Vilvoorde Sparta Parkloop 12 km - 0:55:40 - 26 March 2011

To my mind, Vilvoorde is best known as the locality that provides the third letter in the Belgian political issue known as BHV - Brussel/Hal/Vilvoorde. It's an extremely complicated regional argument involving court jurisdictions, linguistic rights, and whether you have the right to vote to Flemish or Francophonic parties. In real life, it's a suburb lying to the north of Brussels, and today I discovered it lies underneath the high-level overpass that is part of the northern section of the Brussels ring road.

They have a sports centre named Sparta Vilvoorde at the outskirts of the locality, right next to the river that flows into Brussels. It's a well-kept football pitch with running track at the edge of a rather extensive park, and this is where the Sparta Parkloop was held.

There was a notice close to the registration that gave very accurate data about the course - 411 metres + two loops of 5700 metres + 112 metres for a total distance of 11.923 km - although it's very likely that in this case theory and practise to not exactly coincide, as I'll explain further on... There was also an altitude chart, where it was clearly shown that here, too, runners would need to climb a good bit, come back down and go back up for the second loop.

The run was as tough as expected. I adopted the same race strategy as the previous week at the Tervuren Furaloop 16 km - a moderate pace in the first half followed by a stronger second half where I would overtake as many rivals as possible. I was quite anxious about how my leg muscles, especially my not-yet-healed left hamstring, would react to two strong efforts in the space of one week. During the race it felt as normal as I've become used to expect, and in fact in the second loop my main problem was that I felt tired due to the previous week's strong effort, not because of any recurring injury. In the final downhill, when I was trying to go really fast, I still ended up being overtaken by several others. Too bad. I'm not doing any fast interval training, so I'm still unable to push hard and sprint at the end of a race. Besides, it certainly wasn't worth the while to risk getting injured again. Running fast down a twisting narrow path would be simply asking for trouble.

For the time being, I'm more than satisfied with having achieved two races, with seemingly no lasting harmful effect, at a respectable though still substandard (compared to my standard) pace. There's still a lot of time to achieve a better pace. Here I ran the "11923 metres" in 0:55:40. Quite OK, and slightly faster than the previous week... except that I have strong doubts about the distance. In some sections the painted arrows followed zigzagged gravel paths, but everyone was running straight on the grass cutting across the zigzags. I would have been a fool not to follow suit!

Scott2Run (1) - Furaloop 16 km - 20 March 2011 - 1h15:43

At long last, back to real racing for the first time since more than 13 months.

It's the start of a brand new Scott2Run season here in Flemish Brabant, and the first of the series was a 10 miler starting and finishing in Tervuren today afternoon. We had close to perfect weather for the event, mostly sunny, not too cold at around 13 degrees, no wind at all. The sports complex area was teeming with youngsters and not-so-youngsters enjoying a lovely March Sunday afternoon, including of course hundreds of runners eager to debut in this second edition of the Scott2Run competition, which from 2010 has replaced the old Watermolen Cup.

The Furaloop 16 km is not a walk in the park! (Of course not, silly, it's a run in the forest...). Indeed. After a kilometre or so of running in residential streets, the route heads straight into the Foret de Soignes. I had done some research about the event, and I knew that it's quite a hilly affair. The run is almost entirely along forest paths, luckily wide enough for comfortable overtaking, on good gravelly ground that's not muddy at all.

I wanted to be careful to avoid the error of going too fast in the beginning. I'm still recovering my best form, the distance is rather lengthy, and after 13 months without any racing I'm a bit of a "beginner" - and beginners' most common mistake is that of being carried away and using up too much energy in the first half of a run, to end up exhausted in the second half.

So I chose an old tactic of mine, going at a moderate pace up to the midpoint, generally keeping my position and if necessary overtaking anyone who seems too slow, and then increasing the pace for the second half of the race. Many years ago I overheard an old running friend of mine (hello Tony Dimech, who knows, maybe you'll get to read this some day...) remark to his companion as I overtook them in the second part of a race in Malta, 'There he goes switching on his turbo engine'. I liked that, and 15 years later it's the same expression that I keep in mind when thinking of accelerating during the second half of a race.

