Today is V-E day (Victory in Europe) day. Where WWII was won in Vichy… As such the bakery was closed so we had to travel a bit further to get the crossiants and espresso for the morning. A great relaxing way to experience the last morning with TN. Great trip, got to see everything that I wasn’t able to see and had a wonderful time being a student in Europe. Just missed the first train, so we had to wait 2.5 hrs for the next available train going from Paris-Leige (Belgium), so that the transfer onto a train to Maastricht.
Many might be wondering why I’m out of the UK and in Beligum/Netherlands of all places… Well, There is a Marathon called the Maas Marathon held in Vise, Beligium. The entire course goes through two countries along the trails and is quite sceneic. It’s my goal for the year to run 2010km in 2010. Up until departure I was well on track, and still am to get the 2010km, but a nagging tendon in the left ankle has made training quite impossible to continue on the regime that I was. Maybe it was the 100 days of running ahead that your body kuputs around Easter in revolt of overtraining, maybe its just something that I strained… its tight and massaging it helps but doesn’t resolve the problem.
My goal was to do a marathon overseas in Europe on my journey, but with the late news of the tendon, itll be hard to get a finish let alone a PB. We’ll see how this goes.
Got into Liege and caught the next train to Maaschirt, Netherlands. Upon boarding the old train I noticed that it was stopping in Vise, seeing as it might be easier to scope out the time before it closes, I got off at Vise and went into town to find the location for the race-kit pick up (package). Got a bit lost but decided to keep going, and made a right turn (as the Information guy had stated. Finally found the information site and got the package and found the city filled with cobble stone roads and historic looking buildings. Found the finish line, but no start?? As it was hard to just find other locations with the big PACK… it was wise for me to just head back towards the station and wait for the train. Noticed that there are two trains that run the line everyday between the four stops. Maaschrist – Leige. Luckily I didn’t have to pay the fare again, as they just saw my open-ticket from Leige. Phew lucky.
In Belgium, they speak French… but my French is not what it used to be, so I had to definitely bulk that language section up. When I got into Maaschirst, I bumped into J&D. What a coincidence!!!! She was the one that convinced me to do this Marathon, and I’m glad it motivated me to actually sign-up. For 25Euro, it was a steal!!! Thank you Runner’s world! Never thought I’d be a believer in these magazines, but it did help to motivate me during my lull period.
Got tickets for the next day, and decided to meet up with them after they returned so we could grab dinner!!! I do enjoy eating with others, eating alone does get tiresome. Not having internet on the train made it difficult to plan, but with early searching and using my photoshop skills I was able to get a google map of the hotel – trainstation details.
I’m staying at Hotel la Cloche… where I have to check-in at the Café prior to pick up keys. The Café is on a strip that looks over to the open space (currently filled up with a carnval), with many shops I thought it might be hard to pick up keys. Got in as everyone was on the patio; because of the nice weather. The hotel is actually located 2 streets south of the café tucked in a side street. There is no reception, as the Café is basically like a off-site reception. Got room 2, which is located on the street level. Not inductive to a great nights rest but it’ll be alright.
Met up at 7pm for dinner and wandered the town, to look for a location nto eat.
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