Not long after establishing base at the hotel, I headed back out to find the Expo, which will also be where the marathon starts tomorrow. To my relief it is pretty much on the same road I am staying at and no more than 15 minutes slow walk, which should equate to five or six minutes easy jog to the start tomorrow.
The Marathon Expo, compared to the behemoth that is the London Marathon, was also a quaint village affair in comparison. What this meant was that it was blissfully hassle free. I didn’t remember what my race number was but there was someone on hand to let me know. My race number and t-shirt collected, there was a cheesy photo opportunity to have myself superimposed onto a race finish for the New Balance Facebook page. At home I would baulk at such an opportunity, but for a moment I was in tourist mode and I couldn’t resist changing into the race t-shirt, grabbing my race number and grinning inanely for the camera.
That done and a couple of quick laps of the stalls at the expo, which yielded much of the same tat you’ll find at an Expo in the UK but with funny Dutch signs and their love for the word kunt, which, to my juvenile mind, makes me giggle every time I see it, and I was outside looking to kill time. Some very slow walking to and fro and I settled on lunch – a bagel and a cup of tea, followed by exploring for pizzerias for the evening meal.
Stocking up on drinks from the almost local Spar (One thing you’ll miss here compared to Britain is our love for the corner shop – few and far between round here) and it was back to the hotel, catching up on Football Focus thanks to having the BBC on the TV, then a quick doze and this before some stretching.