The Even Greater Tokyo Region

The Almost Half Half Marathon.
Dutch people remind me of cicadas. It's not because the irritating noise they make, but it is because every spring they seem to come out of their six-year underground hibernation. I have never seen people so affected by the change of the seasons. I mean, yeah, apart from the ice skating, the Dutch winter pretty much sucked. That's all there is to it. But I still biked everywhere, and didn't really let it affect me. The theory is, that the weather here is so generally crap, that when it is nice weather, Dutch people MUST take advantage of it. The terraces in the city suddenly were full. In fact, the population seems to have boomed in the last week.

In my attempts at re-integrating, I too am taking advantage of the nice weather, in extreme ways. Our flat even had dinner outside once! Less extreme, but the subject of today's post is my decision to run the Leiden half marathon. This is next month, and I have been "genieting" the good weather (that word has nothing to do with "genitals"), going for jogs most days. It is great, you feel like you are running really far- actually running to the next town- and the next town. But really, everything is so packed in Holland that cities are built on top of each other. Still, there is a lot of nice scenery, farmland and cute cobbled towns to see. It's true that you see so much more of the area when you are on your own feet.

As part of my "training", I wanted to run in the Rotterdam Marathon 10km run. Well, I wish the Rotterdam Marathon was later in the season, because I would have liked to run the 21.2 km race but after three weeks, it wouldn't be a good idea. The 10km run is a nice distance for training, and a good way to be a part of the biggest Marathon event in the Netherlands.

I was too late to apply online for the 10km run, so I banked on the hope that I could apply on the morning of the race. I had to get up very early on Sunday, and trained to Rotterdam. It wasn't a problem. I got my number, and a plastic bag with a few pamphlets and a test bottle of manly moisturiser. That probably wasn't the best 14 Euro I've ever spent...

I had a lot of time to kill, but as the race got closer, I realised that I would need to leave my stuff somewhere during the race. Surely, a giant international marathon event would have some place to leave your stuff. That would be one massive oversight. I asked the guy hanging out in front of the toilet where the lockers/garderobe was. He said there wasn't any. He said I should hide my bag in a bush. He was serious.

He was a dumbass. I guess if your profession is charging people 50cents to take a piss at a public toilet...

It turns out there was a place, a fair walk away, through the now busy bustle of the marathon. It was just a large room, where anybody with a race number could enter. There were two army men outside, but that didn't make my stuff feel any safer. I mean, "Dutch Military" doesn't exactly sound threatening.

Since I didn't know anyone else running today, and since I was here mostly for the experience, I made an executive decision to run with my digital camera- for your benefit. (and it made me feel a lot less lonely). I went back toward the starting area with a chunky digital camera, an awkward shoulder bag for it, long warm-up pants, and 3-year old generic cross-trainer shoes with holes in them. I think I spent more money on my race-number than my attire.

This was a significant difference with other "competitors". So many of these "competitors" were wearing those full-or half-length sports tights. Why do so many people wear these? Okay, on semi-attractive women, they are fine, but why do all these men think they are Halle Berry in catwoman? I mean, maybe these do shave a few seconds off your time, but unless you have a genuine shot at winning, don't subject my innocent eyes to your tightly wrapped package! Seriously, wear a flimsy pair of shorts over it to leave something for the imagination! It would be like me wearing an Ian Thorpe body suit for a belly-flop competition. At my talent level, it makes no difference. I wish these people would at least have some dignity!

Okay, I am done with my rant. Onto the photos!

This was the course I would be running.


Okay, I know this means very little to you. Rotterdam is sort-of my home town, so I have a certain pride here. Most of it comes from the awesome Jackie Chan film, Who Am I? If you aren't familiar with Rotterdam or this movie, you should watch this clip of fight scenes among some famous downtown spots:

That's my city!

For the start of the race, the competitors were sheparded through these gates like animals.

There were so many people. I was surprised. I thought it would be mostly women trying to lose weight and sports teams, but there were some serious people there too. I mean, above the ballhugging tights, some had belts with tiny bottles of energy shots. For a 10km run, I don't think this would help much. I just had a peanut butter sandwich that morning...

It was a very slow start. Slowly the mass of people got moving.
I took this photo as I went under the start banner. I think my camera was mocking me.
There was a podium alongside the track. It must have been very exciting to see so many people not be able to lift their knees high enough to really run.

Both sides of this main downtown road- and the tramline were used as some space was created for a slight jog. The guy in the front seems very happy about it.

We went up to the Erasmus Bridge, "the Swan", and the crowd bottlenecked again.
See, this is what I love about marathons: the whole city shuts down for it. Running on the middle of this bridge is allowed probably only once a year.
Down past Hotel New York, where some people cheated and cut a huge corner.
This band was playing alongside the road. I hope they knew there was a race going on...

Actually, you may remember the story were I had to walk home from the Feyenoord stadium after midnight last year. The 10km run traced those steps for the first 3 or 4 kilometres. Also, the crowd was still thick enough to be awkward to run at a normal pace. I was always bumping elbows, and avoiding stepping on people's feet. One old man gave me a Dutch earful of swearwords. In all fairness, he might have thought I was some idiot running along and taking photos...
We went to the old haven.
Another famous landmark- if I remember correctly, it's a now unused bridge after the Erasmus bridge opened.
The we ran across the Willemsbrug. This was the steepest part of the race, and I think having grown up in New Zealand and being familiar with the concept of an "incline", I had a strong advantage.


Here you can see this white building (formerly the tallest non tower in Europe), and on the far right the Potlood (pointy building) and the Cube houses where Jackie Chan was fighting in that earlier video.
Speaking of Jackie chan, go to number 6 in this countdown of Jackie Chan stunts.

At times I felt like a Japanese tourist taking photos out of the bus window...
The crowd was pretty thick. It amuses me how only the kid is looking at me.
And the final home-stretch, it was still very busy.

And I was finished... ish... I had a very disappointing time of 55 minutes, but I blame the fact it was so busy. I mean, the first few hundred metres took 5 minutes. And I know I'll sound like I'm trying to be tough, but I really wasn't tired. Still, I wonder if I won anything...

Of course you win something! At these events, every finisher is a winner! I wonder how much these are worth. (I am going to guess that they cost less than 14 Euro each.




Runners are messy, I have decided. These are all plastic bags with armholes that they were wearing, and discarded as they started. So much for running being a "clean green natural sport".That was my number. (I was hoping for "5446")

And free water and energy drink!
My grandad used to be a motorcycle cop, and worked at some marathons. I don't think he had a police scooter though...
On my way back to the changing rooms, I noticed that the marathon posters had already been replaced. I found this amusing.
The thing that strikes me the most about running events is people using and lining up for the toilets. I didn't want to take one while there were lots of people there. Because you know, many of them proabably could run faster than me.


This here is an open air urinal. Or rather, it is many open-air urinals. I know the background guy has glasses, but you can just tell he is thinking: "Oh hell no, he isn't taking a photo of me taking a piss".
Back at the actual event waiting for the full marathon runners to return. Also, here is proof that the Dutch military exists.
This was a history making race, with the photo finish between two Kenyan runners both having the 2nd fastest time ever, only behind Haille Selassie, but I mean, of course if you are an athlete god comes first. Right? You can see the winner being covered with a red towel, in a James Brown-like fashion. Also, notice how he isn't even wearing those ball-hugging tights. They aren't even necessary!


This was also an opportunity to retire my shoes. And say hello to my new running mates. These will carry me through to the Leiden half marathon on June 17th. Don't hold your breath that I will bring a camera with me for that one too...