HFNL : All Time Favorite Running Shirts

BLOG NOTE: I wrote this post on mobile.  Please excuse the format.  It will be  edited tonight when I'm on the computer to include proper links and more pics etc.  This post is originally meant to provide elaborate info on my Instagram post today on my feed: @happyfeetnl.


The lovely @pascalle_n  ( marathoner & blogger @ Hungry Flamingo ) tagged me to share my (3!) favorite running shirts , and the process of choosing was harder than I thought!

3 years going on 4 on the run (50 medals +/-) and so grateful to belong in a very supportive running  world with diverse running communities composing of unique & fun running crews.

Today I will share the shirts representing groups of awesome runners, whose friendship & support have kept me running, believing, working and realising my dreams in the past 3 years.

Clockwise from top left; the running shirts are respectively from:


@runningjunkies - after signing up for my first evar 4 EM  Ladies Damloop in 2011, after a successful first 5K, I stumbled upon the #runningjunkies group via #run2day @run2daynederland's FB page.  Since then I have met most of the inspiring runners, I know, some of whom I consider as friends for life.

Berlin and Amsterdam Marathon 2012
medals
on Amsterdam Running Junkies shirt

Paris Marathon
2013

12th of April
together with Running Junkies friend
before the start of Rotterdam Marathon 2015

@social_mile - I learned about this fun, crazy, focused & determined crew via a good friend @runlaugheatpie 2 years ago and ran with them as a team in last year's @marathonrotterdam.  They helped  keep the passion of marathon running in me alive this Winter while on their way to Paris

#nikerunningnl @nikerunning - on the pic collage above good friend Udjen (aka Sporting Mom)  & I are together with Churandy Martina by the first ever Nike running club run in Amsterdam.  Nike Summer challenges helped me a lot in running and finishing my first back to back marathon (Berlin and Amsterdam) in 2012.

Berlin Marathon 2012

September 2012
with my Nike+ idols
@cursorwan & @anoekv

@ the finish line
of
Berlin Marathon 2012
Look who is behind me?!
@cursorwan!

@loopmaatjes - in the first year of creating my #HappyFeetintheNetherlands blog, I was very active on Twitter in search of like minded people, who share the love for running (and blogging about their experiences!).  I found all these motivating personalities, most of whom are now good friends in a wonderful community via the #loopmaatjes platform established by a great Dutch gentleman: @marteijn.

Driedorpenloop
2013
with Pascal, whose company Bandenmaat is one of the event's sponsor
We met via Twitter during Berlin Marathon training 2012

with Mr Loopmaatjes!

2013

@themermaidclub - established almost 2 years ago by @running_mermaid (I met her while training for Berlin Marathon!) is an inspiring community of beautiful, strong, supportive women all over the world who in each of their unique ways #livelifemakewaves and help each other fulfill their dreams while fulfilling their own goals!

Helena aka
 @running_mermaid

CPC loop
2013

Summer 2014
Running because why not?! :)

Stoomtramloop 
2014

Nike Training Club event
September
2014

Last but not the least!

#meeusrunclub/#meeùsrunclub - in 2013 3 months after my injury, I won a VIP start number via #meeùs' running club.

Bredase Singelloop
October 2013

Zeveheuvelenloop
November
2013

Rotterdam Marathon
13th of April
2013

Enschede Marathon
27th of April
 2014

Dam tot damloop
September
2014

Dam tot Damloop
21st of September
2014

Posbankloop
28th of September

Meeus Clinic
for
Singelloop Breda
October 2013

Singelloop Breda

Zevenheuvelenloop
November 2014

CPC Loop
March 2015

Rotterdam Marathon
April 2014

Since then I have been privileged enough to be a part of this group running in different parts of the Netherlands and always being empowered by their support.

#Wiebrengtjouinbeweging?! #whokeepsyouactive?!  They do:#meeùsrunclub!

It is not about the pace nor the distance but it is about being outdoors and trying to do your best.  Not in competition with others but about improving yourself to stay healthy and strong.

