Impressions after Sunday's Olympisch Stadionloop's 38th edition

Our youngest - 4 years old on this pic - daughter wearing
my first Olympisch Stadionloop shirt
before and after my run in 2011

After finishing for the first time, as last runner to my first ever 10K race in November, 2011, I promised myself a spectacular come back at the Olympisch Stadionloop, when the time comes to run it again.

photo courtesy of
Phanos (Hardlopen Phanos Amsterdam) FB page

photo courtesy of 
Phanos (Hardlopen Phanos Amsterdam) FB page

Fast forward to 3 years later: I finished 3 marathons as a "marathon tourist"; I dealt with an injury to my toe nerve that cost me a year to recover from mentally; I shared 100+ memorable running blogs, and I still have at least 100 more stories of running adventures untold. 

Our almost 7 year old daughter  aka Littlest
outside of the Olympic Stadium Amsterdam
entertaining herself before my start

Littlest my number one cheering fan!

This child has so much energy
and energize me at the same time!

In the end, it was not a spectacular PR come back but a come back to the roots of my running beginnings. Long(er) version in a race recap blog @ Happy Feet'S Miles (to follow) ; short version, here: I had a great time @ the Olympisch Stadionloop 2014! I shaved off 14:34 from my first Olympisch Stadionloop 2011 time of 1:21:48, by clocking 1:07:14 in 2014.

collage created by my husband!

photo courtesy of 
Phanos (Hardlopen Phanos Amsterdam) FB page

for more pictures taken on that day by Phanos,
please check out this link:
Phanos on Flickr

Even if it is not my best 10K time, which currently still stand @ 1:01:40 from Marikenloop 2013, I am VERY happy with this result. The best 10K racetime for me this year (so far! #14TenK). It felt good to come back to, and participate in this event. A great experience to see that in my first week of Spring (2015) marathon training, I am more fit than I was 3 years ago.

Kudos to the "never give up" & "you are never too old to begin and reach out for what seems like an impossible dream" spirit!!!

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If you would like to see some more pictures of the great day,

made even more special meeting (and hugging for real!)

inspiring running (#IGers and FBers) friends, who kept me 

motivated, and going in the past months (years) : 


@lk_dolphin

@marleennnx 

@ntasjaa 

@inoukie 

@cursorwan 

@hvgils

please check out Happy Feet in the Netherlands on Facebook!

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