Traditionally taking place in April ever year, the NN Marathon Rotterdam is the biggest one-day sporting event in the Netherlands and it is ranked as one of the fastest marathon courses in the world.

Moreover, with more than 925,000 spectators along the course, no other marathon in the Netherlands can match the atmosphere in Rotterdam.

Each year, thousands of runners from all over the world take part in the event, and this year, I was one of them. 

This run was my first race event post Covid-19 pandemic and I was particularly looking forward to it.

I had been training hard for this race, following a training plan by Coached.

Running for KWF

Also bringing an added meaning to the race for me, I had signed to run the marathon for the Dutch Cancer Society (KWF Kankerbestrijding). 

Since my mum was diagnosed with cancer some years back, this is a cause that has meant a lot to me. So raising donations and running for this charity made me feel that I was doing the marathon for something much greater and more meaningful than myself. This was a thought that would get me through the marathon when the going got tough.

One in three people in the Netherlands will develop cancer in their lifetime with 45,000 dying each year from this disease. With the donations, I truly hope that future generations should not have to suffer like my mum.

Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, to everyone who had donated money towards this cause. 

Jet lag and weather

Flying in from Singapore, we arrived in the Netherlands on Thursday morning, to give myself time to get over the jet lag and acclimatise to the weather.

We spent the next couple of days doing a bit of sightseeing and touring, before the race on Sunday, but at the same time mindful to get enough rest and to get off my feet.

The weather here had turned out to be significantly colder than expected for this time of the year.

Race morning

Sunday morning came around soon. I was in start wave 3, which meant my flag off time was around 10.17am. 

After dropping off my bag, I was in my start pen at sometime around 9.35am to 9.45am. The pen was not too crowded when I first went in, but the pen quickly filled up. 

Cold, cold, cold

Thanks to the pandemic and resulting lack of travelling, I had somewhat forgotten about the pre-race crowds and the wait in the freezing, shivering cold in the single digit temperature, for the flag-off. 

Sorry, Queen Elsa from Frozen. The cold never bothered you, but it does bother me.

Coming in from tropical Singapore, this was definitely the not-so-fun part about running in cold weather countries.

I positioned myself somewhere near the 4 hour pacer, initially with the aim of running a timing of under 4 hours for the marathon.

You’ll never walk alone

Just before 10am, Dutch singer Lee Towers belted out the iconic signature race anthem, You’ll Never Walk Alone.

…Walk on, walk on, with hope in your heart,

And you’ll never walk alone,

You’ll never walk alone.

It is an emotional, catchy and goosebumps-inducing song.

Then soon after, the official horn sounded, and the first wave was off.

My turn!

The rest of us slowly shuffled towards the front of the start line, and then before I knew it, it was my turn to run. 

Crowd support was fantastic

Right from the beginning, the crowd support was amazing. The crowds lining the start area were so thick and everyone was screaming so fervently. 

This was one giant street party!

It was clear that the entire city had come out to support the marathon, a far cry from the scene in Singapore.

A congested start

The start of the race took us up the Erasmus bridge, the highest point of Rotterdam city and the only elevation featured in the race. We would run over this bridge twice.

I threw off my jacket soon after I started, but I kept my arm sleeves on as the weather was still a little chilly.

The path was pretty congested at the beginning, and I found myself running faster than expected, in a bid to overtake other runners and get out of the congestion. 

Faster than expected

My target pace was supposed to be 5:40/km but I found myself running 5:21/km out of the blocks.

But despite that, my heart rate seemed to be pretty stable, and my breathing was under control. So I thought, you know what, let’s don’t slow down. Let’s just carry on at this pace and see where it takes me.

As seasoned marathon runners would know, it was a gamble that could have gone either way; I would either run a massive personal best, or I would crash straight into the dreaded “wall.” But I decided to take the risk anyway as I felt good.

