Jolan

Hi hi,

My name is Jolan Muisers, 52 years old, living in Reuver with my husband Hans and our border collie Sep. Our 3 children are studying and come home regularly at weekends.

In 2016, I started running. I participated in the Venloop (10 km) several times. Running became my passion. I preferred running through the woods with our border collie. That always had something magical, especially in the early morning.

In September 2023, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. Initially, it was surgery and radiation. I thought, before Christmas I’ll be done.

Unfortunately, things turned out differently and floating cells were found in the gatekeeper gland. A 5-month chemo course came along with it. During this period, I ran several times. But at one point I had to stop. It was too hard.

After the treatments, I participated in a 12-week rehabilitation programme. The rehabilitation doctor mentioned the possibility of joining the dream team. I first wanted to try to take up running again on my own, but soon found that it didn’t work out.

The dream team was a godsend. I could start realising my dream of running the 10 km again (under proper guidance). It will be quite tough to train 3 times a week and distribute energy well.

But I am incredibly looking forward to it!

Greetings Jolan

Teamwork makes the Dreamwork. This is our 2024/2025 dream team slogan.

And what a great team! I am proud to be a member of this team. We support and motivate each other. It’s not nothing to build up from 0 km to 10 km and that through all weathers.

But certainly thanks to our super trainers Pascal and Guido and our caring coordinator Vivian. Together, we will get it done.

And occasional setbacks are part of it.

I had gone skiing in the ski hall (early December) to prepare for winter sports at Christmas. In the ski hall, I injured my knee. That I would not be able to ski was not so bad but that the New Year’s run (the 5 km) was in jeopardy was much worse for me.

The physiotherapist recommended rest, which was very difficult. You want to keep going so badly and you don’t want to build up a backlog either.

With good coaching and patience, I still managed to achieve the first goal and that was the 5 km during the New Year’s Run in Boekend. How nice it was to do this as a team. In the pouring rain, we crossed the finish line 1 by 1, encouraged by Sas our team member and many others. We were super happy for each other that the months of hard training had paid off. And now, full of enthusiasm, continue to build towards the 10 km.

Greetings Jolan

What an adventure it was to join the Venloop Dream Team! When I started it, I could not have imagined that I would actually run 10 kilometres on 30 March.

The training sessions started with walking, and slowly we built it up to running. Our trainers, Pascal and Guido, had prepared a varied training schedule. On Wednesday evenings, Pascal gave us challenging interval training, with the sprints being especially tough at first. But as the weeks progressed, they became more and more fun and things got better and better.

Saturday mornings featured Guido’s endurance running training, through the woods or from bridge to bridge. On Mondays, we trained independently. Our trainers and our amazing coordinator Vivian literally dragged us through it. It didn’t go completely by itself either. Occasionally, we had to deal with ailments.

But without my teammates, I wouldn’t have made it either. We laughed a lot, supported each other and sometimes shed a tear.

It was wonderful to be part of this lovely team with all super sweet buddies. I want to thank everyone for this unforgettable time and will really miss it.

Greetings Jolan