thought it would just be little old ladies drinking tea in rural England on the train, going to some cottage in the south. I was so very wrong. It was FULL of people. I found a seat and asked if I could sit since a woman’s bag was on the empty chair. Others were trying to get past me. I sat down on the woman’s bag and she gave me a dirty look. “I thought since I asked you if I could sit there you’d have moved the bag.” Sheesh, woman. She proceeded to play Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon” on full-tinny headphone volume. This wasn’t at all what I imagined. This was even worse than home!

At some point I just decided to have a giggle on the inside and get over it. We arrived on time at Plymouth and I texted my friend that I’d be in at 20:45. And then we sat there. And waited. And waited. After about 25 minutes they finally came on and said they were just “waiting for the police” to clear us to leave again. Uh, what? Apparently there had been some aggressive passengers in Coach B that were removed from the train. I texted her again that we were late, but she thought we were late but our arrival was at 20:45 and ordered up our curries for dinner. Nope. That food will have to go in the over my dear!

FINALLY I arrived in Penzance. There were just a few of us left on the train, it was the last stop. 3 (and a half) hours to get to the end of the world, but it was so great to see her! Big hugs and laughter about the whole situation. We drove back to her house, said hello to the husband and sat down to a proper English, uh I mean Indian Curry.

Her husband went off to the pub (as they do) and we started getting read for the race which was starting at 8 am the next morning. Did I mention I was tired? Didn’t matter it was exciting getting it all together!

of course you have to get ready with a beer

checking the tires

Up early Saturday, we got ready, had some breakfast and much to my controlling-ways dismay, left later than planned for the starting line. Oh, wait, she only lives 2 minutes from the starting line, no need to panic! There were around 175 ladies doing the Cycletta so it was not a huge group, but they split us into staggered groups of 10-12 so we wouldn’t all run over each other in town. Did I mention I’ve never driven a car or ridden a bicycle on the wrong side of the road? Oh dear, I was a little nervous. Especially for the roundabouts. We were off though and this was it time to make our way through Cornwall!

ready!

It was really beautiful once we made our way out of town, but it was hilly! In fact, I cycle hills here in Gelderland, but nothing compares to what I did this weekend. UP and down. UP and down. Lots of constant climbing and braking. I was getting used to the bike and the left side though and we were both feeling good. We hit the first feeding station at 11KM around 50 minutes into the ride. It was a gorgeous day with a bit of mist coming off the sea – like a fairy tale really when we came up to where we could see the coast and the cliffs. Heaven!

the view of the cliffs and sea around 15KM

Then it happened. About 4KM later we were cycling along. UP and down. I saw a woman in the distance jogging with her dog. A big dog. A very long lead. Didn’t think much of it, I know people do this often. He went a bit close to Elsje but the owner pulled him back. We were on a down so I had a bit of speed going. Suddenly he bolted for me! I had to stop, I couldn’t hit the dog! Unfortunately I pulled too hard on the brakes and I went flying over the front of the bike. It happened so fast yet so slow. I remember thinking “don’t hit your head” so I pulled my head up and my neck back and stopped myself with my hands and arms. I hit my chin. I thought “Oh my God did I knock out a tooth?” Because that’s what I needed, to lose a tooth, right? Elsje heard what happened, dropped her bike and came running up. The lady came running up. The dog was there licking my face. She asked me “are you ok?” Yes. I’m ok. Can you get this bike off me please?

They pulled the bike up. They pulled me up. I’m ok. I didn’t hit my head. Is anything broken? No. Is there any blood on my face? No. Everything is fine. I checked my knees. My right one was banged up. Oh. My left thigh was banged up. Everything else ok. The woman felt very bad. She blamed her dog. I didn’t blame her dog! It happened, he’s a DOG. She wanted to take me to her house but I was fine and I needed to finish. We checked my hands. Left one is fine. Right one? Oh, my glove is ripped. Crap, my hand is ripped. Several people stopped at that point “are you ok?” I’m fine. Elsje asked if one of the ladies had a bandaid – they didn’t but they had a compeed. That will work! All in all both knees, left thigh, both elbows, both wrists, chin, hand and nose were banged up. Sunglasses were scratched. Don’t ask me how I didn’t break anything or hurt my head. I’m just lucky. After everyone left I cried a bit on Elsje’s shoulder. A Bike guy came up and helped us when she was putting the chain back on. I had to go on. We had to finish this.

