Me vs Running: Part 4 - Nike Women's 10km Amsterdam recap
Euphoric, thrilled, relieved, slightly disappointed that it’s over. Words almost can’t describe it: I did it, together with 6000 other Fit Girls – I ran the Nike Women’s 10km Amsterdam!
A few weeks ago I started my journey towards the Nike Women’s 10km Amsterdam. I messed up with my very first training and got injured. Last week I was excited though very nervous because I was not sure if I would make it the 16th – since I’ve injured my knee almost 10 weeks ago, I ran twice more, with an average pace of 6”15, ugh. Because I’m too stubborn and I wanted to do the race anyways, I promised myself to just do it (hah, get it?) on turtle pace and just enjoy the whole experience. Well, I definitely enjoyed it!
The before
The energy was insane - before, during and after the race. In the Race Village you could get pretty temporary tattoos, have a nice snack or drink or you could go see a physiotherapist. The race started a little later than expected, and we - Tiziana, Aranka, Anna, Roos, Iris, Alicia, Ilrish and me - were all anxious to finally get going! Try to spot me in the above pic and just look at the expression on my face haha – I really wanted to just go. As soon as we finally did get the GO, everyone started sprinting like crazy. That was extremely discouraging for me as I had to go slow. I forced myself to start slow because the most important thing for me was to finish the damn thing, no matter what pace!
The during
The route was amazing. The crowd was amazing. There was music and a lot of cheering. My absolute highlight was a line of kids high fiving me – that was so cute and encouraging haha. At first everyone was passing me by. Frustrating but at the same time I was thinking ah well, maybe see you later. And I did, even though my legs were soo heavy (I already did a PowerPilates class and around 20km of biking on the same day). For me it was satisfying that I was catching up, but at the same time I tried to drag girls with me. At one point there was a girl that stopped at 9km and I was yelling at her like, hell no! We can do this last km! My feet were hurting, my legs were hurting, everything was tired. I even got blisters (not smart to wear almost-new shoes haha), oops.
The finish line!
The last kilometer felt like there was no end to it, bwoah. That feeling passing the finish line though.. Indescribable. Getting into the Olympic Stadion was surreal, it was such a rush, there were so many people and there was so much noise, I pushed myself and I even got a little sprint out. After that things became a bit blurry haha, so many girls, but with this insanely energetic atmosphere, it was almost overwhelming. I made it within the hour - untrained and with injury. I'm so damn proud! PR's were smashed, sweat dripping of everybody's faces. We did it!
Now what?
After the race I (finally) saw a physiotherapist who advised me on my injury. Turns out the pain in my right knee is caused due to severe overexertion and it is not solved by just resting, but needs special massaging. Right now I'm kind of angry at myself because I'll go on holiday in a week and then I will move to Berlin for a month. So ladies please don't be stubborn when you have an injury but go see a physiotherapist right away!
So what's next? I will try to visit a physiotherapist so I can be prepared better for the Berlin race, but this will be a bit tricky. Extremely excited for the Nike Women's 10km Berlin however! I will keep you posted :)
