Amsterdam Marathon 2014 Review

After much training to break 4 hours and much anticipation, no, I did not break 4 hours, so I am not entirely happy. At the same time it is a Personal Best time by a wide margin without trying too hard so I am happy. Here’s what happened, in some great details…(it might take a few readings to digest, if you really want to read and digest it all...)

Arrival to the start at the Olympic Stadium – tram and bus issues, dodgy taxis

And so the day came - 24 hours flight later, arrived on Thursday, bib expo Friday, rested like no tomorrow on Saturday. Carb-ed up with crepes and pancakes along the way, and before I knew it, it’s Sunday 19 October. Race day.

I have read in a few Amsterdam marathon reviews that public transport in Amsterdam will be in issue on race day, even though the land lady, as well as GVB.nl have both noted that the buses and trams will be running. Having had an easy 15 minute bus ride to the Stadium two days prior, my Sibling thought we could leave our place at 8AM for my 9:15AM start (9:30AM start, 9:15AM latest in your corral) – plenty of time right?  I said – um, better not. I rather be there early than late! And so we left our place at 6:50AM and hike to the bus stop terminal on Marnixistraat approximately 700m away. By the time we arrived we rocked up to the, supposedly, correct bus, we were told the bus doesn't go to the Olympic Stadium due to the marathon! Bugger! I swear I checked with GVB that it was running…

The bus driver must have felt sorry for us, and said that he will drop us off at the next stop at Leidseplein so we might be able to find a taxi (no, there are no taxi in central Amsterdam at 7AM Sunday – don’t even bother). Anyway so we got off the next stop and saw little groups of runners scattered in the area, looking lost. We asked one of these groups whether they are going to the stadium – they pointed at their notepad to the number 16 and looking confused. I gathered that they are looking for tram 16 and don’t know where to find it. It was already 7:30AM and we should really find a taxi. And so we hailed a taxi – only to be rudely shocked with a reply of “Stadium? 30 Euros”. We said: “30 Euros for 3KM?” “Ja, 30 Euros and I take you there.".

”

Sure… see ya later, buddy…We still have plenty of time to get there and are not that desperate.

I looked around and saw a large group of runners huddling at a particular tram stop. We decided to head over there and check it out. Tram 16! There it is! Unfortunately two trams went pass and they were overflowing with runners. Luckily we managed to squeeze into the third tram…

About 5 minutes later, the tram came to a halt and we were all ordered to get out. Huh? We were still 1KM from the Stadium! “Final Stop!”…

So all the runners reluctantly got out and slowly walked to the Stadium.  By the time we arrived it was already 8AM – 1 hour before we have to be at the Stadium.

Pre-race: spectators, toilets, crowds stuck at the entry to the Stadium

Our 8AM arrival was actually perfectly timed. The crowd was relatively sparse and I was able to walk over to the baggage leave area and be served straight away. We then head into the Stadium and parked ourselves somewhere so we can get ourselves organised. There was an entrance for marathon runners only, and another one for spectators. Both were cleared of crowd at this point in time. We thought – ar, it will be a small crowd. Awesome. We bummed around the spectator area, took some happy snaps…we had a clear view of the start below and it was virtually empty.  There’s really no point going in early as it was a cold windy day and you will seriously freeze if you go down to the pitch right now (runners are not allow to take their clothes with them inside the Stadium).

Around 8:45AM I see people gradually coming inside the stadium and so I said to my sibling – let’s go and start queuing for the toilet, and I will pass you my jacket after I am done…

We made our way down the stadium and were smacked in the face with the incredible crowd. It was…body to body human crowd. We found the toilet queue eventually and my sibling said: “I might as well go too – by the time we get to the toilet it will be my start time!” She wasn't too far from the truth. By the time we done our business, it was 9:15AM. Yes, we have queued 30 minutes for the loo.

I didn't have to look too far for the marathon running crowd as they were only a body length away from the toilet queue. I passed my jumper to my sibling and said – no, I won’t be cold in this crowd…and see you in a few hours!

This year they were trying to be extra secure with the entry to the Stadium, and decided to check all 18,000 runners…until it was 9:28AM and they decided to abandon all search protocol and just let everyone in. It was crazy. Coming from small town Sydney, Australia, I have never seen such a crazy crowd except at Boxing Day sales!

And so we were inside the Stadium. I think the race was delayed because of the crowd situation. The gun didn't go off until 9:35am-ish for the Elite runners. Anyway and so the race started.

