Running with disco dogs

I love running! I think it’s because of my mom! In my early days, she was a member of a running-club. Every Saturday, they went running in the woods! Once she took me with her. I was around 8 years old. It was an awesome experience to run up and down the hills and balancing on a tree that had fallen down on a small forest stream during a storm.

Sloterplas
Since then, I have run my whole life. I am not really a sprinter, but more an endurance runner. I have the luxury that we live nearby the Sloterplas (a lake) in the biggest park of Amsterdam. If you run around the lake, it’s about 6,5 KM.

Disco dogs
Today, I started running around 17:30 hours. It was dark already, and the air was winter fresh. When I am running, I mostly listen to one of the broadcasts of ‘A State Of Trance’ from Armin van Buuren on my iphone. Some parts of the track were so dark, that I couldn’t even see the road. After having run for ten minutes, I thought I saw a light flashing. Just a small one. But then it was over. So maybe I imagined it. But then I saw it again! A continuing flashing white light, very low near the ground. I came closer and closer, and then I saw it. The light was coming from a little dog that wore a small white flashing light. Next to the dog, I saw a man walking, but I only could see his contours. A little further, I saw more flashing lights: in blue, red and green, all from happy dogs running in the park. When I almost finished my run, I saw a group of girls coming from the other direction. One of them had flashing lights on her shoes, running towards the disco dogs.

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Boot Camp

Our local Baywatch babe
When I was young I did a lot of sports. I used to play soccer for 6 years at the local soccer club (RKSVN) in the village where I was born. My position was that of the attacker.  And then there was the moment that I learned to swim. At first I hated to do the water splashing, but after a few months I loved it. One day, I even played a swimming match but unfortunately my competitors where much stronger. We were lucky that the local outdoor swimming pool (as well as my soccer club) was just across our house, and it was easy to climb over the fence and jump into the pool, or play soccer with my friends. It was an awesome time. Because the lifeguard (our local ‘Baywatch babe’) also used to be my babysitter, we enjoyed some privileges. I remembered that she once allowed us to swim with our dog. That was really amazing. No worries, it was one of the last days of the summer season and the swimming pool was about to be closed until next summer. Besides all this, I also did a lot of running. And when we used to live near the sea for some years, I also started with wavesurfing. It’s a pity that the Dutch waves are not as good as those in, for example, Portugal.

Dominique by Nathan Vennekens (Sensus fotografie)

Kick fun
When I sport, I give more than 100% of myself. Sport is a way for me to completely release myself (same goes for partying). Two years ago, I was persuaded by my wife to join a Kickfun lesson from Dominique at our local gym. Kickfun is like kickboxing, but then on a kick bag instead of a person. Since then, I am hooked. Dominique is a big dark guy with a lot of positive energy and a very good heart! And every Monday and Wednesday, he pushes us beyond our limits and even more… “JAB JAB CROSS! HOOK, HOOK, HOOK! BODY, BODY, BODY! ROUND HOUSE! FRONT KICK! SIDE KICK! PUSH UPS!” My wife and I became good friends with this good fellow!

Two-hour-try-out boot camp
Dominique is starting up his own personal training business. He gives trainings in various gyms in Amsterdam, in people’s homes and, if you like, even in the park. Because he is setting up his own training program, he asked me to do a two-hour try-out boot camp session, which we did last Saturday. Check out the parts that I filmed! The day after, however, my body was suffering a lot of muscle pain. But it was awesome, and I am looking forward to the next session!

Thank you Dominique and thank you I Chu for checking my English text!