The 2011 ING NYC Marathon

Passing the Harriers Cheering Zone at mile 18

On NYRR locals gallery

Wonderful marathon weather and great support on the sidelines.  All in all I enjoyed my 2nd marathon experience! I was a little disappointed about my time (3:55:07), since I felt I was in shape to shave off a couple more minutes. Wave 2 was way more crowded than last year and whenever I was in a good rhythm I was forced to slow down and weave through, which cost me precious time.  I still ended up with a little P.R. and I'm pleased with that, especially after a summer with a big muscle strain, P.T. and a shortened and modified training plan. There were times I thought I would have to defer. Overall I felt stronger, recovered quicker and I am looking forward to more marathons in New York and other cities. Congratulations to all NY Harriers who ran. Passing the Harrier Cheering Zone is the best moment of the race, I sincerely love my team. 

Special shout-outs to Gemma, my steady training buddy and friend, who did great and will be missed once she's back in the UK. My NY sista for all her support and training guidance as well as Liz E., Cindy, Brigid and Zeina for long runs and brunches. A big thank you to my P.T. Gabe at Paspa who worked miracles, but common sense about strengthening, stretching, prevention.
After the marathon I had the pleasure of meeting a Dutch group of runners from the Rotterdam Running Ambassadors, who contacted me earlier this year through a business contact in order to get some help with post-race dinner reservations and activities and fieldtrips before the race. They invited me to meet them during dinner post-marathon and they were so nice to welcome my friends as well and spoiled me with delicious chocolate from Rotterdam as well as a neon orange technical club tee, which I was wearing at Equinox gym yesterday and definitely did make some heads turn!
Another great moment post-marathon was listening to my parents' and their good friends' voicemail messages congratulating me and finding out people had been tracking me and tweeting about my progress. So fun. I am thankful I finished sub-4 again and did not let them down by hitting a major wall and adding another half hour or so...

I had been in the Netherlands the week prior to the marathon to spend some good quality time with my family, taper, see friends and most importantly to attend my brother's wedding on Friday November 4th. It was such a beautiful day. The weather was extremely nice for Dutch standards and the ceremony was beautiful as well as the dinner and party afterwards. Many people were surprised I was traveling back to NY the very next morning, so I only caught a couple hours of sleep in a hotel airport room and continued my sleep successfully during my flight. Back in New York my arrival was smooth and I had to go to the Expo to pick up my number for the marathon on Sunday. I also picked up an orange glitter no-slip headband, which lived up to its name. It stayed on throughout all 26.2 miles and matched my Dutchie orange armwarmers! Despite what people were projecting, I wasn't that jet-lagged, but it's true I felt pretty bad-ass for running a marathon the next day. I am a crazy nasty-ass honeybadger after all. (see previous post)
My next race seems to be a fun run; a turkey trot on Thanksgiving Day. I have enough to be thankful for and what better way to remind myself of that when running. Always a great way to think, analyze, reflect and set goals.

