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That was my thought when I carefully started looking into running a marathon. A whole!

That was my thought when I carefully started looking into running a marathon. A whole!

I had no background in running or other endurance sports. And yet something tickled. I wanted to do something big. Something I could look back on afterwards with pride and satisfaction. It became the Eindhoven marathon that I ran in October 2019.

At the beginning of the preparation I knew it was not wise to do this all alone. That's why I asked an experienced runner to make a training plan for me and give me some pointers. I bought a pair of shoes at a specialty store after a gait analysis and so I went from 0 to 42 in one year.

But yes, after a marathon I quickly wanted more. So there was another marathon, and then another. It remained fun and the satisfaction did not diminish. It was corona time and I often went running with friends. They also did cycling and they thought I would like that too. I didn't think so, but luckily they were right.

I went on nice rides with a bicycle from Marktplaats. What corona has also done to people is that they have started to form dreams. We did that too and came up with the ambitious plan to do the Maastricht Ironman 70.3. Almost impossible, it seemed so big. And yet, with the motto from the first sentence in mind, I signed up.

I took a course to learn the front crawl properly, and did my very first OD in June 2021, followed by the Ironman 70.3 in August. What a party, how cool and how well it went! It released such a great sense of fun and energy in me! This was really my sport! And yes, as ambitious as I am, an entire Ironman seemed like the ultimate challenge.

In the meantime, I had joined a triathlon club to train better and learn from the experiences of others. That was a golden move. For the first Ironman, I came up with a schedule myself using everything I read on the internet and heard from my fellow club members. I didn't make it easy for myself and after 8 months I was ready to blast at the Ironman Cascais 2022.

My goals: have a nice day and finish. With a smile from ear to ear, I flew in and out of the water, over the cycling and running course and finally across the finish line with my hands up. What an experience!

And now? Where do the dreams end?
I hope never, because every race is different, just like every day is different and your body can change. What will hopefully always remain is the fun, the feeling of enthusiasm and encouraging each other's achievements #FINDYOURBEST

August 19 is circled on my calendar. Then I start Ironman Kalmar. An experienced clubmate helped me during the preparation and that gives me a lot of confidence to not only have a fun day, but also to put in a good and competitive performance this time.

Who knows, it may one day take me to a volcanic island, but we'll see. The fun remains, it only increases. And as an ambassador of TriathlonWorld, I hope to convey exactly that!

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TriathlonWorld Ambassadeur