Like a Hash Trail...

We discussed that we felt like we were on a hash trail with lots of variety and few signs. 

Luckily Dylan didn’t put up a fuss about being dragged around the Limburg countryside for 5.5 hours. And I was super impressed with Celine, who hadn’t done that kind of mileage since Dylan had been born.

We were also lucky that the rains held off until the very end.

We were surprised to find an American flag flying from a tree, but realized it was part of a memorial for an American soldier killed in 1944. Julia posed with me since she was soon to move to the US to be with her American husband that she married via a proxy wedding due to coronavirus. 

We arrived so late to the first wine stop that they had already closed up, but caught them just in time to get a snack. This stop served as a stop twice during the marathon, so it was still open when we came through complete with musicians playing. 

Immediately following the wine stop, we went through a vineyard...

…and then a corn field.

As the wuss of the group, I only pushed the jogger when it was empty. 

 

Mud + Water Crossings...

There was quite a lot of mud on the trail. 

This was by far the worst mud crossing we came across. Celine had to abandon the jogger to get Dylan down the hill.

Luckily Dylan was awake, so didn’t seem to mind being passed around like a game of hot potato, Celine handed Dylan to Julia, who then brought him to me...

…before she went back to help Celine with the jogger.

We faced another challenging crossing when we reached this small creek. While the water wasn’t very deep, the drop down to the water was very steep. We had no idea how we could manage it when this nice stranger came back from the other side to help. 

As you can tell, I wasn’t overly helpful with these complicated crossings since I was the least sure-footed of our group, but at least I could document everything. 
 

Stile After Stile...

Most of the route was on trails rather than roads. I was shocked how many stiles there were. Some required all three of us to get the jogger across.

Some were more challenging than others. This one required Celine to remove one of the back tires to maneuver it through.

When we got to this one, it looked like a lost cause, but strong Julia came to the rescue and managed to lift the entire rusted structure out of the way. 

She was definitely a stud!

 

Limburg Wine Half-Marathon...

We got up early on October 3 to eat breakfast and catch a bus to the start of the Limburg Wine Half-Marathon and Marathon. I had originally registered to run the 10K, but after I learned that Celine and Julia planned to walk the half-marathon and they had an extra registration, I decided to do it with them. 

Julia made sure that we started our day with some bubbly. Jimmy, Lisa, Reinhardt and Inga set off ahead of us to run the marathon, which ran our entire route plus a separate loop.

There was a pretty big crowd doing the half. 

Richard joined us at the start. He had originally planned to push Dylan, but Celine wanted him to be able to run so she planned to push the baby jogger.

Little did we know when we set off just how challenging having that jogger with us would be. 

The countryside was beautiful. Unlike Zuid Holland, Limburg is hilly. 

 

Sydney Half Marathon...

I joined the Sydney Thirsty H3 hash Facebook page so I could stalk Ashlynn after I left. Unfortunately, she only ran with them one time on her own, but she was happy to connect with the group at the Sydney Half Marathon. 

Personally, I was surprised when she registered for the race as other than hashing those few times, she hadn’t been running at all. However, she averaged walking about ten miles per day, so was still able to break two hours on the hilly route on a warm day.

We were too cheap to purchase the photos, but here’s a few of her flying along.

She was very happy to have a nice group of hashers to hang out with after the race.

Leiden Half-Marathon...

Just two weeks after running her first half-marathon, Ashlynn ran her second one, this time with her Daddy by her side. Unlike in Luxembourg, Leiden is flat, but it was quite warm so her race time improved by less than one minute.

I staked out a good spot so that I could see them approaching from down the street and they could see me as well. 

It’s great to see how much running makes Ashlynn smile.

Luxembourg Night Marathon & Half-Marathon...

Our gang met up with Lisa and Lee, who were both running their first marathon, to head to the start of the race.

Veronica had been having some knee pain, so had it wrapped up.

It was weird for me to not be at the start of the race, so I was glad that they sent me some photos.

They were all smiles before their races started.

There were lots of spectators.

There were also lots of giveaways, such as my lovely orange hat and tambourine. I staked out a good spot to watch the race in the park and spotted Ashlynn, but missed taking a photo and didn’t see Veronica at all.

Amazingly, Ashlynn spotted me and I managed to grab a shot of her when I went to my second location, but sadly missed Veronica again and became concerned that she might have dropped out due to pain.

I had to wait several hours, but finally spotted Jimmy. 

I was thrilled to learn that both girls finished their first half. Ashlynn ran a speedy 1:48:57 and came in 3rd girl under 19. Veronica fought through her knee pain and did a fantastic 2:25:44. This is especially impressive when you consider that it was a hilly course and they both did only limited training in flat cities.

Jimmy was very pleased to break four hours with a 3:58:49. The following morning we met up with Lisa and Lee for a shot with their medals before they headed back to Holland.