The summer of the weird tan lines

The summer of 2011 is officially over. For me it was the summer of the weird tan lines, reminding me of how stupid I can get when it comes to listening to my body and ignoring a muscle strain. After a good spring with lots of fun, beautiful races and some nice PRs, I might have picked one race too many and since I only had 2 more planned, I kept on running and training after my adductor muscle felt quite tight (I blame that ONE night I did not warm up properly!) and hurt more and more, except when running. This led to compensating and a big muscle strain in my entire adductor plus quad. After a couple of weeks of no running at all I was a spin class junkie until I was allowed to slowly increase mileage and ease back into it and slowly integrate marathon training a couple weeks into the 16 week plan I wanted to follow.
The day I was supposed to run the Fairfield Half I was cheering on my Harrier friends followed by a couple hours of tanning at Jennings Beach. The Fairfield Half is so much fun and well organized. Since I limped around, some nice physical therapists assessed me quickly and referred me to the massage tent where I got a good deep tissue massage and splendid pink KT tape (kinesio tape) applied on my upper leg. After all of that I limped a little less and knew it was time to call my own PT back in New York since I realized this was going to take longer than a few weeks.
We had a terrific day of sun and I got a very visible tan line from the KT tape. It was the start of the summer and it raised some questions and comments. One 5 year old girl told me I had a funny tan-line. I was surprised she knew exactly what a tan-line was at that age and that she was concerned for me looking funny. The line slowly faded away and was barely visible towards the end of the summer. Quite symbolic, because by the end of the summer I was back at reasonable mileage and ready to run the Hood to Coast Relay in Oregon with a terrific group of people, who called themselves the Crazy Nastyass Honey Badgers (inspired by a famous YouTube video by Randall). I made fantastic new friends, ran down Mt. Hood in a 5:58 first mile and experienced complete soreness and tightness of the calves thanks to a 6 mile downhill run.
I ran through Portland waterfront with a headlamp, then through some sketchy industrial area where I had to run fast in fear of scary pickup trucks stopping for no reason. I had my last leg through beautiful rolling hills countryside. I slept in the van, in a High School gym, ate peanut butter banana sandwiches and cheered on my teammates including spontaneous dance jam sessions while Black Eyed Peas blasted from the speakers.
After finishing in Seaside, OR, the trip wasn't over yet. I had a few more days of Portland, OR fun together with some other honey badgers, who were now really good friends. We visited vineyards and tasted wine, checked out waterfalls and drove through the Gorge. Beautiful!!
Back in New York I got back into long runs by applying a generous 10% rule in order to resume my marathon schedule. It all went much better until a few weeks ago, when I got completely caught up in the schedule and forgot to include proper rest time. I felt good and forgot that the barely visible crazy tan line ironically resembled a muscle that was not completely back to normal yet and I pushed that muscle a little too far. The PT thought I strained it again and recommended an MRI. Luckily no stress fracture, but a stress reaction, which is an inflammation of muscle tissue which can lead to a stress fracture. To avoid this I was told to run a little less miles, avoid speed- and hill-work to prevent further flare-ups.
Thank goodness, that after logging an 18 miler and 20 miler I don't need to be sidelined on November 6th! A week of rest did the trick and when my friend and I were in Chicago during the weekend of the Chicago Marathon, I was allowed to run and build up mileage leading to one final long run this upcoming weekend. After my final long run, two weeks of taper will start and a week later I'll be in Holland visiting my family and attending my brother's wedding, so exciting! Plus I will be running some easy flat roads 20 feet below sea level where my parents live. Can't wait to run with my 'little' sister! This blog was started by the two of us after all and I heard she picked up running again after taking a little break. On November 5th I'll be flying back to NYC, pick up my number at the expo and if nothing gets screwed up, I'll run the NYC Marathon the next day.
Personal Record? I hope so and I'll give it my all, but considering the injury setbacks and traveling schedule, I am first and foremost very happy to be able to participate. It's like a special holiday to me, I can't wait to run all 5 boroughs for the 2nd time and I plan and hope to smile as much as last year.
This year, I've made some great new friends through my running team the New York Harriers, besides the ones I'm already blessed to call my friends for the past years, since I joined the team. We've had some really enjoyable training runs, injury frustrations, tough workouts and tasty post-run brunches together. So I'm going to be thankful for all my friends, fun and health benefits that come with running. Inside and out!

Wishing all Marathon runner friends an amazing race and supporters / cheerleaders a great time as well as successful other races, since there's more than just the marathon of course, which is sometimes hard to remember when at the peak of training and excitement!

I did it!

It was an absolute blast! I will definitely always cherish my very first marathon experience! I felt so lucky with teammates, friends, colleagues and family all being part of the cheering and time tracking experience, I felt the love :-)

"I did it!" first words at finish plus some tears behind my sunglasses! All goals for my very first marathon accomplished! Sub-4, enjoyed it thoroughly and did not have to stop or walk. It almost felt like a birthday or graduation day, so special! From waiting before the start with teammates until celebrating late at night. When I got closer to the Harrier Zone, I had butterflies in my stomach, since it was a dream come true to represent the Harriers in my first marathon in the city I call home. Thank you to all Harriers out there cheering, running and encouraging each other. Congratulations to all finishers, amazing results! Special thanks to the spreadsheet masters, coach K and to my sista who helped me plan my training and dealing with an injury early in the program, making sure I would be able to run injury-free on Nov 7th! Our team is the best!

