funbox: Amsterdam Marathon 2010

Well, I made my decision to run my first international run exactly one month back and I registered for the Amsterdam half marathon on 18 Sept 2010 (just 1 day before the closing date). Right from the day when I had registered I was quite thrilled and was waiting anxiously for the D day.

On sunday 17 Oct 2010 myself, my roomies (two Chinese students) and another classmate of mine boarded the train to Amsterdam from Delft. They were coming all the way to Amsterdam to cheer for me and I really appreciate that. We boarded the train at 9:03 from Delft and then reached Amsterdam Zuid at 10:45. I must admit the train service in The Netherlands is simply amazing.

We then navigated our way from the station to Sporthallen Zuid, this was the place where the marathon expo was being held and also the place where the running bibs were being distributed. I collected my running number from the designated counter and asked for the 'goodie bag'. But the lady at the counter couldn't understand the meaning of 'goodie bag', she thought it was some kind of brand. Then I explained that usually a bag with lots of stuff is distributed whenever a marathon is conducted but it seems Amsterdam Marathon doesn't give out any stuff like this. May be this is one of the reasons it is still rated 'Silver Class' by the IAAF.

I had about 2 hours left before the start of the run. Thankfully it was a cold and sunny day and the Sun God was merciful in showing his face all day long. I changed my clothes and had a quick meal (bread+biscuits+banana). We then proceeded towards the 'STARTVAK' the dutch term for starting point. I handed over my bags and belongings to my friends and did my warm up session. This is the first time I was running a half marathon in the afternoon. The runners were divided into 4-5 packs and I was in the last pack. The time was 13:30 and our pack still had not started, I was getting a bit anxious. Finally our pack was flagged off at 13:45. I waved to my friends and started on a positive note.

The route was superb and the climate excellent. But at many places the route was quite narrow and the runners had to squeeze through or slow down so that they don't bump into one another. I had set my mind for a finish under 2 hours but the last three miles were tough. I had to slow down my pace in the end. Usually when one doesn't have any friends taking part in the run he/she sets another runner as his/her target and then follows/overtakes the target. In my case I had set my target on a girl, who was pretty good. It soon became like a cat and mouse game. I overtaking her and then she overtaking me then again I overtook her only to find that she was just behind my heels and overtook me after the tenth mile. I couldn't catch up with her after 10 miles.

I finally reached the olympic stadium, this is where the finish point was and completed my run with a net timing of 2:08:26 hrs. Oh man, I was at the olympic stadium and that was a wonderful feeling, may be once in a life time opportunity. I received my finisher's medal and was looking out for my friends but couldn't find them. I joined them back at the same place from where I had collected my running number. They were happy for me that i finished the run successfully.

RUNNING NUMBER: 31321