Crowded start, can’t see the Pacer, can’t see my start pen, sub 4 aim faded before I even started

For this race I have signed myself in the 3:30 to 4:00 pen. On hindsight I should have situated myself either later or earlier to avoid this crazy crowd. The crowd in my pen was ridiculous. Being a short person is no help when you are surrounded by tall people. I have read reviews that it is the most crowded pen you can be in (it was too late to change of course!). My hope of a sub 4 hour marathon faded long before I even started running. I can't even see the 4:00 pacer. Bugger. This pen was spilling with people – the only way I knew it was the right pen was through looking at the bib of people around me (that wasn't hard – I was at most people waist level!

Eventually we started moving – it seemed that by the time we moved all the later pens also moved – it seems they somehow decided to release everyone from 3:30 onward together.  There was a slow, 300m walk till you start. I looked around the magnificent Olympic Stadium, took a deep breathe and went wow, let's go!

0-5KM - disastrous start

And so I started running. Everything felt fine, except I was too way slow. My first km was in the 6minutes per K zone which was way too slow. The second km was not much better at 5:50. I was telling myself - Come on – break through the crowd or you won't make it...I need to be at 5:45! Before I know it, the lane narrows and people started running alongside each other, forming a human barricade. It was impossible to pass though. Well you can, but with some massive shoving and zigzagging (= wasted energy) – there was no point. Before I know it was already 5km drink station. And it was a mess. My split then slowed to around 7mins/K! Swimming though the crowd...goodness! Finishing the first 5km in 29:52 was already too much to catch up. I knew I had to re-evaluate my goal now. At this rate I will come in around 4:12-4:15. I will try to negative split too but it won’t save my disastrous start.

6-10KM

Not much I can do about the crowd – I just cruised along and break away if it flows well with my rhythm. The scenery is not great in the first 10K – it’s mainly a lap just outside the outer ring of Amsterdam so it’s fairly industrial – you sort of come back towards the Stadium before heading out to the Amstel.

11-25KM - Amstel

Around the 13 - 15km mark I came across three guys that was dressed in silver overalls (looked a bit like condoms....). They were going around 5:25 min/k pace. And people were clearing the lane for them as they were very distinctive and were running together (hello windbreak!) I decided to stalk them and managed to pick up some speed for around 2km. However, all of a sudden, one of the guys slowed down and called out the others. I overtook them and that was the last time I ever saw them. (I managed to googled "silver dudes at Amsterdam Marathon 2014 and found them here: http://www.fritsvaneck.nl/TCS%20AMSTERDAM%20MARATHON%202014/tcs.tcs.html)

Thanks for my slightly faster 2KM guys...

Unfortunately it was also the last time I managed to run at a good speed along this segment. Without these guys to clear the lane, the narrow lanes along the Amstel were impassable. I was also getting very cold from the crosswind and rain as I was slowing down to a training run pace. What was left of the Dutch sunshine is now grey and rainy.

However, the crowd was ever so cheerful, even along this remote part of the course in such adverse weather. I received many Go Sydney Striders! callouts. I also took time to admire the plush green pastures and larger farm houses along the Amstel. The Dutch cows were as cute as they are in paintings.

25-35km

The weather improved somewhat as we exited the Amstel and I have finally warmed up a bit. There were also 4 drink stations along this stretch so it also coincided with being my slowest splits in this race. I like the drink stations here – you get bananas, AA gels (banana flavoured!), lemonade flavoured electrolyte drinks, water, and sponges. Sydney and Canberra, take note! I kind of wished they have chocolates too but then I would have been even slower because I would wanted to eat all of them!

35-42.2KM

As usual in the mid-pack in most marathons, there will be people starting to walk and stretch here. At this point the course also widened and I was able to cruise. I am feeling ridiculously happy at this stage and I am pretty sure it was predominately 'Runner’s High". I was also ecstatic that people were cheering me on through calling both my club’s name and my name - our names are on our bib – wonder if that was for cheering purpose? I guess also people were fascinated that an Australian will be here in Amsterdam. This stretch of road has the best atmosphere. I am not sure whether it was because it was near the end of the course, or because we pass the Heineken Brewery!

The finish was spectacular - you run inside the Olympic Stadium where you look up and there was the crowd! The track too felt very nice and soft. Heehaa!!! For a split moment you feel like you are an Olympian!!!

I finished at 4:13, with an average pace was 5:53 (yes I ran a bit more than the required 42.2km – value for money aye? :p)

Course and conclusion

It is a great flat, fast, out and back course - no obvious hills (there was a baby 'hill' at 37km, but given I am from a place full of hills...), and reasonably good scenery.

It was unfortunate that I wasn’t able to break 4 hours here, but at least I am one step closer to a sub 4 - and 4:13 isn’t bad - it was a massive improvement of 19 minutes from my last run in HK so I am happy. And guess what? It qualifies me for the 6 Foot Track Marathon in March 2015! Hooray!

That blow up dude again...