I am in!

It's been way too long since my last update. The summer flew by. A summer with beautiful weather, super humid days, exciting races, weekend getaways and a couple of setbacks. But that's the history of the summer of 2010. Right now it's fall, I recovered from an injury and learned how to avoid it from coming back. It turned out that I had a lazy left butt and that resulted in peroneal tendonitis late July. Luckily with the help of a fantastic physical therapist I went to the root of the problem and worked on strengthening my ankle plus my left weaker side and I was able to slowly build up mileage and resume marathon training in the middle of August. Still in time for my first marathon in November. It was frustrating and I got nervous, but my New York sista, who happens to be a very talented trainer, helped me with exercises, whipped me into shape with plyometrics and listened patiently to all my questions, doubts and insecurities about running a marathon and all other things that kept me awake at night. Now I feel stronger and pumped and ready to run this town. THIS town, since through my team, the NY Harriers, I recently learned that I got a spot in the ING NYC Marathon! Yes!!! It's a dream come true. My first marathon in my city, where I live for 6.5 years now and where I took running to a more serious level in terms of distances, race times, competing and more importantly being part of a team since 2009. A team that gave me new friendships, new challenges and a well-balanced active and social life.
I am so excited and nervous at the same time for November 7th. But most of all proud to be running my first marathon as a Harrier, being cheered on by my teammates and some of my best friends and colleagues. It's sad that my beloved family can't be here, but I know they will be tracking me at home in Holland, with iPhones, internet and text messages. Knowing that will hopefully keep me going strong. As well as that some exceptional people in NY, are family now. All I have to do now is RUN and make them proud, which I hope I will be able to do. And enjoy my very first marathon of course!

Sisters United

Memorial Day weekend was super exciting for me since my 'little'
sister Judith came to visit me! We had such a good time and we did so
many different things. I felt so fortunate to have her around and as expected she
got along very well with my NY Sista Susan, so we were hanging out
with the 3 of us almost the entire week. All Gouda! All 3 of us have many and different things in common and as you can tell from the picture, I am blessed with 2 sisters nowadays. Lucky me :-)Even though Judith and I are different;
in many things we have many common interests like running, shopping, breakfast, make-up, sharing our ambitions and being there for each other. We did a 5K race on Memorial Day! They had the best post-race festival with free massages! Judith had to get adjusted to the heat and ran an easy 5K mostly enjoying the course and I tried harder and ran something similar to my other 5Ks even though I got stuck in the back for the first mile.
The spring of 2010 might as well be the hottest and most humid spring
I've had to experience in New York! With running I can't handle the
humidity that well at all times, but I am learning how to adapt and
that electrolytes is the magic word. On June 12th the Harrier women
ran the mini 10k, a club points race for women only. The field was
very competitive and there were Olympians like Lornah Kiplagat from
The Netherlands and the pregnant Paula Radcliffe and Kara Goucher were
there to participate as well. I was in the front corral and it was all
so exciting so I think I started too fast in my hopes for a sub 46
time. I was definitely working hard and apparently did not have enough
sodium in me since 200 m before the finish my body shut down on me and
that was scary! In my head I knew I was almost there and I was doing
something around 45 min and then my calves cramped up, I could not run
and everything was a blur. A race marshal grabbed me and walked me to
the finish line and once there he pushed me into the medical tent. I
could not believe what just happened! One moment I was running and
working hard, the other moment I almost passed out. All of a sudden
Susan and Mr. Biggs were there as well as Brandt and Ellen (who snapped pictures.) It was a good feeling that they
followed me to the tent to make sure I was OK.
The staff gave me water, ice and salt and made me lay down. That
helped, but I did not realize that I was dehydrated that much until a
little later when I got nauseaic and delirious. Took me a full day to
feel better and a week before I did not feel fatigued anymore.
During the scenic and beautiful Shelter Island 10k this past
Saturday, I just wanted to pace myself better, listen to my body,
enjoy the race and have a good run. It was great to not be caught up
in a P.R.-goal and it made me confident about my running again.
The course was gorgeous. This weekend I will do a half marathon in
Connecticut. It starts and ends on the beach which is great with the
current temperatures. I am very satisfied with my recent P.R. at the Brooklyn half in May; 1:43:59.
I felt strong, consistent and this is the kind of race I should aim for.
With enough Gatorade!

