Jolanda

30 weeks, 3 training sessions a week and last Saturday (7 September 2024) had the first training session and what fun it was. 89 more training sessions to go, what a good prospect.

On to 30 March 2025 and running the 10 km with fellow Dream Team members. I am Jolanda Janssen, 60 years old and living in Venlo. I work as a process supervisor at Drive Vitality, based in Tegelen.

I have tried to run the 10 km many times in the past, eventually only managing to do so twice and then not even pain-free. All other attempts I had to abandon early due to injuries. And although I always liked running, I stopped. Running was not for me, unfortunately.

The ‘dream’ of still running the 10 km during the Venloop never quite went away, but I knew I had to have very good guidance for this. And even though I had recently got rid of all my running clothes, I found courage to sign up for the Dream Team 2025. And to my surprise, I received an e-mail that I could join. And together with my teammates, the two trainers and our coordinator, we are all going for it. On to 30 March 2025, on to the 10 km.

Teamwork makes the dream work, our slogan.

And that is absolutely true. The support and connectedness in our team is great and that already in such a short time. And that is also why I know we will succeed, together with trainers Pascal and Guido and our coordinator Vivian.

We have been training for about 3 months now. Is it hard? Yes, at times it is and then the doubts really hit you. Is it fun? Absolutely, and then the doubt disappears again (usually 😊). The first treatments with the physiotherapist have also already taken place. That was a bit off course, but fortunately I was allowed to keep training. And also do some strength training.
Currently, I am walking pain-free and I am already very happy with that. Now to build up the fitness, but that will be fine.

One of my goals for me was to at least participate in the 5 km at New Year’s Run on 5 January 2025. This did feel like a kind of ‘test’ for me and I already find it exciting. Participating in a ‘race’ does feel different from training on Saturdays and Wednesdays. We still have about three months of training ahead of us in the new year. Can we at least make sure that the ‘Christmas kilos’ don’t get out of hand😊.

And so we move slowly but surely towards that black circled date on the calendar of 2025!!!

Jolanda

It’s over, the road to the Venloop 2025. A road with the necessary highs and lows. But I had not seen the biggest low coming: in the last week of training, I suffered an injury to my left knee. Diagnosis from the physiotherapist: overuse and the advice not to run 10 km. I did manage to encourage my fellow dreamteamers and I did so to the full.

But above all, let’s not forget the road to 30 March 2025. It all started with the first training on 7 September 2024 with eight ‘unknown’ fellow runners. And after six months of training, valuable friendships were formed. And judging from the emails in the week after the Venloop, it is clear that the training sessions as well as the company are missed.

All in all, a very nice experience to witness, with unfortunately an unexpected end for me. But to see how the other team members did during the Venloop weekend, walking as well as running, was very nice and eased the pain a little bit.

Many thanks to our trainers (and the lit candles), our coordinator and the Venloop for making this possible. I will never forget this.