tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-51403732009-03-02T05:52:06.474+01:00Expat Runner In ZwolleLife as an expatriot living and running in the beautiful town of Zwolle, the Netherlands.Debbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06309712607740704777noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5140373.post-1166534741772669822006-12-19T14:03:00.000+01:002006-12-19T14:27:12.790+01:00One Leg ShorterFirst a little history: as you may recall, I went to a physiotherapist a few months back for help with a backache. I also explained to him that I often get pain in the Achilles area. He massaged me, cracked some bones, and examined my posture. He told me something I know: I have a massive sway back. He also told me something I didn't know: that my left leg was, by his eyesight, 8 Debbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06309712607740704777noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5140373.post-1165778528048043152006-12-10T19:56:00.000+01:002006-12-10T20:24:30.426+01:00Sunday Training in the ForestHad a pretty awesome 18k/11mile run today. It was our last long run before the Ameland Half Marathon next Saturday.The day was sooo beautiful: cold, clear, frost covering the shrubs and leaves. I was picked up by my friend Roelof and met the others at the carpool place. From there we drove out to someplace in Hattem (I never pay attention) and began our run. It's hardDebbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06309712607740704777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5140373.post-1165480822162093252006-12-07T08:44:00.000+01:002006-12-07T10:46:58.893+01:00Running Is Better Than A DietOK... Want to see the old Debbie and the new? I dug around in the ole photo albums, online and off, and have a few good ones.The top photo is my first race ever. It was a 10K in July of 2003 (I think), in Las Vegas, called Fun In The Sun. Let's just say I nearly died in the sun. My weight was 165 pounds/75 kilograms.The middle photo is selected as a comparison. It wasDebbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06309712607740704777noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5140373.post-1165171431401589682006-12-03T19:33:00.000+01:002006-12-03T19:55:15.290+01:00This picture is from my 1st race with the Railrunners: Sintloop 2005Sintloop 2006Well, let's see. As I write this, I'm a little down actually. Is it alright to admit that? I just went to the website for this race and saw my race time from last year: 59 minutes 11 seconds. Today I ran 1 hour 45 seconds. I had actually forgot my time from last year. Somehow remembered it as 1 hour 5 minutes. Today Debbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06309712607740704777noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5140373.post-1164550549967042172006-11-26T14:55:00.000+01:002006-11-26T19:24:20.083+01:00PARTY TIME: Fun with Runners - without RunningLast night The Railrunners celebrated the 25th wedding anniversary of Coach Nico. It was a big party: there were family and friends, Railrunners old and new, active and not so active. My friend Marc, who is recovering from back surgery, was there. It was great to see him. For just having major surgery, he looked fantastic. And speaking of fantastic...Debbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06309712607740704777noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5140373.post-1163960551606668732006-11-19T19:16:00.000+01:002006-11-19T21:03:50.243+01:001. Andre, Debbie, and Jurrie2. Cheering on Coach Jan as he finishes the full Marathon3. Overview of the island4. Click on the blue field to see us at the train station... don't know why it doesn't show on this page5. Railrunner Terschelling group shotRead the following 2 entries for the full Terschelling rundown...Debbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06309712607740704777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5140373.post-1163947751845037722006-11-19T15:22:00.000+01:002006-11-19T18:58:31.730+01:00The RaceSorry for taking so long to post this. Anyway, the half marathon was pretty awesome. I woke up that morning feeling about 90% healthy and the excitement of running a race put me over the top. I tend to get pretty giddy once I safety pin my number to my chest. I just love that feeling.The nice thing about the start of the day was realizing that the race did not begin until 1 pm. We had a Debbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06309712607740704777noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5140373.post-1163407025201577482006-11-13T09:07:00.000+01:002006-11-19T15:17:37.946+01:00TerschellingHad a really great/interesting Half Marathon in Terschelling, a small island of the northern coast of the Netherlands. The story of the race will be in a couple of posts... there's so much to report. Because unlike regular races where you just show up, run, and go home, this was a race that most of my team made a trip out of.I left from Zwolle on the Friday following my Halloween Debbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06309712607740704777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5140373.post-1162147127954180502006-10-29T19:38:00.000+01:002006-10-29T21:01:44.903+01:0015 KilometersHad a nice little race today. We kept it at an easy 8 minute per mile pace to run the 15k in 1 hour 19 minutes. I felt pretty good. I knew I'd be a little off, this being my first long run in 2 weeks, after my Achilles injury and jaw surgery. It was also a trial run of some new things I'm doing.Last week I went to a different physiotherapist, who is a little more like a chiropractor.Debbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06309712607740704777noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5140373.post-1161243739063605622006-10-19T09:15:00.000+02:002006-10-20T12:58:23.216+02:00One pain and then another. My leg is healed but my jaw... whooooo boy.The procedure begins with massive shots from a very industrial looking soviet type needle. Totally cringe-worthy. See, the thing about Holland is that it's like half Liberal Utopia and half Communist Russia. Liberal examples: legal pot smoking, co-ed naked spas, gay marriage. Communist Russian examples: industrial engineering Debbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06309712607740704777noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5140373.post-1160912508047342742006-10-15T13:31:00.000+02:002006-10-15T13:41:48.056+02:00Interesting news. I think I found the root cause of my on again/off again left Achilles problem. This week I visited a physical therapist to diagnose and treat a lower back spasm. This I also deal with 1 to 3 times a year, and this spasm also always begins on my left side. After feeling around my hips and butt bones, she declared that the problem was in the way my left butt bone fits over my leftDebbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06309712607740704777noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5140373.post-1160628319421897062006-10-12T06:39:00.000+02:002006-10-12T06:47:11.713+02:00Good news... The leg is getting better. I can walk fairly decently now. It's still stiff, though, so I'm still being careful. To compensate for the days off running, I hit the gym yesterday, did a half hour of biking and an hour of weights. I still really missed being with the team. Yesterday they did pyramid intervals: 500 meters, 1000 meters, 1500 meters, 1500, 1000, 500. Sounded really fun. Debbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06309712607740704777noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5140373.post-1160487044912155522006-10-10T15:25:00.000+02:002006-10-10T15:31:43.723+02:00Ok ok OK! God how many times do I need to learn the same lesson all over again?!? Lesson: if I wake up and have a slight sharp pain in my calf - TAKE THE DAY OFF! So now instead of just taking one day off, I will probably not run for a week. Today is Tuesday and I'm still laid up, leg on ice or limping around the house. Uggh...Debbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06309712607740704777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5140373.post-1160307067611549502006-10-08T13:14:00.000+02:002006-10-09T06:35:30.713+02:00Had a great run in the rain and wind the other day. You know, when I'm sitting in the warm confines of my house, with the clouds gathering and the branches bending... I soooooo don't want to get out there and deal with the weather. But once I'm out in it, I love it. Go figure. The evening was actually beautiful, with hard swirling wind up on the dike. I and three of my teammates ran through the Debbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06309712607740704777noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5140373.post-1160144506831867942006-10-06T16:16:00.000+02:002006-10-06T16:21:46.833+02:00Well I'm enjoying a nice cold rainy Autumn day. Have a long tempo run scheduled tonight and I'm wondering who on my team is gonna show up. Now, my Dutch runner friends tend to ignore all sorts of elements when they run. If you are afraid of rain, cold, slick surfaces, snow, or mud... don't come to Holland. Actually, it's sort of fun, once you get over the initial discomfort.Debbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06309712607740704777noreply@blogger.com0