Years ago, when a colleague at work mentioned the place to me, I wouldn't believe it was really named Erps-Kwerps. The same thing happened to our son Gianluca today afternoon. But Erps-Kwerps it really is, and the surrounding land is completely flat, which suited me just fine as I wasn't in the mood for any hills, more so as I'm nursing a sore hamstring.
Today's race was preceded by Gianluca's debut race - a one kilometre dash for children. With no training at all he finished the run in the middle of the pack. May this be the beginning of a long running career, Gianluca!
I started my own race with strong misgivings due to the hamstring. The past five days I've only done a short 25 minute jog two days ago, to keep it rested and allow it to heal, but during the warm-up I could still feel it hurting very slightly. A few minutes into the run, however, the pain disappeared and I could concentrate on my usual business of overtaking my rivals. A short stretch with cobbles was followed by longer asphalted stretches and some patches without asphalt, next to fields, a railway line, a huge car storage area and houses again as we headed back to Erps-Kwerps village for the start of a second loop.
No hills meant that I could maintain a constant pace. It's convenient when there are no uphills, but it also means there are no downhills and by the middle of the second loop I was becoming tired. Not too tired, however, and I managed to keep a steady rhythm. At the 11th kilometre I heard someone coming up close from behind. I was in no mood for any sprinting - I was already going as fast as I could - and I wished he would pass by and disappear, but he never did. Instead, I approached another couple as we neared the last bends before the finish, and I overtook them too!
Utter exhaustion at the finish was rewarded by a good time of 53:45 for approx. 11.8 km. It was my best performance to date in this year's edition of the Scott2Run. Tomorrow I'll find out the effect of this strong effort (I don't think I could have run any faster today!) on my long-suffering hamstring. Fingers crossed, it's still fine up till this evening...
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