More marathons...

Right, as if one marathon wasn't enough I went and ran the marathon in Amsterdam. Cold weather, shitty legs, low energy, and not ideal motivation led me to finish in 4:42 hrs. A piss poor half hour slower than Berlin and pain for the next couple of weeks. The only reason I finished was that I ended up raising €1400- for a charity in India. Even the last kilometer was too far for me to run. Unbelievable, the stupidity of myself still astounds me every time.

But I'm back to training for some half marathons for next year. Maybe I'll run another marathon in a couple of years, Berlin, London, and New York are on my list. However, first I have to forget how much it hurts to run a marathon, and be better prepared for the next one....

Berlin and other things...

First things first...excuses for not writing for so long. Secondly, I am proud to be a contributor to the global warming problem with my car. And thirdly, one marathon down, one to go...

Its a f*cking long way a marathon, and what a stupid sport, but its the most satisfying feeling I've had in a long time when I ran over the finish. I ran it in 4:28. Not too bad for a first marathon. Got wise words from Heike saying that I should become a participant and not a competitor during the marathon. I refused of course, its nothing for me to be a participant. But a marathon can do strange things to you and by kilometer 35 I was officially a participant and feeling it in every muscle in my body.

Truth be told, I loved running the marathon. Pain, pain, and more pain. But what occurred outside the marathon was in the end more painful for me than the marathon itself... You find out who your friends are and end up realising that you just haven't run enough yet... Honesty is the key, yet the hardest to stick too...

F*CK!!!!

Change...

The question that I faced today was whether I should accept certain things to be set. For example, are norms and values to be accepted without argument? Secondly I was told that certain things can't be changed. For example, norms and value can't be changed.

This idea is in my view the death of society. At the point where we accept that everything is fixed and we should not bother to try and change those factors we might as well not bother doing anything. Secondly, this argument has been destroyed many times over, and the people that advocate this idea have a significant problem with accepting that change is happening. Without changes in believes and norms Russia would still be called the Soviet Union, apartheid would still be an accepted government policy, and more importantly, we'd probably never have evolved beyond the loincloth. Why would we stop wearing loincloths and animal skins if that was the norm at the time?? Why bother inventing the wheel, we're perfectly capable of transporting ourselves by foot, and everyone does it that way so why shouldn't we? Ignorance is stupidity disguised, and everyone is guilty of it in some way or form.

It comes down to how we treat people. The norm is to treat people differently in different situations. Break the norm and you are not accepted, or looked at funny. Once the norm has evolved the idiot that came up with the idea is long forgotten. More importantly, the idiot is probably holding a grudge because the norm by which he was treated was unfair, has been identified as unfair and changed, yet no apology is made. Why? Apologising is seen as a form of guilt, which means that the person apologising should be held accountable, and everyone hates accountability...

That's my rant of the month... Hope you enjoyed it...

Have a good one...

Running for Charity...

Yes, I am another one of those idiots thats running for charity. I'll be running 100 kms (2,5 marathons) for a charity in India that helps build schools and kids pay an go to school. All very noble and everything.

Obviously I should now be instantly more attractive to the female species as I am doing this for the kids...

Or have I ruined the moment now by making that comment???

Have a good weekend...

Drink...

Fridays have been good to me, the saturdays have not been good to me. That might be due to me drinking a little too much and not enjoying the saturdays with a head ache...

Some more pictures from Canada:



PS: Only dutch people could be so fascinated by a dam... What is it with the dutch and water??

Training...

Went for a "short" 15 km run through the dunes yesterday. It went well and all except for that I was held up by 3 girls cycling the same route I was running. Of course it is a well known fact that we have plenty of cyclists in Holland so I'm quite comfortable running and looking out for cyclists. Only this time the 3 girls, who were probably on their way home from the beach or shopping, were having a little trouble getting up the dunes and coping with the wind. Although as a runner I too have a little trouble once in a while with steep inclines and wind, rain and other disturbing weather conditions, I was surprised to find that I was overtaking the 3 girls on the way up the dunes while they were overtaking me once more going down the dunes. This continued over a stretch of about 5 kms. I finally wished the 3 ladies a pleasant trip and took a right while they kept going down the road. I guess its just a weird feeling as a runner to be overtaking people on bikes. The whole reason that bikes were invented was that people could get somewhere faster than on foot. These girls have proven to me that foot power is still a viable transportation form and have restoreed my motivation to keep training.

I ran the 15km in 1:17:00. Not too bad...

Have a good one...

Yes, I'm a spoiled brat...

I think the picture speaks for itself...