On the run...

Right now I am trying to escape the office to head in to town for dinner with some friends at Green Planet, a marvellous little organic vegetarian restaurant in the heart of Amsterdam. It is tiny, so you need to ring to book, and it was one of those moments last night when I rang and a friendly Australian voice answered the phone - you can recognise that accent anywhere!

Anyway, today's photo is from the recent Amsterdam Marathon. In a strange kind of way, this was my first marathon. I have run a marathon six times before, but each time has been in the Ironman after swimming 3.8km and cycling 180km, so this was definitely a new experience to start the marathon not already tired...

Overall, it did not quite go to plan, but I still finished with a new personal best time of 3:04:29. The course is beautiful in Amsterdam, very scenic, and with the start and finish in the 1928 Olympic Stadium. There were great crowds along much of the course which also made it a fun atmosphere. As you can see from the photo, I decided to wear one of my Australian team jerseys for the event. This was entirely functional - I wanted a jersey with pockets to carry my energy gels needed in the race, but the unexpected bonus was that I got lots of extra cheers along the course from random Aussie spectators, and Dutch people who just like Australians!

That said, the last 15km or so was pretty tough. It always is in a marathon, but I probably started a bit fast, and also managed to strain my hamstring during the race. am still having some treatment for that three weeks later, and have not really been able to start running again, which is a bit of a drag...

But it was fun, great to finish, and I am very happy to have finally done this great race in my "home"town. Back to the training track soon...