Drenthe Trail Marathon

One more marathon on the books! It was my fifth full marathon (42 km/ 26 miles) overall, my third marathon of 2025, and my very first trail marathon. Dirt roads, forest trails and a few little hills in cold and slightly rainy Drenthe, which is in the northern part of The Netherlands. It's only a 30-minute drive further north to get to Groningen, the city I'm from.

The event was relatively small, which is typical for off-road running races. There's nothing commercial or hyped up about it, which is a nice change from running major road marathons with thousands, if not tens of thousands, participants. No megaphones, no lines for the bathrooms. 

The baggage drop-off lady asked me and my friends if we were going for specific times. It was a nice personal touch, but not in line with how we were approaching the situation. Yes, it was technically a race and sure, we'd all run races to achieve a good time. But mid-winter trail runs in the middle of nowhere are not for that—they're for just the heck of doing it. For feeling counter cultural ploughing through frosty mud while everyone else is having Christmas dinner leftovers on the couch. 

Personally, I approached this "race" mainly as a training run for my 50K ultra a month later. It was very important I wouldn't overdo it (not my style anyway) or get injured (a more likely scenario given a persistent shin splint I have). This run would be my final make-ready for my first ultra marathon. So, the only goal was to finish it in one piece and, of course, to enjoy it.

It's hard to explain but I really, really look forward to races. I always have. It takes a bit of planning and logistics, and the trick is to show up at the event with fresh legs, well-fed and hydrated, and with all necessary attributes, which took me many tries to get right. If I get to the starting line in good shape, that already feels like a victory. Then, if I complete the race feeling good, that's another one. 

The previous two years, in Mumbai, where there was little serious competition on the female side, there were even podium finishes to look forward to, with trophies and gift baskets and money. But that doesn't really matter. Now it's a quest to improve my times and surprise myself. And above all it's a mental game, in which I try to get to a really good place where I feel wonderful by doing something new or challenging, attaining a feeling of deep satisfaction that lasts for days.

Anyway, back to the Drenthe trail marathon. We set off in a bit of a group that ran at medium speed. Around 10km/hour. The three of us hung back as a few others led the way. The course was marked with plastic ribbons tied to trees: two for a turn and one further down to confirm the correct path. I didn't pay attention to these at all—I was much too busy sharing gossip with my former high-school classmate.

The course consisted of two loops. By the time we'd started the second loop I felt the group was slowing down a little, which made our jog feel more like a slog, and I got bored. I turned on some music. But music always makes me pick up the pace and before I knew it, I was charging ahead of the pack. My two companions decided not to follow me. I was on my own now.

As such, I learned a valuable lesson: I'm really bad at following signs and finding trails. The first two times I got off trail, I'd simply blown past a turn, not noticing anything until hundreds of meters later when there was no sign in sight anymore. The third time I'm not even sure what happened—just that at some point I was running towards the other runners. At that point I gave up on my solo quest and joined the rest again, suffering through the many 'helpful' directions my friend gave me at every last turn. At least it was entertaining for them in the final stretches, I suppose.

Our finishing times were under 4:30 hours, which is pretty decent for a trail. We ranked somewhere in the middle. The run was pretty doable—it felt like no big deal. Strangely, this is how every marathon in The Netherlands has felt. Except for the one in Mumbai, which felt hot and miserable, I enjoy long races so much--probably because of the runner's high--that I don't even really want it to be over! So that bodes well for the ultra-marathon later this month. It's funny though that the minute I finished the run both my legs cramped up and I was basically limping across the finish line, suddenly unable to hold myself up anymore. It's a mental thing.

For the ultra I'm not only going to look very carefully at all the markers and road signs but also pay close attention to my GPS watch. I've been practicing with Garmin this week. Ideally, I'll be running the ultra with other people, but I also know myself and I can change my mind during the run, when everything suddenly feels possible. Running is a solo sport, if you ask me. Especially when your Spotify playlist is as good as mine...

Round 1! Still smiling and wearing layers