City Parks Run for the Parks (April 18th)

Since I'm liking the races and wanted to see if I could run faster in a shorter race after my last 10K, I decided to sign up for another race organized by New York Road Runner to benefit City Parks Run for The Parks. City Parks organizes many events like Summer Stages in Central Park, which is great year after year.
The distance was 4 miles and during the overcrowded Haiti Run I had a little over 30 minutes and I thought I could do sub-30, so I was aiming and hoping for approximately 29 minutes.
Last week we had a tough speed workout on the track and I put in quite some mileage and during an easy run with my NY running 'Sista', I was feeling pretty tired in the legs and my breathing was off, so I was happy when we had about 800 meters left. However, my sista with all her years of running experience and being an excellent fitness trainer decided to help me realize my new PR goal and took our 'casual' run up a notch; or even 2 notches. All I had to do during those last 800s was staying with her. Well, she picked up the pace and it almost was like an all-out sprint and that for 800 m! I was wheezing and not liking it, but obviously I also like to challenge myself and I'm not a quitter so I gave it all I had left. I said 2 times 'I can't', but the reply was 'yes, you can' - don't even think of stopping.....This finish visualization boot camp paid off, since the next day I ran 28.54 and placed 10th in my age group and logged my fastest pace so far: 7:13. I was soooo happy and in hindsight liked the ass-kicking of the day before much better. In fact, during speed workout yesterday we ran 5x 1200 repeats in faster than 5k race pace and every time I was seeing the 'finish' I tried picking up the pace more, no matter how sore my body felt and I feel mentally and physically stronger, because I learned how and when to pick it up and finish strong.
Some of our rock-star Harriers ran the Boston Marathon this week. They did so well, truly inspirational. The women's team came in 13th and the men's team 14th! Meanwhile during the race I ran, there were more Harriers and the women placed 2nd. By lack of the faster runners I scored for the team as well, which is a nice reminder of my improvement over the past months and I will run my guts off in order to get faster and faster! (so I hope)

Spring is Here!

Spring is here!
Last week on the 3rd of April I ran the Scotland Race in a beautiful
Central Park with the sun out and me sweating it all out in this NYRR
club race. I PR'd on this 10k! I was aiming at 47 minutes and was able to
run 46:28, which made me happy since it's 2.5 minutes faster than my
10k at the Joel Kleinerman race in December. Afterwards we had a nice
post-race brunch with the Harriers. Over 80 harriers were racing that
day so we had a fantastic turnout and our women team came in 3rd and the men's team 7th.
After brunch I had to go home and pack final things for my trip to
Holland. I had a great Easter celebration with my family and was able
to enjoy my parents, sister and brother and see many good friends. As
I am writing this I am in a KLM plane on my way home to New York.
Always sad to say goodbye but I will be back in a few months and my
sister will visit me around memorial day. Us running sisters will have a blast doing a race
together with my running Sista and running in central park.
Partying and shopping, all good! On Monday Judith and I ran an easy 8k
and that was a good recovery. The rest of the week I tried to stick to
my mileage and got some nice runs in when not meeting and seeing
people. I ran in the Dutch polder which is land that user to be water,
which is pumped away and the area is surrounded by dykes, many feet
below sea level, very flat and very green and some nice sheep and
little lambs were seen in the meadows. After breakfast today (April 11th) my parents and I watched
part of the Rotterdam marathon which had some great times. I can't
believe I signed up to do my first marathon in November! (Philly) I am
super excited and motivated.
Until the next update! -Vera