I hereby declare...

I hereby declare the end of my sport activities this year. Time to have a quick look back at 2012, and to start planning new goals and challenges for the year to come.

In general lines, 2012 was the year to run faster and to get some serious training done. In the first half of the year I basically did the same as the year before: run, run, run, without specific training schedule. Still, I could already notice some improvement in my times. From July on, I joined the Hagelandse Running Club (HRC), what brought structure to my training and more motivation to keep on running.

Summary of 2012:

The year of my 2 best marathon performances so far: Stockholm (June 2012) in 3h14m08s; Amsterdam (October 2012) in 3h00m27s.

The year of breaking PRs in “short” distances also: I broke my personal record for the 10km twice. First in Tessenderlo (July): 37m20s. Then, in Hasselt 2 weeks before the Amsterdam Marathon (October): 36m37s.

The year of the crazy Bike&Run: ran 33km of the Bike&Run course (from Louvain-la-Neuve to Leuven) carrying/pushing a bike with a flat tire. I got a flat tire in the first km, and it was either leaving the bike behind or taking it with me. Since the thing with the flat tire had messed up my race (and the strategy my team mate and I had) anyway, taking the bike back to Leuven myself while running seemed a good enough challenge.

The year of crossing a finish line as first: for the first time (and probably only time) in this life, I got to finish a race in first. “'t is voor niks loop” in Geldrop (November 2012).

The year of the “almost”: I almost went under the 3 hours in a marathon, but unfortunately I was (at least) 28s too late at the finish line in Amsterdam. I did not know if I should be happy or frustrated about my performance. Eventually I decided for “happy”.

The year of “peaking” and “not peaking anymore”: In October, month of the Amsterdam marathon, my running condition was really peaking. After the marathon I took some rest and I am now starting to build up again. I still feel quite fit, but the last two races I ran showed that I am slightly slower now than in October, what is normal I suppose.

The year of setting new challenges: I entered the Hamburg Marathon 2013. Training will be planned to try to get me to the finish in somewhere around 2h54m59s. Let's see what happens.

Now, let 2013 come :-)