I might not have New Year’s resolution for 2023, that doesn’t mean I don’t have any goals. Any trail running goals. Because I do have them. Three to be precise. For now. Although, I think three is enough, because one of those three goals consists of 12 trail runs. See, this year I want to run in all 12 provinces of the Netherlands. One every month.
Mud Sweat Trails came up with that concept, and I love it. They even created a Trail Run Passport. Every time you complete a trail, you get a stamp in your passport. If you have all 12 provinces complete, you get a wooden medal. How cool is that?
Perfect distance
In every state you can choose between a 15, 25 or 35 kilometers trail. 25 kilometers is kind of my distance. Long enough to get in my car, drive to another state, and discover a part of the Netherlands I don’t know, short enough not to get bored.
Don’t get me wrong, I have faith in the trail makers, and truly believe every trail will be a beautiful one. I just know my own mind. After two to 2,5 hours of running it wants some other entertainment than running. Unless I’m in the mountains, but that’s a whole other story.
Sussex ultra
My other two goals for 2023 you probably already know, as I’ve talked about them several times, but in case you missed it; the Sussex ultra and the Dolomiti Extreme Trail (DTX). The Sussex ultra is actually a test for the DTX, but because it’s my first ultra it’s a goal on its own as well.
The Sussex ultra is 52 kilometers with 1.600 meters of altitude. In the Dolomites I will run 55 kilometers and have to overcome almost 4.000 meters of altitude. Sussex is in March, the DTX in June, so I will probably run one of the 35 kilometers trails in between those races, just to make sure I have enough kilometers in my legs to be ready for the Dolomites.
With or without Sara
For now I will run the 12 provinces on my own, but who knows Sara might join me. At the Eindejaarstrail she already ran 12,5 kilometers. That’s only 2,5 kilometers less than the shortest trail run in any of the provinces. Maybe if she keeps progressing like she’s doing, she will join me somewhere in the coming year. That will be fun.
Knowing her, she probably wants to complete all 12 of them then as well. So I might run some of the 12 provinces twice. Once the 25 kilometers on my own, and once the 15 with Sara. But that’s okay. You can never have enough trail runs to look forward to.
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Image: Mud Sweat Trails
