Fits Do Race Reviews: The 2025 Amsterdam Marathon

Hello! Remember me?

I know, I haven’t blogged since my 48^th marathon, the Dingle Ireland marathon on September 6^th.  I don’t know why I fell off of blogging; I’m still very active on Instagram and Strava though, so please follow me there so we can stay connected!

Six weeks after the Dingle marathon, I completed my 49^th full marathon, the Amsterdam marathon! This is my recap of that marathon.

If you’ve been reading this blog for awhile, you may remember that I was training for the Amsterdam marathon when we first moved to London in 2022, but two days before the race, I tested positive for Covid. Dustin still ran (he had had Covid previously and was healthy at the time; he ended up having a great race too!) and I stayed behind in London. This year was my “redemption” Amsterdam marathon!

With regards to training between the two marathons so close together, here’s what I did: the week after Dingle, I took things easy with about 27 miles total with a 9 mile long run. Then I ramped back up to 54 miles and a 16 mile long run. The following week was lower again, with 35 miles and no long run as I was in Munich, Germany for Oktoberfest (what a blast that was!)

Then I had one last big week of training with 63 miles and a 20 mile long run. I followed that with a two week taper rather than the standard three week taper, (with a 10 mile long run in the middle of the taper.)

Travel to Amsterdam from London:
I arrived in Amsterdam Thursday evening on the Eurostar (I love train travel- so easy!) Dustin was already in the city for a work conference. We had tickets to a ‘gig’ at the Paradiso in Amsterdam (a singer we like named Gregory Alan Isakov.) I carbo-loaded before the gig with “stamppot”, a Dutch meal of mashed potatoes and (vegetarian) sausages and beers!

The next morning, Dustin and I ran about 5 miles through Vondel park:

Then he worked from the hotel, and I went to the expo solo.

The transportation in Amsterdam was really easy to navigate with the help of the CityMapper app, though I did end up walking home after the expo, just to see more of Amsterdam. Its so gorgeous there in the autumn. I loved it.

That evening, we had a (vegetarian) tasting menu at Choux for our (17-year) wedding anniversary. It was delicious, but again, more wine/beer and lots of food! I was a little worried about how a richer meal would affect my marathon…but then I reminded myself that this just a hobby, not a career. And life is short! I run a lot of marathons and don’t like to overthink it too much.

The next morning., we slept in a bit before another short shake-out run followed by the MOCO museum, Anne Frank’s house/museum, and a bit more exploring of this lovely city.

That evening, I had a margarita pizza at Pizza Project . Then it was off to bed early before race day!

Race morning:

Pre-Race Fuel: I ate a bagel with peanut butter and drank a cup of coffee and a lot of water. My marathon wave started at 9:15 am; it was about a 20 min walk from our hotel to the start line- the trams weren’t running on marathon day, so walking was the best option to get there. It was a treat to have Dustin tag along to the start – and even more of a treat when he popped up to cheer for me at four different places along the course! Loved it.

Race kit: I wore a Bandit stamina bra top with pockets all around (one big enough for my phone under my armpit, and I never noticed my phone the whole race) and the Bandit Stamina shorts. I wore the Brooks Hyperion Elite 5- I wore these for Dingle as well and they worked well there.

(Pockets are stuffed with fuel!)

Race start: I got in line for the loos right away at the start line but the lines were INSANE. There were nowhere near enough toilets…the marathon has 30,000 runners; it’s quite big and most of he organisation was good except the bathroom situation was not so good!

My friends actually called me from a different bathroom queue to come to them. (Tina, Kate, Viola, and Kelly: the group that I train with, were all running Amsterdam as well! And they all had BIG PB’s, fyi!!) I went to where they were, but their line was moving too slowly as well, so eventually I actually gave up and went to the start without; that wasn’t my best plan…of course I had to stop mid-race and lost about 2 minutes of non-running time (I can see on my Garmin elapsed time vs. moving time.) Oh well…I’m not sure if I would have been better off starting in a later corral if I had stayed in the toilet line, given how crowded it was in my corral already. I have to imagine I would have had to weave around even more people if I was in the 4:15+ corral…My fault, I should have arrived at the start earlier!

Race Fuel: With regards to fuel during the marathon, I decided to just take in as much as I could! This plan worked really well for me in Dingle. The more calories the better. I had so many gels in all my pockets- all different brands, from GU gels to GU liquid gels to Maurtens (and they gave out Maurtens on the course), salt chews, Honey Stingers chews, and more. I just kept fueling whenever I thought of it and every time there was an aid station. The aid stations were pretty crowded; as much as I enjoyed this marathon route – Amsterdam is gorgeous in the autumn- it definitely still got VERY crowded. There were a lot of traffic jams along the way where you honestly couldn’t run! With 30,000 runners on narrow European roads, it’s to be expected I guess.

