Crazy Week

Last week was absolutely crazy. On Saturday I ran a 1500m-race in a very strong field in Leiden. I was very excited to race another race in front of my ‘home crowd’, with my parents, uncle and aunt, and friends there. Unfortunately right from the start I noticed that my legs didn’t cooperate, and although I tried my hardest, it was one big struggle and I finished in 4:30, not quite the time I had hoped for!

On Monday I went to my friend Jip Vastenburg. This has become kind of a tradition, and it is always fun to train with her and learn from her and her coach. I know few people that work so hard to get to where they want to go, and it is very inspiring. On my way there I got notified that I was selected last-minute for the Europacup / European Championships for Countries: for this tournament, every country selects its best athlete in every one of 40 events. These athletes try to score as many points as possible, and on the end of the weekend, the country with the most points wins. I was selected to run the 3000m. I was very surprised and excited about this selection, since the possibility to go here had never even crossed my mind!

So plans changed a little bit, and after I got home on Wednesday afternoon from a great, very inspiring couple days at Jip’s, I stood on Schiphol Airport the next morning waiting for my flight to Crete (Greece) with the Dutch team! After a long day of traveling, we finally arrived in a beautiful hotel on Crete in the hills with a great view over the sea.

Friday was all about recovering from the travel, shaking out the legs, checking out the stadium and getting ready for the race, and on Saturday evening it was finally go-time! Since I came in with one of the slowest seat-times, my plan was to go straight to the back, independently of the pace. Then with a km to go I would give everything I had left, while at the same time trying to save a little bit for the last lap.
This plan worked out very well: I got straight to the back and stayed there for 5 laps. But to be honest, I really didn’t have much of a choice because I could barely hold on and there was no way I could have moved up even if I had wanted to! But luckily, with a kilometer to go all of a sudden I started passing some girls. This gave me a confidence-boost, and I could pass some more. Of course, I didn’t want these girls to pass me again, so I tried to keep the pace honest so the girls couldn’t relax behind me. In the last lap, one girl was still right behind me, but I was able to shift to another gear and hold her off, finishing 6th. I was super excited about this, but got even more excited when I heard I had run a 6-seconds PB (9:16.39). Not once during the race had I heard or seen any splits, and the only thing I had been focused on was beating as many girls as possible, so the fast time totally caught me by surprise. It was an amazing experience to run against these fast girls, in the stadium, in orange. The entire weekend was amazing: I got to speak to a lot of great people and great athletes and learned a lot. Everyone performed very well and we ended up 3rd, which means that in 2 years, we will be performing in the highest league. And I will do everything to try to be part of that team again! The amount of motivation and inspiration I have gotten from this entire week is huge. Once again, I realized the amazing things that running brings me: the cool people I meet, the awesome places I get to see, and the special experiences. I definitely want to use my last two years in Portland in the best way possible, to see how much more I can improve.

Tomorrow I am racing one more 5000m, in Eindhoven. I know I am in shape, and I know I can run the standard for the EC<23. I will be running against the best runners of the country, and there also is a pacer this time. The weather should be good too, and I am very excited to get the most out of this race.

Ill keep you up-to-date…