Typical Flemish suburb located a short distance away from Brussels.
It was the last race that I needed to accomplish to gain a total of nine and a placing in the final classification of the 2013 Scott 2 Run challenge.
I almost missed it.
The race was on Saturday 5th October. The following day, on 6th October, there was the Brussels marathon, and this was the date that stuck in my mind, so I had the impression that the final race of the challenge, at Steenokkerzeel, would be on Sunday 6th October. My plan was that on Friday I would do a final easy 10km run, so that on Saturday I would rest to be in good shape for a race on Sunday.
Saturday morning I looked at the website for the competition, to confirm the starting time and so on. That's when I realised with a shock that the race was that very afternoon, and certainly not on Sunday! So I had to quickly change my plans for the day, prepare my running gear and drive to Steenokkerzeel for a 10km race.
Normally I take a day off running before a race, but this time I had done a standard training run of 10km the day before, so for this race I could only hope to do an easy run and simply gather the necessary points to achieve my placing in the final classification. It turned out the route was completely flat, no treacherous muddy paths in the forest, two loops along flat, well paved streets, and I managed to give a pretty good account of myself in spite of not being properly rested.
And (finally!) I obtained a well deserved classification in the top 25 of my age category. It really was well deserved, as I had to overcome many obstacles throughout this edition. In several cases I simply turned up without racing properly, just to put in a presence and get the necessary points and the minimum requirement of nine race participations. But if I hadn't bothered to check the website at the last possible moment on the morning of the last race, the good work I'd done in August following my back injury, scraping through a couple of races during that month would have been all in vain, as I would have missed the last, ninth, race due to a silly mix-up in the dates.
Placing 22nd in the overall final classification earned me a 45 euro gift voucher, which I can exchange for a Scott product at their warehouse in Kortenberg. This warehouse is open every first Saturday of the month, but the gift voucher expires at the end of February. Next Saturday is the last possible date when I can use it. The saga of my 2013 Scott 2 Run competition continues...
It was the last race that I needed to accomplish to gain a total of nine and a placing in the final classification of the 2013 Scott 2 Run challenge.
I almost missed it.
The race was on Saturday 5th October. The following day, on 6th October, there was the Brussels marathon, and this was the date that stuck in my mind, so I had the impression that the final race of the challenge, at Steenokkerzeel, would be on Sunday 6th October. My plan was that on Friday I would do a final easy 10km run, so that on Saturday I would rest to be in good shape for a race on Sunday.
Saturday morning I looked at the website for the competition, to confirm the starting time and so on. That's when I realised with a shock that the race was that very afternoon, and certainly not on Sunday! So I had to quickly change my plans for the day, prepare my running gear and drive to Steenokkerzeel for a 10km race.
Normally I take a day off running before a race, but this time I had done a standard training run of 10km the day before, so for this race I could only hope to do an easy run and simply gather the necessary points to achieve my placing in the final classification. It turned out the route was completely flat, no treacherous muddy paths in the forest, two loops along flat, well paved streets, and I managed to give a pretty good account of myself in spite of not being properly rested.
And (finally!) I obtained a well deserved classification in the top 25 of my age category. It really was well deserved, as I had to overcome many obstacles throughout this edition. In several cases I simply turned up without racing properly, just to put in a presence and get the necessary points and the minimum requirement of nine race participations. But if I hadn't bothered to check the website at the last possible moment on the morning of the last race, the good work I'd done in August following my back injury, scraping through a couple of races during that month would have been all in vain, as I would have missed the last, ninth, race due to a silly mix-up in the dates.
Placing 22nd in the overall final classification earned me a 45 euro gift voucher, which I can exchange for a Scott product at their warehouse in Kortenberg. This warehouse is open every first Saturday of the month, but the gift voucher expires at the end of February. Next Saturday is the last possible date when I can use it. The saga of my 2013 Scott 2 Run competition continues...