It was really ok starting up again, I was just a little bit nervous and my palms really hurt so braking wasn’t so much fun. The hills were incredibly steep but the scenery was amazing. We had to walk up a few hills as well, even towards the end; the elevation was relentless. We talked to many people later and they all said the same thing – there is NO FLAT in Cornwall – it’s either up or down.

thirsty!

still smiling at 27K!

Just over 3 hours we crossed the finish line. I really loved the ride and I’d do it again in a heartbeat but boy was I so glad to be back as well! I went off to the medics just so they could double check that everything was ok and they sent me home with an ice pack. We went back to the house and I took a lovely hot bubble bath. I was still processing what happened and thinking about how lucky I was that I didn’t hit my head or even break anything (not even a nail!). The first time in my life I wear a helmet and I have an accident like that. I shudder to think about if I hadn’t reacted the way I did.

Legs before

Legs After

We are already planning on participating next year. Maybe even with a 1.5KM swim. Maybe I’ll even do a little run on the beach. It was such an amazing setting for a sports festival – lots going on, great atmosphere, nice people. Later we (obviously) had to go back and have a few beers and listen to some music.

Sunday morning and already up and having to head back. It was sad to leave as it would have been great to watch the triathlon on the beach, though if I’m honest I was also glad to be heading back home to the Hubs. Elsje drove me back to the incredibly huge international airport of Exeter, we had some lunch and soon it was time for me to board my flight. I was back in the Netherlands at 5pm and back home at 7pm.

Incredible how exciting, dynamic and fast a weekend can go. A weekend I definitely will never forget for so many reasons!

Have you done a long(ish) distance organised bike ride? Would you like to if you haven’t?

Because we all need a recap, right?

Posted on by Renée
6

OMG you guys, what a week.

Monday was my birthday, but I swear I did nothing but eat treats all day, come home, eat a yummy dinner and more treats and then drank wine and had face-time with my dad and stepmom. It was a GREAT day, but Tuesday I had the worst food hangover. Seriously.

Tuesday, even though I was exhausted, the hubs and I were attempting to do a 10K, since we had a 10K coming up. We basically did the run I did last Sunday. It was really good considering how tired I was – I had two fast KM’s of 5:53 and 5:57. Keep in mind that I consider my average pace to be around 6:30 per KM.

Wednesday I was able to work from home and actually I got quite a bit done not only work-wise, but at home. I also took the opportunity to make a double lunch, extra stuff at dinner and fully prepped my food for the next day. I really love it when I don’t have to get up before 5am just to make food – I do it because I have to do it, but when I have time to prep the day before? AWESOMENESS.

Thursday another stressful day at work and my running partner was so tired that she wanted to skip our run after work. Fine with me; I knew hubs was going to have a little spin on his new shoes (took back the new ones and had to get a smaller pair) so we ran again at Sonsbeek, and actually things were going really well for me until BAM! I fell at around 2.3KM. I’m fine and nothing is badly damaged but I was kind of annoyed because my pace was pretty good. Have a little bruise on my hand, arm and knee, otherwise totally fine. Hubs was right behind me when it happened, so he helped me up, I walked it off and we continued. Luckily I have had zero muscle ache from this fall, so obviously then it wasn’t that bad (not like the time I crashed and burned in my dad’s neighbourhood in March 2011).

Friday! Rough day at work (again. what’s new?), but I left “early” to go and pick up my friend Maria who I know from school (yes that long ago). She lives in London but comes here every year for a big conference. We’ve been seeing each other again since around 2008; a few times in London, a few times here – we always end up going for Mexican food so this year was no different, except for the fact that another friend of mine was in the country as well so I invited them both to my birthday dinner (with of course my lovely M and my hubs). Good fun (bad food but there’s not much we can do about that), few drinks, home just before midnight like good old people do (I’m old now you guys!).

Saturday I got up early with Maria to take her to the train station. Then I did my few errands and went downtown to pick up my race pack for the Bridge to Bridge the next day. I met up with Patrycja, my friend from the Meetup club who was doing her first 3EM (almost 5K) and she asked me advise on all kinds of things and we talked about running in general and losing weight and other stuff (since we are both “foreigners” in Arnhem and the Netherlands we talked about that too). THEN, I saw someone that looked familiar and heard “Pinky??” – it was Joanna! Joanna came to pick up her and her running mates packets as well, to eliminate the stress of picking them up the next day. We almost met each other at the Hilversum Spieren voor Spieren Run and the Rotterdam Ladies Run. This time it all worked out even before the race. Joanna ran the 10EM and I was doing the 6EM so we wouldn’t see each other race day.

