H/B/F 2017: Leiden Half Marathon

I ran the Leiden half marathon!

(Be sure to give Leiden a read; I had no idea that the Pilgrims actually came from here–after fleeing England–before sailing for what is now America on the Mayflower. Certainly explains New Amsterdam, and the Pennsylvania Dutch.)

Before our trip materialized, I’d signed up for the Buffalo half marathon, a race I’ve been wanting to run for awhile but we always seem to be out of town. (To see what we were up to the last two years, click here and here.)

Once I found out I’d be out of town, I quickly transferred my registration to another runner friend (thanks, Jim!) and started looking for races here in the Netherlands during our visit. I was in luck! There were not one but two race events close to Haarlem, one in Leiden and one in Hoorn.

While both cities would have made great sightseeing days, I opted for the one in Leiden as its closer (20 minutes by train) and I was able to register online. (We plan to see Hoorn this weekend before we leave Holland.)

After a failed attempt to pick up my race packet the night before (turns out most runners here must opt for morning-of pick-up as most were still there in the a.m. and there really isn’t a large expo like in the States), Andrew and I hit up St. Peter’s Kerk to grab my goodies and bib.

We had some time, so we did a little walking around. Full disclosure: I was super anxious and finally let Andrew go to do his own sightseeing when I needed to line up in my corral. Even more full disclosure: I was way more anxious about this than I needed/wanted to be. I’ve already absolved Andrew of all responsibility to me in future overseas race endeavors; hopefully I’ll discover an inner coolness that’s never before existed and be able to refrain from stressing about events such as these. In the meantime, I’ll still keep checking to see if there are races near our European vacation locales, and hopefully Andrew will forgive me of all my unnecessary anxiety.

Here I am! I finished in 1:46, which is only one minute slower than my previous PR from six years ago (which was in a downhill race and probably 15 pounds lighter). Just sayin.’

Afterward, we nabbed a spot at a cafe near the finish for lunch. I loved being part of the action even after I finished.

After lunch, Andrew and I finished the Rick walk he’d started, which included this STEEP climb up to a man-made hilltop ‘bunker’ used for protection way back when. Beautiful views, tight hamstrings.

And because I hadn’t gotten enough steps already, we hiked over to (and UP) the windmill museum. (Don’t get me wrong; it’s most of the reason I chose to run in Leiden–so my engineer husband could check it out.)

Once we said goodbye to the windmill museum, we headed back toward the train station…but not before we experienced a truly unique experience: crossing the running route en mass facilitated by race volunteers. I’ve never seen a method such as this before: in order to cross the route, a group of us were hoarded into a small corral, and then the runners were diverted (using metal gates) around us so that we could be let out on the far side (toward our destination). Then, it was reversed and the runners were diverted to the other side to allow the corral to be opened to the side from which we just came. Genius! Does anyone know if this happens in the States?

H/B/F 2017: Delft

Andrew and I visited Delft on Saturday after a lazy morning of sleeping in (him, he did work all week after all) and a leisurely breakfast.

Delft is on the map as home to both a technical university and the famous blue-painted porcelain. We decided to go ahead and check out the official Royal Dutch museum and factory, and we weren’t disappointed. They do an excellent job presenting the history and process of making the Delft porcelain, including seeing the artists in action. Each piece is handmade and painted and marked with a special symbol that includes the individual artist’s initials and the year, much like the Roycroft artisans’ work in East Aurora. (The Delft factory does also have a less expensive line that is not hand painted but uses transfers and does not include the signature mark.)

After the factory visit, we headed into town for some lunch. There are two churches (one of which leans due to being built on shifting sand, below), a beautiful square and plenty of canals.

Andrew and I followed Rick’s walk and ended up at the other church, which has a climbable tower…if by ‘climbable’ they mean 376 of the steepest, narrowest, claustrophobia-inducing spiral staircase steps I’ve ever encountered. (And we’ve climbed a lot of towers in the last ten years.)

After that effort, we treated ourselves to some gelato (I’m pretty sure one of my choices was actually yogurt–it seemed more refreshing) to finish the walk.

