On a sunny wednesday morning I decided to give the Dutch Dunes route a try. Starting point is close to my home in Haarlem so a large part of the route is familiar. Luckily the weather was better than the last couple of days, it was 30+ degrees yesterday, so I started early, around 7 in the morning.
I wanted to do a steady run, trying to keep the pace around 4:45/km, which should be possible because almost the entire track is paved. The first kilometers are the most beautiful through the Kennemerduinen, with a small part that was very sandy because of crossing dunes (the entire biking path was gone). From Bloemendaal aan Zee it was a nice walk along the boulevard to Zandvoort, running felt really easy here. The wind slightly in the back, and the temperature still nice.
Zandvoort itself is a very ugly place so ran through that on a good pace :-). After Zandvoort the biking path alongside the Waterleidingduinen was still quiet at this time in the morning (can be very crowded on sunny days), still feeling very strong keeping the pace as I wanted.The path flies by Langevelderslag and continues to Noordwijk, the peace between Langevelderslag and Noordwijk is very nice. Noordwijk itself is nothing special (at least not the part directly attached to the boulevard).
After Noordwijk it is a short run to Katwijk, saw a seal there, and the boulevard of Katwijk is nice with all kinds of statues and lots of waterpoints where I could refill, and cool my head a little, the sun was coming on strong now, and not a lot of shade.
After Katwijk it was peaces of crushed shell paths and paved biking paths through nice dunes and running along dune lakes. In the last 4 kilometers I started to tire a little and had enough sweet stuff to eat, so glad that after 50 km the finish was there (very ugly place to finish though, next to an appartment building). Very happy to see that it was even a little faster than I wanted, finishing in 3:54:28.
I had a lot of fun this morning. I used 1300ml of water, 2 jelly bars, 2 sport nougats and two SIS beta fuel gels. Which was a good strategy for this route. There are enough places where you can refill water, and cool if necessary.
After the finish the beach of Schevening is very nearby to have a little swim to finish it in style.