Slight break from the translation saga. I can’t run a race in Belgium without some injury or illness complicating matters. This looked like being a welcome exception, and a welcome break from the increasingly longer Sunday runs, in preparation (hopefully) for the Antwerp marathon next April. I’d been doing some excellent running, and it looked like I was in for a great race.
On Thursday, 3 days before the race, I felt a telltale soreness in my throat, a few hours after an ugly man coughed out his entire lungs into my face on the train (he then sneezed, and I pointedly left my seat and went into another wagon, but it seems like it was already too late… 
). It hasn’t turned out to be a really bad cold, yet, and this morning I was fit enough to run, although the next few days may well be much worse, especially after this morning’s race.
). It hasn’t turned out to be a really bad cold, yet, and this morning I was fit enough to run, although the next few days may well be much worse, especially after this morning’s race.I was undecided till two hours before the start whether I should race or not. The weather being cold, and by taking a blast of cold air into my throat, together with the effort of a strong 20-km run, I risk getting much worse, possibly prejudicing my training for a long period, and therefore, yet again, bye bye marathon. But maybe I’ll get better soon after all.
I was quite OK this morning. It was a sunny but chilly 2 degrees C, and a large crowd turned up for the races (a 10k and a 20k). The first couple of kilometres or so were especially crowded, through narrow streets and paths, into the Foret des Soignes entering from Boitsfort, undulating up and down through the forest, including some well worn paths that I’ve run for umpteenth times during past long runs. From around the half way mark, when I noticed that my time was a bit disappointing, the field had thinned enough to allow me to increase my pace. It then became a typical race for me, and I did what I can do best in running, reach and overtake my rivals, one after another. My recent training served me well.
It wasn’t easy, but I ended more than two minutes ahead of the planned 90 minutes, overtaking rivals up till the finish. Great race! 
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