Summer?

The weather in the past week was so bad that I actually checked the calendar several times to make sure that it was indeed mid July… My evening runs were almost all wet and windy and we made no outdoor plans for the weekend as the forecast was not promising either.

But then I read 12Honza’s blog note and after I placed a comment on how other people’s action kick starts me, it seemed weird not to go out. So here is another evidence of what Honza calls the chain reaction: Saturday: 10.3 km in rain and wind; Sunday: 8 km in similar conditions plus 34 km on mountain bike on top of it.

To illustrate my words, this is a Sunday morning picture of a popular lake beach near Leiden. During regular summer weekend it would be packed:

To be completely honest with you, at times it actually stopped raining. I took this picture as we were starting the car after our run :-).

So wherever you are and whatever you do, do not complaint (it is enough that I do it!), keep running and never, never give up. The sunny days will come!

Spring Sunny Sunday at the lake

After many rainy, windy and foggy weekends, this Sunday the sun woke us up and remained shining untill we decided that indoor gym is a bit of a waste. I looked up a track around the Vlietland Lakes that I wanted to run for several weeks. I asked V to drive me there (building a subtle hint in my question): “Would you please drive me there – and maybe once we are there, if you like it, you can join me for a couple of miles?” I showed her that the oblong shape of the paths around the lakes and focused the description on the road cutting one of the lakes in two and suggested that if we parked near the middle we could start running together and decide half way how far we wanted to go. She agreed!

So we parked close to the middle of the oblong route next to a restaurant (W), undressed to short sleeves and hit the road (NE). The sun was shining and it looked like a perfect day – except that the rest of Holland dicided to discover the lakes today as well. Luckily after about 2 km into the run (N end) we found a footpath through the bushes and trees on the lake shore and continued running on it for the next 3-4 km. We were chatting and laughing and watching the people passing by, children playing on the lake shore, cyclists around. And suddenly there was the moment to decide what to do next. V looked at me and said “I am not tired, are you?” Of course I was tired like hell not either so we ran all the way to the south end and as we were turning back northwards, this conversation took place:

V (disturbed): I hear voices!

Me (disturbed more): Shall we stop? Do you want some water? Dextrose? Shall I get the car quickly?

V: No, I am okay. I wonder what the voices are…

Me (still very disturbed): Are you sure you are okay?

V: Oh, that is my iPhone talking to me.

Other than that, the run went really smoothly – no earphones in my ears but the delight of running with my partner and my best friend was better than music.

At the end we clocked almost 13 km and rewarded ourselves by fresh fruit smoothie and some shopping.  What else a girl needs?