Breda Singelloop
October 2014

Post 32K Thoughts

Photo courtesy (clockwise from left) MeeusRunClub, Tamara van der Leij
& screenshot of a local tv vid clip (see from 1:46 :) )


Below is something I wrote last Monday, originally shared @ Happy Feet in the Netherlands FB page

My Post 32K Thoughts:


Chatting with eldest daughter, who commented on my current personal FB profile pic with, "Beautiful Mom! And oh, it looks like - because of my hand/fingers! - your'e a character from Hunger Games volunteering as a tribute!"

I let out a laugh and replied, "I wished I said: may the odds be ever in your favor!" the moment it was taken. :D

Love the post runner's high.  Specially with the thought that I am closing the Road to Rotterdam Marathon adventure in a positive note.

Positive ending was unexpected because the choices I made are not the usual I choose.  I took a new risk and I felt rewarded.

The past four months were a lot of confrontation with myself: why I am running, and what it's role in my life in connection to how it affects the lives of those around me, when I work on a particular goal.

Most of the time you take a road with the expectation of reaching a particular destination, and then you get surprised by  many detours.

The detours, or the choices and decisions you make when you stand before those detours are in fact what makes you discover, how creative you can be,  what you are capable of, and what your character is made of.

You also realize the values that is most important to you.

No matter how a marathon story ends, you'll always come out changed, when you take the first step towards beginning one.

I've said this many times before: marathons, the idea behind  it, the preparation one needs to be prepared for it, the actual day, motivates me to participate more passionately in life.  I would not say it is the answer to mental health problems but for me personally it helps me - it pulls me out when I sink inside myself, and take me outdoors where I can breathe better and in the process connect not only with nature but with people.

Marathons asks a lot of personal sacrifices.  I was confronted more with this fact than in previous marathons.  This helped me do what I could not do before consistently: simplify.

As challenging and hard  mentally and physically to start, when you know you won't be on time to finish and will have to step out ( in my case at kilometer 32), I felt very satisfied with all the decisions I have made.

What more, I gained a lot of confidence back, which I have lost in the past years because of personal circumstances.

The most surprising and fulfilling moment of this marathon story is feeling accomplished even if I did not see the finish line, and nor the medal to symbolize it.

When the time comes that I am strong enough to reach the finish line of Rotterdam, the medal will not be a symbol for my strength but for me not ever giving up hope, and  believing one lives well, when you do not stop to strive & participate in life with passion.

It does not have to be a marathon for everyone but what ever makes you feel alive, something you can share with others, that it may enrich their lives positively, too.  Something that makes others better because of how you strive to make yourself be a better person.



All my previous blogs related to Marathon Rotterdam Training :

• 
  
• Monday Marathon Training Mental Prep & Last Long Distance Run

Dealing with Unfinished (Running) Business, and Recycling Goals
March Onwards to #MR15
Marathon Training in My Mind: My 25Ks & Entering the 30Ks Zone
Easy Sunday Come Back Run
The Road to Rotterdam 2015: Update!
Monday Marathon Training Recap: #MR15Reloaded
#HFNLRunDiary2015: Friday Night Run

Flevoland (HFNL AtoZ Challenge 2015)

Have you read my brief introduction to this challenge?

If not, here is the link: Introducing HFNL A to Z Challenge 2015

My personal blogging theme for this year: the places I have been in the Netherlands.  

At Happy Feet in the Netherlands (HFNL), I'll be writing about the places (which is not only limited to city, towns or villages but may also include restaurants, stores - places we go for hikes, where we sailed, or a special spot etc.) from the perspective of a runner.  

The blogs here @ My Daily Mooosings in the Netherlands on the other hand will be from a perspective of an expat, mom, traveler, writer, who seeks to simplify life.

Today, "we go to" : Flevoland, specifically to (the city of) Almere.  

The memory of a run.

My second run on the sand, @ Almere beach, Netherlands

a moment captured by mijn liefste P,
as I finished my run and Littlest welcomed me
with a big warm smile and warm embrace

This is a another Throwback post - the images above were first shared @ MDMNL in 2012.  

They were pictures from my training for my first ever Zandvoort Circuit run 2012.  I always think of Almere and Zandvoort together.  Since my preparation for Zandvoort Circuit run brought me to Almere strand (beach).

I realize just now, it's my cool connection - A to Z on my running story map! :)

This was taken from 2nd Zandvoort Circuit run.