Race plan and performance:
Similar to Dingle, my race plan was to run on feel and not look at my watch very much.

Spoiler alert, this plan worked really well! I ran nearly a 6 minute negative split! I don’t think I’ve ever run a negative split like that before- it felt so incredible to have so much left in the tank- miles 24 and 25 were my fastest, and if it wasn’t for the crowds, I think I could have gone faster! I know that’s easy to say after the fact but I was dodging crowds and spending a lot of time weaving and trying to pass big groups by veering into the sidewalks or grass. I think I prefer the smaller races for that reason, though I did get a lot of energy from all the spectators cheering for me by name. The Dutch would say “HUP Yessie!” Hup means go, go, go!

My coach Donal (and Dustin as well) think I ran too conservatively, which may be slightly true, but I also really relished the feeling of feeling incredibly strong in the final 10k. I have run enough marathons where that final 10k really sucks, so it was a real treat to feel incredible and like I was fresh as daisy. Could I have gone faster earlier in the race? Maybe, but it felt darn good to finish strong.

Here are my splits:

Mile 1: 9:09
Mile 2: 9:11
Mile 3: 9:07
Mile 4: 8:52
Mile 5: 8:40
Mile 6: 8:50
Mile 7: 9:01
Mile 8: 8:55
Mile 9: 8:53
Mile 10: 8:53
Mile 11: 8:42
Mile 12: 8:50
Mile 13: 8:53
Mile 14: 8:36
Mile 15: 8:47
Mile 16: 8:35
Mile 17: 9:50 – Finally had to stop for the toilet, there is where I lost the two minutes. There was a line for the loos. A bit frustrating. But then that was done, and I could run as hard as I could without looking for the next open toilet! (Wished I would have just stopped earlier but oh well…)
Mile 18: 8:22
Mile 19: 8:22
Mile 20: 8:28
Mile 21: 8:28
Mile 22: 8:34
Mile 23: 8:36
Mile 24: 8:18
Mile 25: 8:03
Mile 26: 8:14
Final 0.2: 7:50
Official time: 3:51:56

The finish line was in the Olympic stadium with a final lap around the track, which was cool. Unfortunately with the crowds, my cell phone wasn’t working and it took quite some time to connect with Dustin at the finish and then I was freezing and ready to walk home as quickly as possible!

3:51! This was my fastest marathon of 2025!

I ran Paris after an injury & shoddy training in 4:30:08, one of my slowest in quite some time (other than the wine marathon, Marathon du Medoc). Since then, I have been working with a personal trainer twice a week (heavy lifting), still doing reformer Pilates twice a week, and being a lot more thoughtful about diet (though not that strict either, but I have lost a bit of weight that I had gained when injured leading up to Paris.) And of course, the longer I work with Donal my coach, the better he knows me and how to push me in training.

Five months after Paris, I ran the Dingle marathon in 3:55 (in the pouring rain and strong winds!), and six weeks after the Dingle marathon, I ran a 3:51 at Amsterdam. I’m really happy to end this marathon year with this experience. Based on how I felt at Amsterdam, I am optimistic that I might be able to closer to my lifetime PB of 3:35 at some point in the future, or at least get a “Good-for-Age” time as a UK resident to run London again (yes, there are other ways to get into London, but I want to do it with a GFA as a UK resident.)

Later that evening, my training friends all met up for a celebratory drink. As I mentioned, they all had PBs (or close to); that says a lot about the perfect weather and course! And I’m grateful to have met a group of running friends in London.

We took the Eurostar back to London the next day (Monday), had one night in our own bed before leaving for Mexico City the next morning for our friend’s (incredible) wedding there; it’s been a whirlwhird few weeks but I’m back in London for the holidays and looking forward to picking up blogging again more regularly!

I’ve been to other parts of Mexico for the beaches but I was so surprised by Mexico City- the food, the culture, the history, the people, the cute neighbourhoods. We loved our time there!

My next marathon will be my 50th one! I can’t believe I have continued to do this thing…and I still love it and cherish every marathon experience.

Dustin and I are still finalizing some travel plans for next year but we hope to stay injury free to be able to complete our 50th at the same race- TBD!

I’m linking up with Running on the Fly and Confessions of a Mother Runner; check out their blogs to connect with other fitness bloggers for workout ideas and inspiration.