Like the most of you readers of this blog already know it has been already over a month since I came back from my cycling trip through New Zealand. To get my mind of things and not falling in a deep hole of not cycling I had decided to run a half marathon in a reasonable time (planned to do it 1:45h). But in the last few weeks I find myself more and more thinking back on how simple the life on the road was, just having to figure out food for the day and soaking up the scenery (and sun). Hoping, and sometimes a bit planning, to reach a next campsite. Working life is way more complicated, I prefer the life on the road. While reading up on a couple blogs the latest blogpost by Alastair Humphreys brought a smile to my face.
So, last weekend it was actually time to run that 21,1 km in the region of Hengelo (Overijssel, NL), only a few kilometers from home. I didn't have that much confidence in myself starting, seeing all those people that look really fit and with shirts of other full marathons and all. Though the first 10km were fairly easy, leaving some of those marathon runners behind me. I didn't think I was actually going very fast, and tried to pace myself to keep it easy, as running for over 20km is kinda new. Reaching the 10km point, I was in a group of runners that were all in the same pace and decided to stick with these guys for the other half. Unfortunately, my legs were running on vapors after about 13km, so couldn't keep up with these experienced guys. Maybe I should have trained (better/more) for such a long run, and taken some food with me .. where are the petrol stations with Cookie Munchers and a bottle of cola when you need them? Ah well, I did make it in the end, after (a not so satisfying time of) 2 hours, 6 minutes, and 29 seconds. It did feel good crossing the finish, so I'll probably do this again somewhere this year, just to beat this time :-).
And then yesterday I got reminded by a couple friends that I had promised to give a presentation about my travels through New Zealand. Right then and there we decided to do that in two weeks, allowing myself to prepare that a bit with a couple sweet photos and a nice story. Anybody here that has suggestions to things they want to know about my travels through NZ?? Replies are welcome via the comments below this blogpost, via twitter, or other ways you have to reach me :p.
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