Dworp is a pretty little village with a funny name situated on the outskirts Brussels, in the Flemish part close to the great linguistic divide of Belgium. Like many localities in Belgium, it is situated close to a forest, and the organizers of the Lentejogging te Dworp races make ample use of the fact.
My first race participation competition in Belgium, the Watermolen Cup, started today in Dworp, on a gloriously sunny day loaded with promise for the spring season that has just begun. With barely any training since the marathon of 1 March in Malta, and coming back from a brief stop due to a strained hamstring, I relied on my pre-marathon preparation to be sufficient to see me through this event.
After a few hundred metres in the streets of Dworp, the route took a sharp uphill incline going straight into a forest to the south. Here I started overtaking lots of rivals, and tiring though it is to run uphill, with the added disadvantage of not knowing what was coming next since it was for me the very first time here, I never slowed down, and on the level stretches I maintained my position well. The course undulated, more uphill than downhill, and in each uphill stretch I kept improving my position. But I was also tiring out, and was looking forward to the downhill part that would take us back to Dworp.
I finished at 50:23, which was better than I had expected, also considering the difficulty of the route and the sketchy preparation. The spillover factor from the marathon training served me well. Now I'm looking forward to an interesting several months packed with many different events - good health and lack of injuries permitting, of course.
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