Different ultra

The past days have been so hectic again. I spent a lot of time on the road (in trains and long distance buses) and abroad. One example being an 18 hour trip by 7 different trains from Niedernsill to Tilburg last Sunday. Or what I call My Private Ultra. Departed from Niedernsill on Sunday at 2 pm. Instead of sleepy night trip and feeling-sorry-for-myself moments, I utilised the numerous change overs and filled the time gaps by geocaching. Walked 12 km through dark cities and funny enough, arrived to the final destination on Monday morning quite rested.

As often, it is running (or walking when showers are not available) that provides some anchor in these uneasy times. And geocaching. Anywhere, anytime, anyhow.

Night cache at Dusseldorf Hbf

Camouflage

Uncovered

Early Dutch morning

One should never ever give up. Never.

Welcome to da hood

FOR MOTHERS ONLY. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

I simply could NOT resist… Jitka, thanks. I guess.

(Water) breaking news

We are proud to announce that our AprilRuns Team is now complete! Little Sophie was born this morning and both she and V are doing fine.

Btw, I am not going to run today.

4 weeks that changed my world

Tomorrow E will reach an important milestone: 4 weeks with us!

If you ask me, our life has changed in every possible way. But what’s more important: E is changing so much! Every day she looks a bit different: she grows, smiles, moves, makes noises. We still maintain a small beam of hope that she will learn to SLEEP as well…

Little by little I am thinking about the running shoes hidden deep in the dark corner of our shoe cabinet, about my running shorts (that won’t fit, I am sure) and a sweat shirt… So far my attempts to get my body back to shape remain at a low-level short stroller walks in the neighborhood but rumor goes that in the near future, a couple of running minutes each day should be doable.  Dear readers, get ready for my next post reporting on ‘How I started running again.’

Emma Rules!

It has been a little more than a week now since our life has changed forever. Little Emma is doing fine and slowly getting ready to become a big sister to our second daughter.

 

My heart beats for….

Thinking back of my biathlon years, feeling sorry for not being able to be there and keeping my fingers crossed for the Czech Team:

 

My private Janathon stats

As we left January far behind us, there is time for a small update:

Preggo running: Against all odds, I am still pregnant. We have successfully made it to week 36 and the baby is growing as cabbage. Funny enough, I now feel better, stronger and more energetic than a month ago. They say this is the sign that my body is getting ready for the hardest (ultra)marathon ever (=labor). We’ll see. Oh, by the way: 14 kg total weight gain.

Janathon: Although I have not been commenting much on your blogs, dear Janathoners, I surely was reading them, often green with jealousy every time a beautiful run was accomplished and described. The same goes for all other runners: Enjoy the mud, snow, blizzard and sweat as long as you can! Soon I will be breathing at your back again.

What will 2013 bring?

As January reaches its half, Janathoners are full in action and all other runners train and make extensive exciting plans for the upcoming season, I am sitting in my bed, taking it easy and missing all of it so much. At the same time, I am living the nicest period of my life ever: the baby seems to be developing fine, we are almost at 34 weeks and despite my fear how a huge baby head will pass through a narrow opening somewhere down there, I cannot wait to welcome her to the world.

But where does it leave my running? Shouldn’t I make plans myself too? With 12 kg additional weight (compared to summer 2012) and the weekly pregnancy gym (synonym for meetings with other preggo’s and talking about how scared/happy/excited/tired we are) being my only exercise this might be a bit of a daring proposal but here it comes:

For my 40th birthday, I’d like to give myself a marathon. It does not have to be exactly on my birthday, it does not even have to be any official race. I just feel that – providing we stay healthy – the 42.195 km distance must be within my reach this year.Hopefully now that, in the middle of my hibernation, I have posted the thought out loud, once I am physically able to re-grab my running, the motivation will come instantly.

Happy running all of you :-).

2012 at its end…

It was an excellent year, my first RUNNING YEAR. I started running on January 1 (my first 10K in many many years) and continued till the end of November when my 28 weeks pregnant body asked met to give it a break… So to show off a bit:

I did not quite make it to the magical 1000 miles marker but honestly, I am very happy with my 1565 km in 11 months. On top of it, I cycled 950 km, walked 316 km, peddled 30 km in a canoe, ice skated 76 km, swam 4 km and cross trained 100 km.

All together, the ‘moving forward’ total was 3100 km and took 340 hours. This means that with the exception of my horizontal-pregnant December, I was exercising at least an hour a day!

On top of it, in January, I exercised for 31 consecutive days (Janathon) and in June, I ran for 30 consecutive days (Juneathon). Both highly recommended events that keep you running and blogging for the entire month!

I ran a half marathon, 10 mile race, 10 km race and a 6 km race.

I was not alone: of course, the baby in my belly was there since the beginning of June, but there was V by my side and all the blogging and running friends! So thank you all for your never ending support, for kicking my ass to get moving. I owe you!

Happy New Year!

P.S. The picture does not show that I hung my running gear aside – quite the contrary:  It is hanging ready to be used any time soon…

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About the blog: 600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 6,600 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 11 years to get that many views.

Click here to see the complete report.

7 Reasons Why Not To Run

The Greek philosopher Epictetus said: “There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will.” So rather than trying to change the world, I should try to become by happy by liking the world around me, as it is.

Since running is out of picture for the foreseeable future, I was thinking of some advantages of NOT running (or moving around too much) – and listed them below in no particular order:

1. No sweaty tech-shirts and socks around the house.

2. Enough time to read books and organise my PC files and folders properly.

3. Enough time to reply to private emails and to send out Christmas cards.

4. No stress about Christmas presents/tree/dinner.

5. No dark or cold mornings (no early mornings at all).

6. No risk of injuries.

7. A moment to STOP and THINK about the most important things in my life :-).

P.S. Week 31. I am soooo happy this is just a temporary situation!