Hooray for meeting Joanna!


Today was the Bridge to Bridge. This was my second time doing the Bridge to Bridge, the first time was actually a 5K, this time (they changed distances for some reason) I did the 6 English Miles (almost 10K). The first time was pretty awesome, I had my fastest 5K time ever (only once have I managed a 5K under 30 minutes, this race was 29:58 -yes mofo’s that is still under 30 minutes). It was warm but not too bad, in fact I recall it being rather pleasant. Today was just insane. Almost 30 degrees(86 F) and our part started at 1:45pm, so pretty much almost at peak heat hour. We cycled the 3K downtown and had a drink before warming up (a “normal” drink of sparkling water with lemon), and then pretty much we were off. The first 3K I managed at a good pace of 6:30 but after that it was just kind of crazy. I had to walk quite a bit, it was just too hot. I had one other kilometer that I managed in 6:45 but the others were in the 7 – 8 minutes range. Luckily it was VERY well organised. Lots of water stations, sponges and even people with spray hoses. I came in at 1:10. Not my finest race but very happy to have participated. We stuck around to see Patrycja come in and cheer her to the finish line then had a couple of beers and came home. WHAT A DAY!

I’m exhausted now, but here’s a little photo representation of today.

Come on Pinky. Quit taking photos and let’s go.

we were able to personalise our bibs, so we decided to do something different.

got ‘em on!

notice my new headband that my friend Suz sent to me, just in time for my birthday!

The Fonz is READY!

A Hot Mess with a Medal

staking out our place at the finish for the 3EM’ers

So, how was your week?

A Look Back and a Look Forward

Posted on by Renée
3

Wow you guys, September is already here and I hardly even caught my breath from returning from my US holiday! It was a bit of a struggle to get in a groove again, plus I was a bit sick, plus very busy/stressed at work, but we made it! We are entering my favourite month of the year… why you ask? Because it’s my birthday month!

I honestly felt in the beginning of the month that I hadn’t done much, but look at this:

Looks fairly active, right?

In Numbers
Running 48KM
Cycling (commute or errands) 71.5KM
Cycling “sport” 102KM
Warmups/ stairs/ walking related to running 5.5KM

Not too shabby for someone who hadn’t quite found her rhythm again! In fact, in going over my numbers on endomondo as far as total KM’s go, this is the most active I’ve been since I’ve started using the program (which by the way, if you are on Endomondo, let me know! or better, add me!). Kind of amazing if I do say so myself.

Probably my favourite from this month was our two long cycle rides on our two hot Sundays we had here in the Netherlands. I love to go out and see somewhere I haven’t cycled before – I love being out in the fields and woods and seeing the animals and trees and heather and other wonderful stuff that is out there! I am a city girl but for those few hours away on a Sunday in the middle of nowhere… BLISS! Now that we have an awesome bike rack for the car we can go anywhere!

We have also started running in Sonsbeek park here in Arnhem – a great change of scenery and HILL TRAINING! Hubs and I have a standing appointment with each other on Tuesdays to run right after I arrive home at the train station; the park is just 500 metres from the station, so easy to just park and go.

This was from my first time running in my new kicks!

Did I mention I got these in Phoenix at the Runner’s Den? They came highly recommend and did NOT disappoint!

I also finally attempted to cook/bake again or at least start to put together a plan for new recipes that I AM going to try. I’ve started sharing that on the blog the last two Wednesdays and will continue to do that (just WAIT until you see next Wednesday’s Food Fest!!).

All in all a great month even though it was a tad bittersweet after spending three weeks home with my family and a bit just in Phoenix enjoying the sun and relaxation time.

But now we have SEPTEMBER! So much going on!

First of all, there’s my birthday. Now that doesn’t mean a huge event will be happening, but I like my birthday and am happy to have made it another year and hopefully with plenty of years tacked on from doing my best to live a healthy life.

I have the Arnhem Bridge to Bridge coming up:

I’m doing the 6EM (English Miles) which is almost 10K. Hubs is joining me and I also found out last week that a girl from my meetup club (the Arnhem Expats v2.0) is doing the 5K and it’s her very first race! I’m really excited for her and hopefully we can meet up next Saturday (the race is on Sunday) so I can show her where we start and how to fix her chip and talk to her about anything else she may be worried about. I remember my first race(a 12K!!); I was nervous and my running hero M was the one that totally prepped me and helped me believe that it was going to be GREAT and nothing to worry about. This girl actually sent me a mail a couple of weeks ago, telling me she was thinking of signing up, but was scared and I told her to go for it, that I would be there too. I ran into her last Saturday and she told me she signed up!