The tactic worked, on the whole. It was a good thing that I had known in advance about the hilly nature of the route, so I wasn't taken by surprise there. It was quite satisfying that, although I have hardly done any hills at all during training for my comeback, I held my own very well in the (relatively mild) uphill stretches. It felt like it's always done during races. Fantastic! And after passing the 8km marker I did, indeed, switch on the "turbo engine". I started overtaking rivals. As I approached each successive "victim" I would say to myself, this guy normally ends up behind me in races (since I'm running slower than my standard pace), so he's no super runner, I can beat him. And beat them I did, quite a few of them.

It came to a point that I had moved up the field to reach other runners who were running at a pace that I couldn't beat. So during the last 3 km, when my legs started to tire out, I had to settle for maintaining my position, an objective that was, also, largely successful. The hamstring injury, which has still not healed completely, was beginning to make itself felt, and in certain uphill stretches now it was also affecting my gait.

The final couple of kilometres, back in built-up streets, I had become tired, but I managed to keep my pace nonetheless. True, I was overtaken by two or three rivals, but kept more or less the same distance from a fellow in blue who I had been following for a good while. I haven't been doing any speedwork involving intervals yet, so I lack the punch to carry out a sprint in the final run-up. It seemed like it was never going to end! But end it did, at a very respectable 1h15:43. Very good, considering the long stop due to injury and the fact that I still have to recover and regain my best form.

Let's just wait for the consequences in my hamstring the next few days. Hopefully, it should be OK.

I'M BACK "IN THE RUNNING"!

Au revoir, Maroc!

At a few minutes past 6 in the morning, I would get out of the bed in my hotel room, and 'sneak' out through the pool area into the wide promenade that runs along the sandy coastline of Agadir in Morocco.

It would still be dark, and surprisingly cold. The promenade is lit during the night by floodlights. You can see seagulls flying around in their light. There's a permanent noise created by waves coming in from the Atlantic ocean and breaking up on the beach. Far away perched on top of a hill lie the ruins of the old kasbah that was destroyed by an earthquake in 1960. On the slope going up the hill, huge, well-lit Arabic lettering proclaims, as a talisman against any further disaster, the three entities that are most dear to Moroccans: "God, the King, the Country".

This was the setting for early morning runs that I used to do when I spent a few splendidly wonderful days in Agadir with my family. I made it a point to run almost everyday, to make up a bit for much too many calories that I was consuming at the hotel. I have to say the strategy worked well, as I hardly gained any weight at all during my stay there...

The unusual ambience gave rise to a couple of memorable runs. I wasn't alone. Morocco is a bountiful haven of long distance runners, and Agadir has its good share of afacionados. That's apart from many foreign visitors who like me wanted to keep up their training schedule while on holiday.

The promenade runs for several kilometres along the seashore. I would run all the way towards the yacht marina, along the quays for the marina, up to a point where it was impossible to go any further, and turn back. Sunset and sunrise are very rapid affairs close to the tropics, with hardly any twilight to speak of, so even though I would start my 10km run in pitch darkness, on my way back the lights would be switched off, the road clearly visible, and by the time I reached the hotel the sun would already have come up.

Some stretching, good morning to the guard sitting at the beach front entrance to the hotel, a quick shower, breakfast, and another enjoyable day exploring this region of Morocco.

Au revoir, Maroc!

Les Hivernales de Boitsfort 20km - 6 February 2011 - 1h47m plus something

One year exactly after my last competitive event, following a long injury saga, I managed a fourth successive participation in Les Hivernales de Boitsfort - not bad, considering I've only been in Belgium for six years...

I was still not ready to race, so I went in with the intention of doing my standard weekend long run here, at a slow pace. In the beginning it was in fact slower than I had bargained for, having placed myself too far back from the starting line, so much that the first three kilometres took up no less than 18 minutes. At that rate I would take up close to 2 hours! OK, the finishing time wasn't important, but I still wanted to do a decent run, which is why I increased the pace to make up a bit for lost time.

I ended up doing my usual routine of trying to catch up with and overtake a long succession of runners. It was almost like a typical long distance race, and even though the pace was slow by my normal standards (and I certainly hope to achieve better speeds as I recover my fitness), I rediscovered the thrill of racing for a long distance.

