I just came home from the Coast trail Marathon Nationaal Park de Hollandse Duinen. The run was amazing despite an injury that popped up around 35 km - but that could not ruin the fun! Finished at 10th place despite slowing down considerably at the last part, but more importantly I had a blast!
Getting ready:
While there were some first aid and water points , I decided to bring my own stuff.
1L sis hydro - turned out to be a good lesson to fill the camelbag blatter aswell as around 32 km, I was out of drinks. The gels used a somewhat more relaxed schedule compared to a city marathon (now every 30 min rather than every 20 min. I used isotonic as basis, caffeine at 90 and 120 min). The pills on the left are concentrated salt tabs to avoid cramps from dehydration.
The run:
The run was a combination of beach as well as dunes, the beach was perfect - no wind and lovely temperature. The dunes where mostly loose sand dunes. Fun, but a serious energy drain!
Injuries:
I think that the beauty of a marathon is that it hardly every goes as planned! When you face difficulties, pain or doubt during a run you can embrace them rather than fight them. You get the opportunity to determine how you handle the difficult situation and grow as a person!
In my case today, I made a wrong call early by running close to the water not looking ahead and seeing a L shaped 500 m cove in the coast line. Forcing me to either run back or run through deeper water. I ran through the water and feeling the blisters pop up at 15 km. Fine been there done that, lets look at that tomorrow.
Around 35 km my right hamstring and my calve (also right side) started to hurt, while I hoped it would not be too bad, it became increasingly more painful around 38 km. Using the mantra “the harder the battle, the sweeter the victory” kept me going, despite slowing down. Knowing my kids would be there close to finish - kept me smiling until the race was over!
Despite a gpx error (garmin thinking I was in the ocean?) I finished at 10th spot with an official time of 3:45
Happy running!