Day 7 - May 22

Distance: 8.5 miles (13.7 km)

After sleeping in, we went to Dam Square to meet Erica from the cheese shop and basically just walked around the city center a while checking out random shops, tasting some Stroopwafel, hazelnut merangue, and a very good beer at a brewery.  I went back to the hostel in the late afternoon to begin my run.  I started along the harbor and turned onto the outer canal ring, taking a detour through Vondelpark.  I was getting so tired of stopping and starting to dodge bikes that I just took off when I got to the park.  The park is very long and big enough that it's not crowded even when there are tons of people in it.  I sped up to a 5:30-per-mile pace, which is usually a first-long-run-of-the-year-and-Nick-Knudson-and-Jerod-Shoneman-are-setting-the-pace- kind-of-thing (only my fellow UNK cross country runners know what I'm talking about there).  I had to slow back down when I got back on the streets, but I still felt terrific as I kept pace with the people on their bikes riding beside me. 

Anyway, on a side note, you should look at Curtis's blog: curtisluettel.blogspot.com.  He goes into a lot more detail than me and doesn't just talk about mundane things like running, eating, and sleeping.