On Saturday the 15th of September I am participating in a 40KM Women’s Cycletta with my good friend E.

Not only do I get to go to Cornwall, somewhere I’ve been dying to go and never properly found the opportunity to do so, I get to participate in an amazing Festival of Sport with one of my long-time fitness friends! We actually “met” each other on a Yahoo Group when we started Weight Watchers back in September 1999 and have been friends ever since.

Here she is with my stepdaughter and her daughter in Gorinchem April 2011 (last time I saw her – she’s Dutch but lives in England)

and discussing world domination over beers and bitterballen:

*pretty sure there will be some beer consumption whilst I’m in Cornwall…

On the 19th of September I fly to Washington, DC, to catch a train to Baltimore, to go to…

OMG I am excited! And nervous! Hopefully I won’t throw up on some of my favourite bloggers because of nerves! If I do, I’m sorry, it’s probably at least “clean” puke!

I feel a bit nuts that I am flying to the US for this, but I decided already in January to go, I’ve found roommates (unfortunately my first roommate isn’t able to go now, but I still love her and will miss her there!) – one of them being the one and only Robby of Fat Girl vs. World – and I’ve bought my ticket, so I guess that means I’m REALLY going!

I’ll be back in the Netherlands on the 24th and then one of my good friends and her husband will be here from the 24th to the 29th. Oh and did I mention I work in finance and it’s year-end? Yeah. That last week will be a rough one for sure.

So. Hmmm. Wonder when I’m going to find time for the gym and running? Luckily no races in October, but can’t say that for November, December or January…

How was your August? What was your favourite part?
What do you have planned for September?

Rotterdam Ladies Run 2012 Edition

Posted on by Renée
3

It was a couple of weeks ago already, but I am still smiling about my experience with the Ladies Run in Rotterdam this year. What a difference from last year!

If you have been following along, you’ll remember that last year’s Ladies Run was my last one before being forced into taking a break from running to save my knee from more pain and possible damage. Last year it was also raining, but most importantly I ran the entire race in pain and this year it was much, much better.

Last year I did run it faster and I think it had a LOT to do with the fact that I just didn’t want to stop at all for fear I wouldn’t finish. I don’t care much about time, though I do suppose that at some point I would hope to get faster simply from being stronger and maybe even losing a couple of kilos.

Anyway, it was a great day. We didn’t have to start off too early and this year we drove (all of us) down to Rotterdam to my friends Tammy & Xander’s place as they live pretty close to the Ahoy where we were starting the race. We were met by Penny and her family as well and headed off all 9 of us on the bus to the starting point!

We were in plenty of time to hang out, get nervous/excited, pick up my tee-shirt but unfortunately I missed meeting up with Joanna, who was running the 5K prior to the 10K; I thought there would be a window of opportunity before the warm-up but it was not meant to be. How exciting this day was though! It was Penny’s FIRST 10K and our FIRST race together!!

We did the warm-up together which generally speaking I do either half-ass or not at all. BUT, it was a really good warm-up, I quite enjoyed it! And I really felt like the legs and the muscles were ready to hit the road. It was already quite warm out (especially after the weather we had/have been having) but I was pretty confident it would be all right (not as hot as at the Marikenloop).

We ended up near the front when it was time to go and we were off! The best part of the whole race was actually seeing my people cheering for me at a few KM’s down the course! Normally this never happens, since I only have one or two people with me at a race. How exciting to see Tammy especially smiling at me from a distance and waving like a crazy woman whilst trying to take photos at the same time!

Me waving wildly back

So it really WAS warm out. I had to stop at the drink stations a few times. I had to walk about 500 meters between 8 -9 KM. Ultimately this slowed me down and put me about 2 minutes slower than last year. I am VERY happy with the result though! I am VERY happy that I could run with Penny (and she was only a couple minutes behind me! ROCK ON SISTER!!)! I am VERY happy to have had so many great people there supporting us!

After the race of course you KNOW I had my cold beer and french fries!

Cheers!

It was fantastic just hanging out with friends and the kids. Later we made our way back towards home, stopped off for some dinner (which was a large salad) and after taking the kids back, got home, took a shower and passed out!

A special shout out to Tammy - thanks for the use of the photos!!