The pain in my thigh? I was aware of it all the time. I'm always aware of it whenever I run now, but it's not really bad. There was a point close to the end of the run, with a sharp, fast downhill stretch on uneven ground where I became a bit scared of losing my footing, but otherwise I was OK.

This was my longest run after the injury. For most of it I ran faster than training pace, and my concern was whether I would suffer any consequences. Well, I'm happy to note that two days later I have done my normal 10km weekly run, with the good old tendonitis ticking away vaguely exactly as I've become used to it - not any better, but certainly no worse than before.

I may even recover sufficiently to race properly one day.

Which marathon in September 2011?

Now it really looks as if I may recover completely from the injury that has been holding me back from proper running for close to a year. In which case, a marathon in September would be quite a realistic possibility. Which marathon?

A quick browse reveals that I'm quite spoilt for choice, but... wherever I choose I'll need to travel. I haven't found any marathon in Belgium planned for September 2011. But wait a second... I had an idea there was one somewhere in Oostende. Let's have a look... Of course, the 'In Flanders Fields' marathon! I've been eying this ever since relocating to Belgium, and this would be the ideal occasion to do it.

Ever since I read Ben Elton's 'The First Casualty', set in the midst of World War I, I've wanted to visit Ieper (Ypres in French, or Wipers as the English soldiers used to pronounce it), which has become a sort of shrine for the mass of humanity that fell victim to that utter folly. In Flanders fields is where countless thousands of soldiers from both sides faced each other behind trenches, living in squalid conditions, periodically having a suicidal go at enemy lines, in full sight of enemy fire, and falling down like flies. Never again, one would have thought. Yeah, right.

I feel strongly about war, and now that I live in Belgium Ieper is a must-go place for me. The possibility of a marathon there, at exactly the time when I should be ready for one, makes it even more a must-participate event. The reviews in marathonguide.com are also very good, so the 'In Flanders Fields' marathon seems to be the people's choice.

There are a couple of disadvantages. A marathon in September means that I need to do several three-hour runs, and one 3h15 run, right in the peak of summer in August... I would probably need to give up the Zaventem half marathon, to which I have been looking forward. But one needs to look at the positive side. Being able to choose between a marathon and a half marathon would be a luxury, considering that for several months last year I was fearing having to give up running altogether!

Of course, it's nowhere as exotic as the Petra marathon (Jordan, 9 September), or Maui (Hawaii). Neither is it a big time event like Berlin (25 September - a tour of this major city, along with another circa 40,000 participants). I could choose to go to Vilnius (Lithuania), Tallinn (Estonia), Stockholm, Odense in Denmark, Oslo, Warsaw. There are local marathons in places like Wolverhampton (England) or Dingle (Ireland). The choice is really quite enormous. There's a Bacchus marathon in Surrey, England, with "voluntary" sampling of wines along the route (health warning: alcohol dehydrates the body...).

I could be in the mood for going uphill all the way, except for (mercifully) the very last kilometre, and do the Jungfrau marathon starting in Interlaken, Switzerland (a beautiful place, by the way). Well, when I say "do the Jungfrau marathon", I should really say try, and fail, to do the Jungrau marathon: a 2,000 metre rise is not for ordinary mortals.

One never knows, of course, what circumstances and opportunities may arise. Maybe I'll settle for the most straightforward possibility of a marathon around this period, after all - boring old Brussels. But that comes in the following month, October, and in my next post in the series "Which marathon".

Which marathon in August 2011?

Starting to build up training distances now, without too much extra hurry, we would be ready to do a marathon the coming August. That's the easy part... the problem is, where?

It will be the peak of summer, and in most places it's too hot to run a marathon, unless of course you cross over to the southern hemisphere. In fact, while searching the web I found two marathons that will be held in Australia in August 2011 - Alice Springs and Adelaide.

This side of the world, to escape the heat of summer we need to move north: Helsinki, Reykjavik, Siberia in Russia, Greenland! Let's have a look at some of these.

If you had an idea of taking your pet to run the Reykjavik Marathon, forget about it. No pets are allowed to take part. Neither can you run the marathon pushing your baby in a pram: only helpers of disabled participants are allowed this type of equipment. But otherwise, if like me you wish to visit this fascinating country and do a marathon while you're there - Saturday 20th August is the date. They boast temperatures of around 12 to 14 Celsius this time of the year, "ideal for running a marathon". There's bound to be some rainfall, of course, since the way it works in Iceland is: "if you don't like the weather, go inside and come back 15 minutes later". It's bound to have changed by then, and they say it's true too!

