Leiden marathon
May 18th, 2009
After two months of training, yesterday finally brought the long anticipated 10k at the Leiden Marathon. At the start of the run I realized I had only ever run this distance once at the 3 Molen Loop in April. I finished that one in 53:43 and I wanted to set a new PR on this 10k.
My parents came over for support, and after we biked into the center (and witnessing a driver being yelled at because she was driving on the route and seriously got in the way of a group of runners) I collected my number at the Pieterskerk and I queued up at the start. There were about 5000 other runners on this distance, creating a wonderful atmosphere of sportive rapport.
The run itself was not very easy, as the route was full of bends and bumps, and it was rather crowded. There were people all along the route to cheer everybody along, and they certainly helped. Seeing the familiar face of Hanjo at the 5k point also gave me spurt of energy. At the 7k mark, one street was covered in garlands and a band was playing, and we were cheered along by a lot of people offering wet sponges and water. The remaining 3k were not as hard 
Thanks to everybody at the Jacob Catslaan!
I finished in 53:20, which is a new PR! I might have been faster, but I am quite pleased.
My name is Marco Hokke. My blog is about the things that interest me and things I might forget if I would not blog them.
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