Marathon Zeeland : de mooiste en zwaarste marathon van Nederland
Wim van Klompenburg, on of the dynamic "coaches" of the Run4Fun, participated in one of the most singular marathons in the Netherlands : the Zeeuwse Kust Marathon . Unfortunately, we could not find any pictures of Wim, but this sample one will give you an idea of the strength of the wind and the difficulty to find sand to run on!
After God created earth the Dutch created Holland. This known proverb came to my mind when running the Zeeuwse kustmarathon on the 7th of october. The marathon track seems to be a fair split between man made country and natural landscape. The start of the marathon was in the peaceful village of Burgh and via a beautiful path through the dunes we arrived at the beach. After 5 km the natural scenery and the island of Schouwen were left behind and we started running on the Pijlerdam connecting Schouwen with Beveland. Running on this 10 km piece of art was apparently not appreciated by Poseidon who tried to blow the runners into the water. However almost everybody made it to the other side and until 20 km it seemed a fairly normal race. However between 20 km and 27 km the (supra)natural forces created their arena. There was a stretch of beach we had to take facing West, directly into the wind and it was exceptionally high tide (full moon). All there was left for the runners was soft sand, under normal circumstances only acceptable if you're a horse. The rest of the marathon was fairly normal apart from some dunes we climbed. All in all I have to agree with the organisers that it is possibly the toughest and most beautiful marathon of the Netherlands. Apart from that it was also organised very well and there was a very pleasant atmosphere. It is a marathon which I can recommend to everybody looking for something different from a city marathon.
Wim
Köhln: my first marathon by Fédéric Mertins
Frédéric Mertins ran his first Marathon in Köln on the 08-10-2006. Here is his story :
It all started when I decided to register for the Köln Marathon (8th october). I had joined the jogging club shortly before that and I had gotten useful tips for my training schedule.
I trained seriously but when I really started to increase the distances I got injured...left knee...
After about a month of intensive physiotherapy and thus much less intensive training (basically I had to stop running all together !) I was allowed to go and try running for...15 minutes !!!
Well, better safe than sorry but it all seemed very short compared to the 42.195 kms I had to do in a few weeks time...
Anyway, I was able to run up to an hour without pain...a sort of good and bad news really...apparently good recovery but lack of distance-training.
So here I was on D-Day...still having a laugh on the starting line...
The weather was quite nice, the sun was shining with a temperature of just below 20. The (mostly) German crowd was gathered around the track (literally every inch of it was covered !). It ran in and out of the city center...It was quite an experience to see such a large and enthusiastic crowd...It also felt very encouraging, which was much needed towards the end !
I started at a slow pace, this being the first marathon for me, and I pass the semi after 1h55min. The second half of the race was less enjoyable...leg-pain started together with the famous man with the hammer (thanks to those drinking post !)
And after a struggle of nearly 15 kms (25 to 40), the route took us towards the "Kölner Dom" flanked with the 40 kms sign...truly a relief...
Across the bridge and it was the end ! With a final time of 4h21min, I managed not to hurt myself and I have plenty of room for improvement (like I am gonna do that again :-) )
Frédéric Mertins
The best tools find and evaluate your running routes
If you always wonder how far you've been running, here are a few very helpful links, all powered by google earth, to measure quite precisely your running tracks. I found it very interesting, especially when you go running in a place you don't know. Have a look at them, and find the one that suits you. I personally use the "open runner", because it is completely free, it is the first I discovered. But all of them merely provide the same functions. You can measure the routes, find milestones, share your routes with your friends if you save them as "public". I particularly like to "hybrid vision" which allows to see both the name of the streets and the satellite picture of the place.
After God created earth the Dutch created Holland. This known proverb came to my mind when running the Zeeuwse kustmarathon on the 7th of october. The marathon track seems to be a fair split between man made country and natural landscape. The start of the marathon was in the peaceful village of Burgh and via a beautiful path through the dunes we arrived at the beach. After 5 km the natural scenery and the island of Schouwen were left behind and we started running on the Pijlerdam connecting Schouwen with Beveland. Running on this 10 km piece of art was apparently not appreciated by Poseidon who tried to blow the runners into the water. However almost everybody made it to the other side and until 20 km it seemed a fairly normal race. However between 20 km and 27 km the (supra)natural forces created their arena. There was a stretch of beach we had to take facing West, directly into the wind and it was exceptionally high tide (full moon). All there was left for the runners was soft sand, under normal circumstances only acceptable if you're a horse. The rest of the marathon was fairly normal apart from some dunes we climbed. All in all I have to agree with the organisers that it is possibly the toughest and most beautiful marathon of the Netherlands. Apart from that it was also organised very well and there was a very pleasant atmosphere. It is a marathon which I can recommend to everybody looking for something different from a city marathon. 
It all started when I decided to register for the Köln Marathon (8th october). I had joined the jogging club shortly before that and I had gotten useful tips for my training schedule. 