Six members of LBAC made the trip last weekend to Amsterdam to take part in the 36th running of Holland's second largest marathon. The race is half the size of the Rotterdam version that happens each spring, but has the added benefits of less crowded streets, less chance of hot weather and all the other benefits that Amsterdam has to offer.
The six who decided to take on the race all had different reasons for running and various levels of experience. Following calamitous attempts at two of her three previous marathons Amy Inchley was out to prove that a bit of bad luck wouldn't stop her this time and four hours was well within her reach. Andy Inchley had taken 4.5 years to bury the memory of his last marathon disaster and really wanted a time with a "2" at the start.
New member Tash Andrews had been restricted in the training she had done and had picked up a bad cold a week before and so anything near four hours would be great. Joe Hurley had nothing to prove after having done dozens of the things, but a 3.15 qualifying time for London would be nice. Chris Norman dreamed of a sub-3 time, but on debut, the biggest challenge is just to get around the course and not take twice as long for the second half, which many before him had done. Finally Pete Mackrell was out to prove his 2.53 of last year was no fluke at all and wanted a new PB.
With Tash making the trip with friends from BMF and Joe doing his standard last minute effort, the other four left very early on Friday for a flight from Luton and had registered at the small exhibition at the 1928 Olympic Stadium before 10am. A tram ride into the city centre, a little bit of exploring on a boat and meeting up with Andy's cousin Greg who was also running, took up the time before the apartment was ready in the suburbs back near the stadium.
Dinner in the entertainment area of Leidseplein offered everyone a last beer before the day and plenty of opportunity to discuss tactics, plans, weather, chafing and past experiences, before a relatively early night. Saturday passed fairly uneventfully with just a stroll to lunch to stretch the legs and relaxtion in the apartment followed by a large pasta dinner for five lovingly created by Mr Norman and Mrs Inchley.
So the day of reckoning arrived early on Sunday with each going for their own preferred breakfast option at around 6am. A taxi covering the mile and a half to the start seemed a little excessive, but we were on holiday so why not? The rituals of checking GPS watches, hydrating with energy drinks, four trips to the toilet and untying and retying of laces all took place before the regulation pre-race club photo with Joe and the scrum to enter the stadium where the race starts.
Amy made her way to pen D with Andy praying for no bad luck this time around as the four boys went off to pen B on the stadium's back straight. Eventually, as is the case with all big city marathons, the gun went, everyone cheered and nobody moved! Then gradually, people edged forward and the boys were all over the start line in 40 seconds. Cousin Greg had sneaked up to the front and shouted as we ran past him after half a mile as he settled into his own pace. Pete, clearly was not going to hang around and was away from Chris and Andy within the first mile as Joe tucked in a little way behind.
Amy took about 4 minutes to get over the start line while Tash had decided to start near the back and the gun had gone nearly seven minutes earlier before she joined the race formally. From here it's probably easier to write from each individual perspective.........
