Goal: race a sub 3:45 marathon so I can put in a good for age entry for the 2020 London Marathon.

I did the training and I was ready. Especially motivated after watching Kipchoge make history the weekend before as the first person to run a sub two-hour marathon. It was incredible watching him run… making a 2:50 min/km pace look easy.

To break 3:45, I’d have to run 42km at a pace of 5:19 min/km. My PB (personal best) at this distance is 3:55 (pace of 5:35 min/km).

I may have been a little too motivated and excited to race, because I shot off start line averaging 5:10 min/km splits for the first 25 kms…If I kept it up though I would have SMASHED by PB. But to no ones surprise but mine, I dropped to a crawling pace of 5:35-5:45 and absolutely struggled to get across that line.

I ended up with a PB, but I didn’t break 3:45.

Finish time: 3:49:32

We had a great crew at Amsterdam Marathon. Dan raced, our #KOTWF coach SV+ the entire Babbs family haha Everyone supported each other and we had an incredible time celebrating the night after.

With extremely stiff legs next morning it was interesting trying to get ourselves and our luggage down the steep stairs. We stayed in a flat on the 4th floor of a dutch townhouse. We had to separately go down the stairs on our butt and then pass the luggage down each floor. It was a sight for sore eyes.

Dan and I were off to the Philippines the next day – I would not advise a 20 hr flight after racing a marathon. We were still so stiff when we got off the plane in Manila.

BUT, we flew business class so NO COMPLAINTS! haha