2004 Amsterdam Marathon
Part I: City without Sin
Our trip to Amsterdam began with a plan to run the St. George Marathon in Utah. Because they admit runners by lottery, however, we didn't make the cut. A visit to MarathonGuide.com showed several other events in mid-October, including a run in the Twin Cities and the Amsterdam Marathon. When we found out that the plane to Minneapolis was $370 and the plane to Brussels was $450, we grabbed our passports and made plans to go Dutch.
It turns out that our biggest challenge was not the international travel but rather finding a level stretch of traing road in the upstate that duplicated the flat terrain of the Netherlands. At least one time we ran a half-dozen circles around the Furman mall. Eventually, Scott Murr sent us out to a five kilometer stretch of flatness in North Greenville County called River Road, which we ran back and forth and back and forth repeatedly to get in our mileage. Thank you to the pit bull and two German shepherds about halfway into this run who helped us with our wind-sprints.
We flew to Europe on October 15. After driving from Brussels to Amsterdam we arrived at the Park Hotel. Located along the Singelgracht canal, just a block from the famous Rijksmuseum and the Vondelpark, the hotel was between kilometers 38 and 39 at the end of the marathon route. Were it not for the radio tracking chips in our shoes, who knows if the race might have stopped just a few km. early.
Amsterdam is not just a city, it's also a giant bathtub filled with floaty toys.
There is no possible way that giant plumbing parts are funny, so let's pretend that this is actually a piece of performance sculpture that makes an ironic comment about the disconnectedness of modern post-industrial society.
One of Amsterdam's most important landmarks is the Harley Davidson Fashion Store.
That's not a Hunting License, that's a picture of Hedy Lamarr.
Here is Paul, carefully visualizing every detail of the marathon run. Or is he waiting on a package of Zig-Zag rolling papers? You decide.
The bright city lights tempt many a boy from the country. Unless their legs are frozen in pain, that is.
In Amsterdam there has been a real estate boom and severe housing shortages, which would explain why there are three specially constructed apartments for marathoners on the street in front of this fine building.
World-class marathoners are always assigned the Park Hotel's octagonal tower room after finishing the big race.