Dutch Running Weekend

Friday afternoon and a quick drive to the airport and walk to the recently renovated Terminal 2.

Obviously my gate, gate 11 was at the furthest point from the departure lounge.

First time flying KLM and very impressed with the complementary inflight snacks and drinks. The flight only lasted 50 minutes so had to be quick!

Arrived at Schiphol and made my way through the endless shops to the arrivals hall where Matt and Esther were waiting with their friends Connie and Matt.

Matt had pre booked a lovely hire car.

The accommodation ‘Tulip House’ in Noordwijkerhout was about 30 minutes away from Schiphol airport. Parking was close by but to reach the house the instructions routed us through the woods. Quite daunting in the dark.

Tired and peckish we found some excellent snacks and a couple of beers at a local bar.

Up early Saturday morning for the parkrun in The Hague. The flower fields nearby were stunning. Stopped off in Aldi to pick up some pastries for breakfast.

Zuiderpark proved a lovely flat parkrun. Briefings were held in English and Dutch. The British contingent outnumbered other nationalities. Surprisingly nobody had finished their parkrun alphabet challenge.

After refreshments in the local sports club we returned to the house to freshen up before venturing out to Amsterdam.

The bus stop was a 20 minute walk from the town. After a short bus ride to the station we caught the train to the outskirts of Amsterdam. We happened to be there whilst the central station was closed for maintenance work. So the final leg of the journey was by tram.

As we were all ravenous we lunched first before passing an enjoyable afternoon exploring the city.

Early evening we travelled back via tram, train and bus, alighting in the central of Noordwijkerhout

Another long but enjoyable day.

Sunday morning and up bright and early to check out and drive to Zandvoort.

I was very apprehensive about my race in Zandvoort. After parking at the park and ride the others decided to breakfast at McDonalds. As my race was earlier I caught the shuttle to the track. I still needed to pick up my race number. I fortunately made the start line with a few minutes to spare.

I needn’t have been so anxious about the event as the majority of participants in my group were of a similar level.

My race was one lap of the race track.

Afterwards, time to freshen up and explore the events village and enjoying local delicacies.

I wandered back to the track to look out for Matt and Esther, who were running a 12km event. A more demanding run, a circuit of the track before going out and around the town and then across the beach before heading back to the finish line at the track.