Maas Marathon:
Sunday 10th May 2009
|
As usual in the new year, with all the training runs geared up towards the spring marathons,
we wanted to join in. But London? Paris? Edinbrough? all big city events and not to our taste;
so I found a nice little one for us across the Channel, in Maastricht, in Holland.
Actually, Maastricht was at the halfway mark - the run started in the Belgian town of Visé.
Two countries in one run - we must be good Europeans!
We took our campervan as usual, and found a campsite just off the marathon route (about 5k from the finish), on a farm on one of the few hills in Holland - a very popular cycling area. |
Alec had decided to just run the ˝ marathon (his training was limited by an earlier calf injury), but I went for the full distance - they also had a 10k and 5k fun-run. We drove into town early to make sure of parking, and found the town centre was closed to traffic for the whole day (can't imagine that in New Milton!). I cheered Alec off as his start was earlier, then had to wait around with my pre-run nerves - but with only 700 runners the loo-queues were relatively short.
The forecast for the weekend gave mostly clouds and showers, but full sun and no wind for Sunday morning - and for once (unfortunately), it was spot-on. Despite a cool start, it soon got very warm for marathon running, and there was little shade.
Looking back towards Visé. |
The race started with a loop of the town, then out across the bridge. From Visé we followed the west bank of the river Meuse (Maas in Holland), across the border to Maastricht, then back along the other side of the river. The only hill was a short, sharp climb when we left the riverside to follow the canal. | 
No shade beside the canal. |
The start of the cobbles. |
It was traffic-free, with pretty scenery, but concrete cycle paths, and cobbled villages were a bit hard on the feet. The half-marathon followed the first and last 10k of the marathon route, crossing the river (via a bridge of course) in the middle. | 
Alec makes it look easy. |
I made sure to drink plenty of water, but their electrolyte drink was horrid (undrinkable - wallpaper-paste is the nearest comparison), should have taken more of my own. |
Finishing straight |
On 4-hour schedule up to 20 miles, but then ran short of salts and kept getting cramp. So the last 6 miles was repeats of jog-cramp-walk - a lesson for me in running a 'hot' marathon. |
| Rosemarie: Alec: | 4h:10m:34s (chip time) 2h:22m:08s (chip time) |
2nd v60;
28th v60 (no v70 category); | 422nd of 747 entries 781st of 888 entries |
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