42.195 in 3h 20 min | bounce back marathon

Hi all, welcome back here at my running blog! 11 days ago I ran the NN Marathon Rotterdam 2025. I had an amazing event with the best supporters in the Netherlands.

Every marathon is a journey where you will experience some difficulties - this is one of the best things of a marathon as it gives you the opportunity for personal growth. If you can face the difficulties and push through so you finish the distance you already won! In Rotterdam my difficulty was salt deficiency and heavy cramps as a result. The experience was amazing. I also had a time goal in my mind 3:22:00 which was according to my training achievable. On the 13th of April I was not able to reach my time goal.

The days after the marathon I noticed I was still strong and was confident in my hard trainingsplan. I decided to give it another go today where I better prepared myself for to avoid cramps (salt sticks electrolytes work like a charm!).

Today was the day, running in heavy rain, and sometimes in the sun gave me perfect circumstances to avoid overheating. The run went very smooth - I was able to maintain a steady pace up until 39 km , where it started to get a bit more difficult - but pushing through was fun!

While I look back at a very fun and successful marathon Rotterdam - being also able to reach the goal time and set a new (unofficial) personal record is just a huge reward for a rock hard trainingscamp!

Happy running!