We ended our trip to Delft with drinks on the square and dinner in a square we found tucked away just off the main drag.

We decided we loved Delft (almost as much as Haarlem!) and could see ourselves staying here on a future visit.

H/B/F 2017: Corrie Ten Boom, Zandvoort, (a little) Amsterdam and Den Haag

Here’s a few more things I was up to last week:

I made sure to visit the Corrie Ten Boom house here in Haarlem. If you’ve never heard of her, think of her story as the other half of the Anne Frank story (her hide-out is in Amsterdam, we plan to visit next week). Corrie came from a long line of believers here in Haarlem, who (obviously) were sympathetic to the plight of the Jews during World War II. Corrie, her older sister, Betsie, and their father hid Jews in what they called ‘the hiding place’ in their home here in Haarlem. They even had an architect friend come in and build a real brick wall in their home (it took a week to smuggle in the supplies) to create the small space needed.

Tours are free, led by volunteers and incredibly moving. It’s clear their main purpose is to evangelize while telling Corrie’s story. She, Betsie and their father were arrested under suspicion of hiding Jews and sent to some of the worst concentration camps in Germany. Thankfully, the six people hiding at their time of their arrest were aided by a sympathetic policeman and led to safety. Betsie and their father died in the camps, but Corrie was inexplicably released and vowed to travel the world spreading the Gospel.

I was moved to tears (along with many others) by the end of the tour, and was happy to obtain my own copy of her book–The Hiding Place–there at her home.

Later that afternoon, I rented a bike and headed out to Zandvoort, a local beach about 45 minutes away by bike. The area was experiencing record temps, so anyone who could be was out on their bikes.

I copped a squat at a recommended beachside bar and drank some cold brews, snacked on a pineapple/orange ‘cookie’ I got at a local health food store and caught up on some magazine reading. (Note to self: the pineapple orange flavor combo was fantastic–must replicate at home!)

That evening, Andrew and I took a train to Amsterdam to meet his co-worker from East Aurora, Frank, for dinner. If you’ve never seen the biking action here in Amsterdam, it’s certainly an event to witness. According to our guidebook, the average family has four bikes, and in the city it’s most certainly their main mode of transportation. They even have parking ramps just for bikes!

Andrew, Frank and I grabbed a beer before finding a place for dinner. Our view:

Andrew played around in a passageway with a beautiful ceiling:

On Thursday, I jumped on a train to Den Haag to meet Andrew there to visit the Mauritshuis, their art museum featuring Rembrandts, Vermeers and Frans Hals, Haarlem’s golden boy. It is home to Vermeer’s ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring,’ its biggest attraction. I loved the juxtaposition of both the old and new architecture in this big(ish) city full of tall buildings, people in suits and young professionals.

I arrived at the museum about 30 minutes before Andrew, and their temporary exhibit, Slow Food, caught my eye. (Of course.) I had no idea what it was, but an almost supernatural force drew me to it. (For what it’s worth, we almost never spend much time at museums’ specialty exhibitions.) Slow Food is a compilation of Dutch artists’ food-themed still life paintings from the 1600s. INCREDIBLE. Incredible. Despite their very ‘traditional’ look (I’m more of a modern art girl, myself), I fell in love with the pieces. The colors. The food. The styling. The upturned glassware. The perfectly painted reflections and play of the light. This exhibit–by far–has been my favorite of any I’ve seen, and even rivals all the Impressionist works in the Musee d’Orsay in Paris.

We spent the rest of our time admiring both the interior of the Mauritshuis (only two floors of paintings in approximately 15 rooms, all ornately decorated) and the museum’s ‘biggies.’ Vermeer painted a similar work to ‘The Girl with a Pearl Earring’ and I’ll never know why her portrait (not of an actual person) didn’t rise to fame like the other. (She wasn’t quite as pretty…)

After the museum, Andrew and I wandered over to a lively square to join everyone else for happy hour. We ended up at Café Paraplu for dinner, a little spot tucked away in a quiet corner of the city.