Not Quite as Quick as the Ethiopians

It has been marathon day in Amsterdam, with the annual race snaking through the City. The chance to run through the falling leaves on a crisp Autumn morning under a fabulous blue sky was certainly inviting, but I definitely didn't want to run 42km for the privilege. Luckily there were other options for mere mortals like myself - and I signed up for a nice little 10km, which meant I was home lying in a steaming bathtub by midday. It was worth the effort to finish in the Olympic Stadium (with the theme tune from 'Chariots of Fire' playing in my head) and I managed to drag myself over the finish line after 58 mins, which was better than expected.

Peter was braver and went for the 21km (half marathon) option in the afternoon. He did look funny as he left home - I made him an outfit out of a grey plastic bin bag (with holes for his head and arms) to keep him warm (he didn't want to queue to leave a bag of pre-race warm up clothes so the disposable outfit seemed sensible). He borrowed my bike because his has a flat tyre. Seeing him cycling off on a bike with a big sunflower on the front wearing a plastic dress was very amusing.

Later on, I proudly watched him from behind the crash barrier as he casually powered up the Stadshouderskade (bin bag now discarded and looking significantly cooler). It was hard to imagine that he'd already done around 18km. He finished in 1 hour 52 mins, an excellent result. There's no stopping him now, and I'm getting nervous that he'll start signing us up for marathons soon.

And just to stop us all from getting too pleased with ourselves....
The winner, Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia, ran the full 42km marathon in 2 hours and 6 mins at an average speed of over 20 kph. That's TWICE as fast as I ran (and I only did a quarter of the distance). Incredible!