I did it. 25 kilometers in the pocket. It took me almost 3,5 hours, but that had a reason. I’ll tell you in a minute. Next up; 27.5 kilometers at the Smokkelaars Trail in Twente. I’m ready.

So yes, 3,5 hours to do 25 kilometers, that’s quite a lot. Especially, because I’ve run a half trail marathon in 2 hours. The reason is simple, I stopped a lot of times. Not because I was tired, but because I was taking pictures and videos for Instagram stories.

Instagram Stories

I thought it would be fun to share my attempt to break my distance record on Instagram. So, last night I announced it, and today I reported every 5 kilometers how I was doing. In between I shot some extra videos of nice parts of the trail; big mushrooms and other nice things I came across.

I don’t know if it was because I stopped so much but I didn’t have any problems up until 15 kilometers. Between 15 and 20 kilometers my legs felt a bit tired. After 20 kilometers, strangely enough, they felt fine again. Just the last kilometer was hard.

No podcasts

I didn’t listen to any podcasts on the way, except for the last couple of minutes. At the start I had my headphones on, but nothing was playing on my phone, so after a couple of kilometers I just put my headphones in my trail run vest. I was just too focused on navigating my way. Plus half of the trail was new. So there was just too much to look at.

Now I’m on the sofa. Feet up. This afternoon we went to the garden center to look at some new trees. My parents are giving both me and Sara a tree for our birthday. I love gifts like that.

No injuries

My legs feel fine. A bit strained. My right ankle feels absolutely fine. My left ankle hurts a bit, but it doesn’t feel like a nervous injury. More like it has taken a beating.

I will be nice for my ankles in the coming week. I don’t have big running plans. I’m thinking of just running with Sara, now I have this 25 kilometers in the pocket. I train in blocks of 4 weeks. An intense week, a medium week, another intense week and an easy week. Next week is an easy week.

Well, not totally easy. Next Sunday I’m running the Duinen Trail in Schoorl. But that trail is only 17 kilometer. That’s a hair’s breadth.