The course is a single loop, with a small stretch at the end that almost repeats the part at the beginning. The course is not completely traffic free. It's flat for 60% of the way, and rolling the remaining 40%. The change in level is 30 metres overall. Looks quite OK - I could even try it out one day. To relax my sore muscles after the race, the following day I'd look for one of various public baths with naturally heated water that they have peppered around the country. It does, indeed, look like an interesting prospect.

If 12 to 14 Celsius is too warm for your liking, you might prefer to opt for our Icelandic friends' neighbouring land, Greenland. In the capital Nuuk (population 15,500), in early August, you should expect a temperature of around 7 to 11 Celsius, although a look at the pictures of the starting line of the Nuuk marathon shows participants wearing short sleeves, or even vests, normal shorts and no gloves at all. So at least on that occasion it wasn't really freezing cold. As interpreted from their website in Danish by Translate with Live Search, they say it's a demanding, hilly affair. "The hills is one of the toughest for marathons in the world", but the map of the course includes contour lines, and the route doesn't seem to cross so many of them. Apart from which, one tends to get used to superlatives used by most everyone, whatever the occasion.

This certainly qualifies, to my standards, as an exotic marathon in unusual surroundings. It's not too crowded at all - a couple of dozen participants - so you could very well achieve a good placing. In the 2010 edition, at my standard 3h30m I would have placed fourth. The winner came in at 2h40, and captured a prize of 7000 kroner (compared to 450 kr. for participation). The runner-up receives 5000 kr., and the third placed finisher gets 2000 kr., which means I would have missed receiving a prize by a whisker...

If, for you, this seems like a good idea - enjoy your trip to Greenland!

But, maybe, this is too extreme, or too cold, for your liking. In that case, voilà, how about a marathon in much warmer conditions? How about... why, the Siberian International Marathon of course. In early August the expected temperature range there is 18 to 22 Celsius. I've read a review of this marathon where the participant actually complained of the heat!

Or, if you like your marathons to be challenging, with lots of hills, you will enjoy the Monschau Marathon, in Gernmany, close to the Belgian border - on Sunday 14 August - with a difference of 250 metres in altitude between the lowest and the highest point along the route. In one particular stretch, from the 12th to the 14th kilometre, there's a hill that rises by about 150 metres. If you don't mind going up and down hills, even for a marathon distance, and you would like to do this in a forested area surrounding a beautiful German town hidden down a valley, the Monschau Marathon is definitely worth looking into.

We're now much closer to home, and in fact, for a Belgium-based runner, a more logical place to run a marathon in August 2011 would be the Guernsey marathon in late August.

Guernsey is the second largest of the Channel Islands, lying 70 miles from England and 30 miles off France. The marathon runs along a picturesque route, only slightly undulating in the beginning, but generally flat, entering "9 out of the 10 parishes" in Guernsey, consisting basically of a round tour of the island. Guernsey boasts a long history of marathons. The one in 2009 was 100 years after the first marathon there, but also 17 years since the previous one. In 2010, there were 141 finishers, but today, in December 2010 there's still no mention on their website of the next edition, which I should hope will be in 2011 since I could even consider taking part.

Running in a freezer

In March earlier in 2010, at the end of a long, harsh snowbound winter, just when I was about to start enjoying the first days of spring and later on summer running, I had to give up due to injury.

Many weeks and months of frustration passed, while I grew less fit and put on weight.

Now I'm making a tentative comeback, running slowly, using small steps, paying extra care not to get injured again, and hoping the nagging pain will slowly subside. Today I've managed my longest run since close to eight months - 70 minutes, almost a long run. It went quite well, actually, better than expected considering the nagging pain refuses to subside.

So it's back to Sunday long runs - and back to frozen weather. For me it seems long runs have become synonymous to freezing weather, as if the warm season never was. Mercifully, the ground is not yet covered in snow, although that will most likely change, too, in the coming few days. Welcome, to a long, cold winter of long, frozen runs.