Once again, I am sacrificing a few vacation days to play outside by myself. This introduction is about the preparation for the trip. The choices, the fears, and an emerging injury.
Because of the length of the story, I decided to break it up into five parts:
- Part 1: the preparation, running holiday in Limburg
- Part 2: running via the German Brüggen to Venlo
- Part 3: fires between Swalmen and Roermond
- Part 4: passage from Herkenbosch to Roermond
- Part 5: flowers everywhere between Venlo and Arcen
Last year, I had a lot of fun running the Krijtlandpad, completely thrown back on myself. This year too, there are still strict restrictions on what can and cannot be done when travelling. A month or two ago I therefore thought it would be a good idea to plan a new adventure. But where?
Making plans
One of the great things about holidays is the anticipation. On normal holidays I look at thousands of possibilities, read all about what there is to do, and once at the spot, I do something completely random which has nothing to do with the original plan. In this case, however, there had to be enough opportunities nearby to run. That did not make the choice an easy one.
At first the Dutch Mountain Trail seemed interesting to me. The highest hilltops in the Netherlands and clearly not something that resembles my normal surroundings. Also, by now I had a weakness for the Limburg landscape. But the route had two major drawbacks: it goes partly through Germany and Belgium and there are extremely many people who are now running – and hiking – it because the route has just been released in book form. So that means you start comparing yourself, which always has a negative effect on the experience. Coincidentally, at the same time I was in Zuid-Limburg the Cairn Trails crew was running the whole route in one go, so I think it was a good choice to go for something else.
The Achterhoek, around Winterswijk/Montfoort, was also an areaI liked. The landscape there is almost as varied as around the Krijtlandpad. Again, the German border was a limitation – Dutch people were not allowed – and the fact that the walking booklet was sold out, made me look further.
That's how I ended up with the Maas-Niederrheinpad, a regional trail of 342 km (no I wouldn't do it all) mainly around the Meuse river and the many streams in the Lower Rhine region of Germany. Because most of the path is in the Netherlands, there was a possibility to cross the border when it opened up again, but it wasn't necessary to make miles. When I also found a super deluxe bed and breakfast on a junction in Swalmen, where a branch leads to Germany, the choice was easily made. And I was looking forward to the sauna, possibly the swimming pool, and a quiet spot from where I could discover the route. Unfortunately this luxury horse is not easily found on a campsite and he always drags along so much stuff that there is no room for a tent.
Boucle du diabète
It almost seemed like it was planned that way: my holiday coincided exactly with the Boucle du diabète, a French (now virtual) run for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF). And even better, this year there was also a 6-day option to run as many kilometers as possible. Not only much more fun than running a marathon as fast as possible, but also completely in line with my goals. I ran the Krijtlandpad in 3 days, which is around 100 km. Now I could definitely claim 4 days for the holiday running plans and the other 2 days I might be able to fill in outside of Limburg.
So what can go wrong with such a plan? A lot if you have read my previous blogs. In May I was not very fit and I had stiff calf muscles and shins after the vaccination. That could have been because I suddenly started to walk too much on Fivefingers, or because I started to run with a wrong posture because of the fatigue or because the vaccination had more influence on muscle cramps than expected. In any case, it was a known side effect of the Pfizer vaccine.
Unfortunately, the pain didn't go away quickly and I saw both the Boucle and my entire holiday slowly evaporate. Because the calves also have to work hard at the Me-Mover and at walking, I really had to have complete rest for a while. Therefore, I was not only afraid that I would still be in pain when I left, but also that my condition would have deteriorated considerably. For a moment, I even doubted whether I should cancel it altogether. If the pain got worse, walking would also be impossible and then I could hardly start in Swalmen.
The sunday before my departure on tuesday, I did another careful lap on the Me-Mover. It still hurt, but a lot less than before. The next day, however, the muscle felt much better because of the exertion, and I decided to start moving again. Although the calf still squeaked a bit when running, I was making progress. But could I really runmore than 100 km on it? Only the actual running of the first stage could prove that!
Material
For the Boucle du Diabète it's best if you run in blue. That colour comes from the Unite for Diabetes logo from a campaign for a United Nations Resolution against diabetes in 2006. Officially we have to interpret that logo as follows:
‘The color blue represents the sky that connects all countries and it is the color of the UN flag. The blue circle radiates the unity of the global diabetes community in response to the diabetic pandemic.’
The colour blue reflects the sky that unites all nations and is the colour of the United Nations flag. The blue circle signifies the unity of the global diabetes community in response to the diabetes pandemic.’
Now I already had a few diabetes t-shirts (Type One Run, Bas van de Goor Foundation, Sugar Stash Dash), but I also thought it would be nice to have one from the organization. And from Gilles Spilliaertwho cycled 1,000 km in 10 days to raise money for the Flemish diabetes fund Hippo and Friends. Finally, I ordered a shirt from Team Novo Nordisk, the professional cycling team consisting of type 1 diabetics. Unfortunately, only the last shirt was on time at departure, so it was not possible to run all days in blue.
One last check
The start of my vacation on Tuesday is perhaps a little strange. But because of some changes in appointments I had to go to the LUMC for a check-up for the first time in 1.5 years. That would be exciting. The phone call I made last time was not what I expected: they found protein in the urine and wanted to switch immediately to blood pressure lowering drugs (which I refused) and other drugs that do not go well with running. This elevated urine count, was measured only once,one day after running a marathon no less. I can't get my head around why one such measurement can have these major consequences. So the Monday before the holiday I would hear if a new test actually gave better results.
As it goes in a teaching hospital, I had a very different doctor again, but one who was very appropriate. He not only agreed with my hypothesis – marathon – but also indicated that it was a good thing we hadn't started medication. There was no protein in the urine this time. And the blood pressure was okay. The Hba1c (51.3 mmol/mol) could always be better, but was not worrisome. Next appointment in a year's time was fine and to keep on running. The only flaw that was found: two calluses on my feet, which I should have taken better care of. More about that later in this series.
With the medical clearance I could start my first segments of the Maas-Niederrhein path. How it went with the stiff muscles you can read in the sequel: Maas-Niederrheinpad: running via Brüggen in Germany to Venlo.
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