On Saturday I ran the 10K We Run Amsterdam with 9000 other girls and Nike. Yesterday I only had a bit of stiff calves, so I thought I was pretty cool that I didn't have much trouble. Well, that's different now. Right now it feels like I've been run over by three trucks.

I'll take you to my Saturday when I got to start the race first with the girls from Girls Love 2 Run and other sporty bloggers in the Olympic Stadium.

KNOW WHAT YOU'RE WEARING

The day before, I laid out all my stuff. Even down to underwear and socks. Seriously, if you're wearing a bit of uncomfortable lingerie, you can forget about a fast time, so my lucky panties were ready.

I have quite a collection of running shoes, so I still had to choose from that, my orange ones are actually my favorites and that worked out well, because the T-shirt was in the same color. I hesitated for a moment about black tights or one with leopard print. Well folks, you really want to look a bit nice during such a run.

As long as your hair is good

Since I my extensionsI took out, I have a pathetic ponytail. At least, that's what I think. I felt that I had treated my hair quite unkindly lately with all that fake stuff, so not now. I wanted a braid, but I can't do that on myself. So I biked to our friends from The Building to have my hair done. It wasn't a normal hairstyle, but a braid from the bottom up that ended with a bun on my head. Just look at the photo. Within five minutes I was back outside (so I'm not that much of a diva, right?) and during the race it was tighter and better than ever.

Good base

I find that maybe the hardest part. What and when you should eat. The last thing you want is for the spaghetti to come back up during the run, but you also don't want a growling stomach after a few kilometers. Two hours beforehand I ate scrambled eggs on sourdough bread, avocado, and some smoked salmon. That was a great power dinner.

PREPARATION IS HALF THE WORK

At home, I walked around in my outfit for an hour before leaving, just to feel it all a bit. I also put on my shoes, but without tying them. This way you let your feet get used to it a bit and they aren't immediately locked in, giving them some air. I packed my backpack with something warm for after the race, my starting ticket, and a Go!Greenbar  for possibly right before the race would start.

THE RACE

No one admitted it, but actually everyone was super nervous. Our target times were shared, which only made me more jittery. There were some really fast girls among us; I am really a snail in comparison. We had a nice space, namely in The Oyster Club. That's in the Olympic Stadium. We drank a smoothie, ordered tea, and I snacked on some cashews. At 21:00 we were allowed outside for the start where nice loud top 40 music was played, so we could warm up a bit by dancing. We started with all the girls at the front and Manuel Broekman gave the starting signal.

I went way too fast in the first two kilometers, so I quickly got tired. Not surprising when I heard in my earpiece that I was running one kilometer in 4.5 minutes. Wow, I had never run that fast and there was no way I could maintain that for 10 kilometers. So I had to slow down. After just three kilometers I got to high five my nephews and niece who were cheering in the Cornelis Schuyt and further down on the Prinsengracht Liesbeth and the boy (with their sixth beer in hand) were shouting loudly.

The race went well, although I really regretted those nuts, because man, they came back up with every bump.

Amsterdam was amazing like this in the evening together with 9000 other runners. There was music along the way and so many people cheering. Within 54 minutes I crossed the finish line, you could have put me on a ventilator, but I was quite satisfied. Champagne was handed out and there were rows of sushi waiting for us. It's all worth the muscle pain. Next year under 50 minutes. Who's in?