Hardeloop in Dutch means, literally,
hard course. The runners here call themselves hardelopers, and we wanted to join them once more before we leave Holland. This run was held on Saturday afternoon which allowed us a lazy morning at home. Everyone appreciated me not rousting them out of bed at 6am to go touring! Especially two job Jerry, who cooked egg sandwiches to fortify the runners. The sun was shining,hooray, and we had a blue,blue sky with high puffy clouds, just gorgeous, and a temp of around 72, PERFECT for a run! We ran the
Kadeloop Schipluiden with choices of 5K and 12K for the adults and a junior 2K run for 7-12 jar, and a kinder run for 3-6 jar. Everyone runs in this country! Danny opted for the junior this time, and it was really fun for us to cheer Danny on for a change! And cheer we did, loudly, American style, as Danny blew in at 14th out of 200, with a time of
9:11. All the kids got medals as they crossed the line and a free fresh scooped icecream cone! About 45 minutes later Molly headed to the front of the start and Charlotte, Jerry and I arranges ourselves in the rear and Danny headed out with the camera to shoot our efforts. After 5 minutes of announcements in Dutch which of course we had no idea what was being said ("please avoid the wild bulls in the second kilometre", the windmill blades drift over the path near the end?!") we recognized the universal signal of the gun and we were off. The course was very nice, with a bit through the little village, out on the spongy bike lane surface with fields surrounding us full of cows and horses, then on to a tow path where we ran single file(indian run!) along a canal with a huge windmill on it and pleasure boats cruising by. At the 2K mark Molly headed straight onward to attempt her first 12K, and the rest of us not-crazy folks headed right... I finished first in our group with my best time in a while 28:10, Charlotte finished strong with a 29:08 and Jerry got a PR 34:07! After I was done gasping and guzzling water we stationed ourselves to cheer Molly on. And man did she look amazing! She had great form and attitude as she passed by, and even did her Molly kick and passed a couple of men in the last 80 metres! Danny presented her with his medal which was so cute! We headed back to the sport complex where everyone hangs out after the races. Over here everyone socializes for an hour or so and the atmosphere is so friendly and fun! They were out of shirts(grrrr) when we got there, but Molly, with Jerry's help, convinced a member of a running club to give her his shirt so she has a memorial of her first 12K. You can turn in your shoe chip for a beer or a diet coke and sit around and gloat over how great you are to have run a race..which we did! Excellent race,Great fun!
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| fresh as Daisy's and ready to run! |
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| The start of Danny's race |
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| time 9:11! |
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| the sisters are so proud! |
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| the next group warms up |
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| Charlotte heading out.. |
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| off we go Danny, see you soon?! |
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| Jerry positions himself for a great race |
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| coming to the finish(I took both gals!) |
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| on his way to a PR |
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| we're done! |
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| Molly coming in, she is far back,in red... |
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| moving in to start the kick... |
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| can she kick after 12K....YES she can! |
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| excuse me guys, comin through! |
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| finish in 1:14:00 |
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| Danny gave his medal to Molly |
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| I did it! |
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| Molly setting up the Dutch branch of her fan club! |
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| representing SO in another race, we are so proud to do this |
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| what the race looked like |
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| free icecream |
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molly coming down the canal at about 11K
Molly on her way to the finish...
sorry my pics are a bit haphazardly arranged, I hope you enjoy them!
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