The City-Pier-City Run

This weekend the City-Pier-City Run was held, the largest sport event of The Hague. Originally this was a half marathon, but nowadays it is a whole day with different runs, and tens of thousands of participants. Through the school all 4 of us registered, and Piet did quite a lot of running the last few months, slowly building up after 5 years of abstinence due to his "Borneo Ballbreaker" knee injury.

On the day it was different though; Piet and Mary were both injured! Piet strained a calf muscle a few days before, and Mary has already been struggling for months with (what recently turned out to be) a slipped disk. So no 10 km for them. The weather was great, it was the first weekend of spring, and everybody was out on the bike. Paula and Dorien did the 5 km run, starting off with some of their friends (and 5000 other people), and finishing together. No problem for both of them!

In the afternoon we also watched the real race, passing close by the house. All the athletes were either Kenyan or Ethiopian, and were running their half marathon like it was a sprint. Just legs and lungs, impressive!

Paula and Dorien finishing their 5 km run

After the race

Piet's new bike

A lot of the blog entries are about our passion for horse riding, but that is really for the ladies. Piet is often at the stable to watch, but is never riding. He is following is own passion, riding on his "iron horse". Every weekend he goes for a ride on either his mountain or road bike. Even the last few months he managed 1-2 hours rides, with warm clothes, skiing gloves and shoe covers.

His 15 year old Norwegian DBS ("Den Beste Sykkel") road bike, was due for replacement, and after some investigation he found a good offer for a Dutch Be One bike, which he eventually picked up in November. This happened to be the first winter weekend in Holland, with snow... Ever since he has been waiting for an opportunity to ride it: no snow or ice, dry roads, little wind. And this weekend he couldn't wait any longer, despite the low temperatures and light snowfall in the morning. But the roads were dry in the afternoon, so he took his Black Pearl for a stroll. It is riding like a dream, but everything still needs to be a little bit adjusted to Piet's posture. With a slightly higher saddle it turned out to be a good start!

Piet with his Black Pearl

Walking the horse

There are lot's of dogs in our neighbourhood, and in the weekend many people are walking these dogs in the parks and dunes. A horse needs exercise as well, so on a cold, sunny Saturday afternoon Mary took her timeshare horse, Smook, for a walk. He had been standing in his stable the whole day, as owner Hanneke was busy with party preparations.

During these walks Mary takes the opportunity to teach Smook to be obedient: to walk just behind her, to stop on command, and to turn in circles, all for the main goal: to make him a perfect horse for long rides on the beach, in the dunes and anywhere else in the Dutch outdoors.

Mary is preparing Smook for his walk

Leaving the stable, Smook gets attention from some of the girls

Walking in the "Bosjes van Pex", the park near our house

Skiing in France

During our Christmas holiday we went to our house in France, for a week of skiing, like we did last year as well. We left The Hague, covered in 20 cm of snow, and we were dreading the drive though wintery Western Europe. It had been mayhem on the roads, airports and railways the weeks before, so we decided to take an alternative route, avoiding the hilly Belgian Ardennes. This was probably a good move, as we were treated to sleet in Northern France, turning into heavy rain further south. In our village there was no snow left due to mild weather and rain, but it turned around on our arrival and temperatures stayed below zero during our stay.

Arriving late afternoon at the house we found out that the heating was not working, and it was bitterly cold inside. With the help of our neighbour Jean, and in the end Philippe the plumber (who had to replace a part) it was fixed late in the evening. We spend the first night shivering in our beds, waiting for the house to warm up, and next morning it was already comfortable. We were ready for the holidays!

A thin layer of snow had fallen during the night (the only snow during our 10 day stay), which was just enough for some cross country skiing around the village, and Paula and Dorien had a go. The next day we went up to Alpe d'Huez for our first day of skiing. The following days had our usual routine: get up at 7.15, breakfast, coffee, gather our gear, drive up to Alpe d'Huez, put the ski gear on and go to the lesson area, for a 9.15 start. Paula and Dorien had lessons every morning, as we are mediocre skiers and can't teach them anything anymore. As part of the lessons they have a number of races, during which they can qualify for higher levels. Due to the lack of fresh snow the pistes were quite hard and icy, and it was difficult for them to ski fast; only Dorien managed to pass one of the levels. In the afternoons we skied together throughout the whole area, only the mythic "Tunnel" descent is missing from our list (as it is very steep, and not groomed). The weather, especially the second half of the week, was very good: sunshine, little wind and just below zero temperatures.

New Year's Eve was as usual: no activity whatsoever in the village. Lights are out early as almost everybody is working in the ski resorts. We lasted to midnight....

On the last day we cleaned our gear and the house, and Paula and Dorien had a visit by their friend Pauline from Bourg. We drove back through the Ardennes this time, but we got stuck in a long traffic jam, as that road had not fully recovered and was reduced to one lane for a stretch. It was a long day in the car... And now back to our regular lives again: work, school and horse riding!

Paula and Dorien are ready for their cross country run, Swallow is looking on

Cross country skiing along the Romanche

Dorien's ski class is ready to start

Paula and Piet on the black Sarenne descent, claimed to be the longest in Europe

Paula and Piet on the Chalvet run, overlooking Alpe d'Huez

Mary and Dorien on Lievre Blanc, above the clouds

More winter

Last night a new layer of snow fell, and although the weather was very grey we went out for some sledging, to check out the beach, and to take some pictures. It is a shame most of our winter gear (cross country skis!) is still in France.

Strandslag 7, the dune crossing to the beach

Paula and Dorien on the beach

In the dunes, overlooking The Hague

Dorien is sledging down one of the paths in the dunes

Winter!

It's really winter in Holland. The last few weeks we have been treated to snow, sub-zero temperatures, a bit of ice skating and snow again. The Netherlands came close to a standstill a few times, but luckily we don't have to go further than office, school and stable. The car has been idle for a long time.....

Snow in The Hague, our house is hidden by the big tree

An egret in our garden

Paula is letting Smokey enjoy the snow

Paula, Charlotte and Smokey

The ponies are trying to graze in the park in front of our house

A lot of horse riding

We had another weekend full of horse riding. On Friday Mary went along with the 3 ladies who run the "our" stable, De Wildhoef. They had to go to Woudenberg in the centre of The Netherlands to take some teaching exams, and needed a few victims to act as pupils. They went with 5 horses and 3 pupils, and Mary spend the whole day grooming, riding and chatting. And it happened to be her birthday as well!

In the evening Mary and Paula had their own exam at the stable, the F6 dressage level. Although they had some hiccups during their rides, they both managed to pass. And they can go to the next level!

On Saturday was their regular day of voluntary work at the handicapped stable Madurodam. Paula and Dorien cleaned out the stables, took the horses for some exercise on the beach and helped with the lessons. Mary took a break as her next exam was due in the evening. However, during the day it turned out that due to some administrative mistake by the stable the exam had to be postponed.... Mary found some comfort with Smokey (or Smook), her timeshare horse, that she rode in the paddock to exercise and train him.

The next day it was Dorien's turn, she had to to the F5 level exam. She passed F4 last time and was the only F5 participant. She did very well, better than Paula and Mary, so everyone at the stable was very surprised that she didn't pass. Unfortunately this is a jury sport, and not a straight race to a finish. A disappointing end to a very busy weekend.

Mary and Dwight are ready for their F6 test

Paula and Sixteen are ready as well

Paula is going to give some instructions to Mary and Smook

Dorien and Sixteen looking forward to the F5 ride