Fast and flat city route

The race route is a scenic city route. From the Erasmus bridge, it takes runners in the direction of the Kop van Zuid and pass all the city’s main highlights. The course ends at the Coolsingel town hall.

Apart from the slight elevation of the bridge, it is a fast and completely flat route – two of the key things that I am looking for in an overseas marathon.

Embracing the spirit of the marathon

Along the way, the crowd support was indeed fantastic. There were bands and music playing, people dancing and singing, and much more. 

It was clear that all the locals were truly embracing the spirit of the marathon and that made it special. I could indeed see why Rotterdam Marathon is so big.

On many occasions, I had complete strangers call out my name, which was printed on my bib. This really boosted my morale and gave me plenty of motivation.

High fives to kids

As well, I encountered many of the local kids asking runners for high fives. 

Not wanting to disappoint them, I complied on many occasions. The smiles on their faces when I returned the high five felt pretty amazing and special.

Getting sunny

It began to get sunny quite soon; in fact about 7km in, I found warm enough to take off my arm sleeves and stowed them away in my pocket. 

Luckily I had opted for arm sleeves rather than a long-sleeved base layer as the former was much more versatile. I had been considering the latter as the past few days leading up to the race had been freezing and windy.

But while it was sunny, it was still very cold though, with temperatures remaining in the high single to low double digits.

Residential areas singing and cheering

As the marathon continued, the route wound through some of the city’s residential areas, and I would say that I was particularly impressed that the residents even came out of their houses to cheer on the marathon runners, with many singing and cheering. Their entertainment brought a smile to my face as I ran past.

Along the way, several spectators displayed signboards. Some of these were to cheer on family and friends who were running, while others had been generic motivational messages. 

Dutch love football

As well, there were more interesting motivational messages in the shape of tangible objects. The one that had really stayed in my head was a “flag” where somebody had tied a plushie of the national Dutch football team’s lion mascot to a flagpole, together with red, blue and white balloons.

Other football-related flags along the route that I recognised had included that of Feyenoord Rotterdam, the city’s football club and in the top division of the Eredivisie. Apart from their marathon, the people of Rotterdam definitely love their football.

The kilometres whizzed by

Due to the phenomenal crowd support, the kilometres just whizzed by and before I knew it, I was already at the halfway mark. I was still running at about 5.20/km pace, surprised that I was able to maintain it until that point yet still feeling fresh enough to keep on going. My training had been at 5.40/km pace.

 

 

Since I was still feeling good, I attempted to speed up after hitting halfway, as my heart rate was still seemingly under control. It went pretty well.

Aid stations

The hydration and aid stations at the race were well-equipped, serving water and isotonic drink. Selected stations offered cut bananas, and some had wet sponges that runners could use to keep themselves cool.

I found myself using the sponges on several occasions to keep my body temperature down, as it was actually turning out to be somewhat more sunny than I had anticipated.

My gel strategy

Other than that, I was taking gels at 8km intervals. I had brought 5 gels along to last the distance, a combination of Maurten and SIS.

I had gone for a combination of gels this time around, because I have found that taking one single brand of gel has felt jelak in the past, by the time I got to the third or fourth gel as my palette would rebel the sweet sugar syrupy taste. 

This was a strategy I had been experimenting on in my training runs and it had appeared to work out. 

Catching the 3.50 pacers

Somewhere after the halfway point, I caught up with the 3.50 hour pacers, surprising myself. I hadn’t expected to be running at faster than 3.50 pace.

But since I was still feeling strong, I decided, what the heck, I will just go along with the 3.50 pacers for a few kilometres and see where it takes me.

Erasmus bridge: Round two

I kept going. We ran up the Erasmus bridge again and the crowd support here was just as thick as the first time round. I found myself whipping out my phone to take a few videos. It was truly phenomenal and I felt like I was a superstar.

This was about 27km into the race, I had passed the 3.50 pacers and I was still feeling good, surprising myself.

The kilometres whizzed past, 27, 28, 29, 30km. I was speeding up and well on target to completely obliterate my original race goals.

