So, my Amsterdam half-marathon. I'd describe it as a bit of a mixed bag. I was really hoping to run a sub-5:00m/km - somewhere around the 01:45 mark. I latched onto the 01:40 pacer and ran with the group for the first 11km. Running solid splits. Dropped the pace a bit after that, but around the 15km mark the wheels really came off the bus. Shuffled to the finish line. Ended up with a 1:52:49. I'm still somewhat satisfied with a sub-2:00 for my first half. This weekend is the Brussels marathon, so I'm hoping I can improve on my time, although I think there will be more elevation gain/loss than in AMS. On a side-note: had a really crappy experience yesterday morning. My wife and I booked into the Savoy Hotel in AMS (man, the hotels absolutely fleece you during the marathon weekend). Nothing fancy. We were on the top floor, which has a small courtyard connecting the rooms, where smokers can light up and what not. When we got into the room, I cracked the window for some fresh air and forgot about it. 05:30 yesterday I skrik wakker to the sound of someone pulling our curtains back. I fly out of the bed, primal screaming at 11, rush to the window, half ripping the curtains from the railings as I pull them back and see some f*cking **** getting ready to climb into our room. I scream at the oke and he tells me he was "just looking for the toilet". Guy had completely opened the window, pulled back the side curtain and was in the process of pulling back the main curtains. Guy also seemed sober, not like some drunk/high person not knowing what they were doing. Didn't really sleep after that.
