Boston and Balloons

Yesterday I checked off two things! Well almost. I attempted #3 and technically would have checked it off if Boston decided to not change their qualifying standards earlier this year. #18 got checked off as a celebration!

The reason I'm in the Netherlands is for the Amsterdam Marathon. I chose this race because it's a nice, flat and fast course. I figured I had to pick one less hilly than NYC, since my attempts to qualify the last couple of years didn't pan out. And going international would be pretty cool. And I've never been to The Netherlands.

Now the months leading up to race day were not optimal. Boston first change their standards. This happened a few months after I came up with my list. Instead of 3:40, I now had to get 3:35! Seriously? Ugh. So instead of the 8 minute PR I was aiming for, I had to PR by over 12 minutes. Not cool.

I didn't kick off my training as soon as I had wanted to either. However I had a base so no reason to be too concerned. However, I was traveling a lot for work over the summer and my runs weren't that great. I got them all in. But I was just exhausted from traveling and working. My body just wasn't cooperating.

I eventually settled down for a bit and lowered my expectations. At this point, I figured I'd at least try to PR. Whether it was by 5 seconds or 5 minutes I'd be happy. Well that isn't true. I'd still be disappointed, but at least I'd get over it faster.

I do feel like I was putting a lot on this race, but luckily didn't have the anxiety dreams that I normally have. Apparently NYC is the only race that bring these on. Well race day arrives and I'm as ready as I'm going to be. Its about 45 degrees (getting to a high of 57). Clear blue skies. Not a lot of wind. I ate some food, walked to the race, took some pics, stripped down to my race outfit and made my way to the start. And ran. I just ran.

And it was good! I didn't BQ, but I did PR and got an official time of 3:39:04. Pretty damn good if I say so myself. I felt pretty good the whole time. It was a bit chaotic at points and elbows were thrown, but no cause for concern.

I hit my target of 1:50 at the halfway point. And thought I could do this. I hoped to keep this pace up and actually go faster if I could. At one point I shaved off a lot of time and momentarily thought I could hit 3:35. Well closer to 3:36. However, I knew I wouldn't be able to go much faster and probably wasn't going to qualify. But I was ok with that.

So I kept running. Slowed down a bit at the end, but finally made it to the finish line. At first I thought possibly my watch wasn't working and I really didn't get 3:39. But it was fine. Now if Boston didn't change their times I'd be headed there in 2013. But yet again Boston eludes me. But no worries. I'll try again. And I'll do it. Eventually.

After I made myself presentable, I made my way out of Amsterdam. It was time to ride a hot air balloon! I took a train to Krommenie-Assendelft, where I got picked up by Marianne who drove me to the launch site in Alkmaar. We met Niels, our pilot, and another couple going with us.

They were filling up the balloon with cold air when I arrived. I got a quick rundown on what to do while we waited for the balloon to fill up. Nothing too crazy, considering we were going about 1500 feet up.

We were soon in the air! Our launch site was a last minute thing due to the wind, so really wasn't sure what to expect. A part of the town was a bit industrial, but it was cool to be high up. We went over a solar panel town. Or square patch of land more accurately. We were close enough to yell 'hi' to people on the ground. We obviously asked if they had a beer. Even saw what some people keep in their closed off backyards. I don't think some would like to know that everything could be seen. We traveled about 15k and saw the sun set. All in all pretty cool. I'd do it again if it wasn't so expensive.

Afterwards, we helped take down the balloon and celebrated with some champagne-a French tradition, where hot air balloon rides actually originated.

I got back to Amsterdam where I celebrated further my accomplishments of the day.