Besides the water and sponge stations, I also noted one shower along the race, where runners could run straight through a stream of cold water to cool themselves down. As it was a little sunny at this point, I ran straight through the water shower. It was shiok.

I am a superstar, this is my party!

Each time hearing people screaming out my name gave me renewed energy.

Go Priscilla!

Hup Priscilla hup!

Whenever I heard my name, I turned and gave that person a thumbs up!

I was going to complete this marathon. I was not going to stop. As long as I didn’t stop to walk, a massive personal record was on the way. I felt amazing.

At 34km, there were supposed to be video screens along the race route, featuring motivational videos sent in by friends and family members. 

I was disappointed that when I passed these video screens, there were no videos being shown. Instead was a simple message to remind runners that they were nearly there. 

I suspected that there was a technical issue. I had been looking forward to seeing a video or two to keep me going.

No, I was not cramping up

35km, 36km, 37km, I think my legs began to gradually feel tighter and tighter but I was still able to hold a pace of around 5.10 to 5.20/km. No, I was not going to cramp. No, I was not going to cramp. I had this in the bag.

Somewhere between 38 to 39km, somehow my legs decided for themselves they’d had enough. 

But there was only about 3km plus to go at this point. 

No, legs, why didn’t you consult the brain?

No, no, no, I was not cramping. I wouldn’t slow down. I stop only when I’m done.

Don’t stop. 

Remember this isn’t just for yourself.

Remember you’re doing this for KWF. Remember you’re doing this for your mum. You’re doing this for cancer patients.

Think of your mum.

It took every ounce of sheer willpower to force myself to keep running, grit my teeth and make myself ignore the pain till I was finished.

If I stopped or slowed down, my legs would completely seize up. So I absolutely couldn’t stop yet.

Just put one damn leg in front of the other. 

Nope, your legs do not have a mind their own. They must listen to your brain.

Yes, repeat. Keep doing it. Over and over again. 

No, this is not cramp.

You are almost there. 

The personal record is already in the bag. Don’t stop now.

The crowd at these last few kilometres was super thick and phenomenal. Sadly I think by this stage, my brain had half tuned out to the screaming, cheering and chanting, and I was solely focused on finishing up this thing. I’m not even sure whether my brain registered if my name was being yelled out at these last stages of the marathon.

Nope, I had not started too fast. My heart rate was not even that high. Nope, starting at 5.20/km was definitely not coming back to bite me now.

Just keep running.

Crowds were wild at the end

The crowd went wild in the final kilometre as I approached the end point.

I think by now, this was the sole reason why I was still running. 

The big, orange finish line looming up ahead looked extremely inviting.

There was no way that I could do a triumphant sprint finish, but at least I was able to finally run across the finish line.

A new personal record!

I did it.

42.195km.

I made it.

I have conquered Rotterdam.

It was my first sub 4 marathon.

It was a massive personal record.

3 hours 46 minutes 10 seconds. 

My official finishing time.

My legs completely seized up the moment I stopped after finishing, but right now I was delirious with elation, and at the same time, in total shock and disbelief, hardly able to process how in the world I had managed to pull off such a timing.

My earlier personal record before this was 4 hours 21 minutes 36 seconds, set in Nagoya Japan prior to the pandemic.

Post race

After I slowly hobbled towards the finishing entitlements and refreshments area to collect my race medal, and post-race food and drink entitlements, I smiled in triumph, race goal completely obliterated into smithereens.

The cut off time for the Rotterdam Marathon is 5 hours 30 minutes, and right on the dot, the organisers were very quick to cut off the race and open up the roads again. The completely opposite of Singapore, it was really efficiency and punctuality at its finest.

I continued to feel the support of the Rotterdam people towards the marathon, as we headed back towards the metro station. Seeing us wearing our race medals, it felt like we were getting a hero’s welcome at the train station for what we had just achieved. It was magical and pretty amazing.