Today was my last run of 2025. Which turned out to be a fun but cold zone 1 run in the dark.
It was freezing when I started my run, but it was still dry, so I assumed that I would warm myself after a few kilometers. After roughly 10 min it started raining, which was and stayed very cold during the entire run. But hey, I love the challenge of the elements!
2025 review
In 2025 I completed 4 marathons - which was a lot more compared to the 2 I used to do a year. Fun to look back at these events and see what I can take from this to set and improve my 2026 goals!
- Februari 2025 - Coast Marathon Nationaal Park de Hollandse Duinen:
My first trail marathon ever! Unpaved on the beach and in the dunes. Loose Sand was a challenge in the climbs, but this was soo awesome! My oldest daughter joined me for the last few hunderds meters before the finish (one of my overall highlights)
- April 2025
The Rotterdam Marathon is my hometown marathon! I trained hard for beating my older PR of 3:22 - but salt deficiency and dehydration got to me which resulted in heavy cramps. While my PR was out of reach, I had an amazing experience as 1 million supporters where there to support us runners so I had to push the pain aside and focus on finishing the Marathon!
I finished Rotterdam 2025 in 3h and 36 min.
While the event was amazing! I was not done! I had a perfect trainingscamp, no injuries and still the drive to beat my PR. So 11 days later, I took my revenge!
It was not an official race, I just closed the door behind me and started the run. While it didn’t change my official race times, it confirmed I could do this!
- November 2025 Spijkenisse Marathon
Originally I was set to act as a pacer for a friend to help him beat 4h. For me, sub 4 could be a zone 1 - zone 2 run, so I didn’t really start a real trainingscamp until my friend dropped out. 8 weeks before the race I had to start my training. I felt pretty strong so I decided to try and beat my pr and even aim for sub 3.
Strong head wind made me forget about sub 3 after 7 km. After switching to plan b - I had an amazing experience. Without too much trouble I was able to best my PR in an official race! (Official time 3:16:57)
2026 goals
I plan to do 4 races in 2026:
- Coast Marathon (februari)
- Jungfrau Swiss (september)
- sub 3 marathon (q2 / q3)
- my first ultra (q2)
Happy running!