We had a choice of running Paris Marathon or Rotterdam Marathon or BOTH since they were only a week apart. I didn't want to run in a city run because of the crowd (past experience at Tokyo Marathon). So, I opt for Rotterdam Marathon in Holland instead.
The expo was held at the Beurs-World Trade Centre
(about 1km away from our hotel)
Entrance to the expo
Targeting a time?
I took the sub4 hr band
Signing 4-5hrs away of our life away
Bib collection
The usual suspects
With my favourite travelling marathoners on our annual trip
Different Gate-starting time/area
as per the time which you had submitted during registration.
Shopping in Holland is heavveeenn...
It's so much affordable than Australia
AS KS would say, I'm an addict to Expo shopping
Sports apparel eg. tops, shoes, tights, socks, sunnies etc.
Bought myself a pair of 3/4 tights, 2 tops, nearly sunnies =p
The reason why i picked this race was because we don't see the other side (u-turn) of people so often and its not just covering the city centre.
Race morning with pleasant weather
I had to take this =p
Check out the men's urinal.
No stinking cubicle since its open air. Just "stick" it in
Leng & I were on the same gate
When the starting gun went off, I saw flying shirts/jackets, disposable rain coats in the sky.
Mainly because we were standing next to the bins
We slowly shuffle our way to the starting arch.
First up was crossing the Eramus Bridge Rotterdam towards the south side of the city.
However, from here on, the whole route seemed more like a maze to me.
When its cold and wet, and someone this hmm..yummy run past u, its hard to miss =p
The song popped in my mind "You are not alone....I am here with you"
On the south side of the city is practically running through rotterdam's housing area.
Passing the apartments, countryside (no fields) houses.
And being such a bicycle friendly country, family/friends would be cycling next to you for support.
Crossing the Eramus bridge again & running back towards the city centre towards the north side.
Worst is that, I run past my hotel....twice!!!
Going underneath one of Rotterdam's sightseeing places, the Cube House
I wonder how the interior looks like.
Running on cobble stones
Hitting the 35km mark....tireeddd
Water station was at every 5km
The weather was starting to warmth up.
Time to head back to the city.
Unfortunately, my dream of sub4 went down the drain.
I was overheated & thirst. My small handheld bottle wasn't enough.
Turning towards the main road of Coolsingel with 400m marker.
The whole road was fenced up just for us.
100m to go
Sprinting to the finish line!!
Volunteers standing at the finish line offering to help you take your photo.
Limping to collect my medal
I do look like a blonde cat with my white ears
Didn't achieve my goals but maintain consistency
Oh well...
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