Collage for my 1st Zandvoort Circuit run

There are a couple of interesting race events that I would like to run in Almere but so far I have not managed to do them, yet.  Amsterdam and other cities have kept me busy for 3 years.

One of the memorable longest run I did in 2012 in preparation for Berlin marathon was a 18 km,  and I ran it from the home of my sister-in-law, who lives in Almere with her family.

We were invited for a get together, and I was happy that they understood how important my Sunday run was in preparation for my first ever marathon.  They appreciated that I did drop by. I received calls while I was running because they wanted to know how I was doing along the way, and they called again to make sure I safely reached home.

I'm curious if there are places/stuff/experiences from the past, that you realize in hindsight, during this blog challenge, that are connected in a funny way to each other like my A (for Almere) and Z (Zandvoort), did?

FYI on A-Z blog challenge

Hello, readers and fellow A to Z bloggers!


I'm still very much in the A to Z blog challenge but (due to personal reasons - blog link to follow) I have been lagging behind, and have not been able to publish my 3 blogs (C-E are still in draft mode). 

Just in case you're wondering where they are after reading F - Flevoland, this is my FYI post! :)

image courtesy of
 A to Z Challenge 2015

They will all be up one by one in the next days. 

Hope you all had a great Easter weekend.

Wishing a great new week for everyone!

Den Haag (HFNL AtoZ Challenge 2015)

Have you read my brief introduction to this challenge?

If not, here is the link: Introducing HFNL A to Z Challenge 2015

My personal blogging theme for this year: the places I have been in the Netherlands.  

At Happy Feet in the Netherlands (HFNL), I'll be writing about the places (which is not only limited to city, towns or villages but may also include restaurants, stores - places we go for hikes, where we sailed, or a special spot etc.) from the perspective of a runner.  

The blogs @ My Daily Mooosings in the Netherlands on the other hand will be from a perspective of an expat, mom, traveler, writer, who seeks to simplify life.

Today, "we go to" : Den Haag - the Dutch name for The Hague.

Running in November (2014)
with the
Scheveningen pier
at the background

CPC LOOP Den Haag

For 3 years in a row I have been running the popular City-Pier-City Loop in the Hague.

Next year, I'll be running it one more time before I take a break from running a full calendar year.  More on that after the A-Z challenge!

I recommend this race to anyone abroad, who would like to try and have an experience in running in Europe, or to any runner here in the Netherlands looking for their first half-marathon to run.  

It is well organized, the crowd along the course are enthusiastic and the course is fantastic.

I am aware that most of the new readers dropping by are not runners but perhaps someone you know are? I would love to know which half-marathon in your city could you recommend? Have you cheered for a running friend or relative?

published from draft mode:

9th of April, 2015

11:14

Couch (HFNL AtoZ Challenge 2015)

Have you read my brief introduction to this challenge?

If not, here is the link: Introducing HFNL A to Z Challenge 2015

My personal blogging theme for this year: the places I have been in the Netherlands.  

At Happy Feet in the Netherlands (HFNL), I'll be writing about the places (which is not only limited to city, towns or villages but may also include restaurants, stores - places we go for hikes, where we sailed, or a special spot etc.) from the perspective of a runner.  

The blogs @ My Daily Mooosings in the Netherlands on the other hand will be from a perspective of an expat, mom, traveler, writer, who seeks to simplify life.

Today, "we go to" :  our Couch. Yup. You read it right! 

Technically, couch is "bank" in Dutch.  But since the typical training program of a beginner runner is called "The Couuch to 5K", I thought today's "C" place should be the couch.  Since it is from the couch of the Netherlands, that I finally got up and began running.

The first picture I share is of our couch, which is taken 1st of April, 2013. I shared it in my Facebook during the time we were moving to our new house.

 2013
in our
new house

I saw this couch for the first time in 2007, when I visited P before deciding to move to the Netherlands two years later. 

Since I will need more time to search for a picture from that time, I present you with the ones I have in archived in my Google images.

taken in our old flat

September, 2009

March, 1973

me on my 1st birthday sitting on my fraternal grandparent's couch

For the A-Z challenge, I'll keep this post short and will post a continuation to this topic.  

You can head over to My Daily Mooosings in the Netherlands for more pictures and stories of couch. :)

published from draft mode:

7th of April, 2015

23:49