---
title: "Three finish lines in four weeks after a knee injury: Amstelveen, Venlo and Rotterdam"
language: en
topics: ["health", "lifestyle", "people", "running", "sport", "watch"]
full_article_url: https://willem.com/en/2026-04-21_run-nicely/
---
# Three finish lines in four weeks after a knee injury: Amstelveen, Venlo and Rotterdam

*Know why you are running before the gun goes, and the pace takes care of itself.*

> Between 15 March and 12 April 2026 I ran the Lentemarathon six weeks after my knee gave out, the Venloop half marathon without the Watch, and the Rotterdam marathon on feel in 3:57:40.

In Amstelveen I ran to know whether the knee would hold: 4:08:22, with the Watch as a calibration tool at the start and no obsession after that. Two weeks later in Venlo I took the Watch off and ran a half in 1:52:34 without looking at a single split.
Rotterdam came on a knee I did not trust and without any time goal. It became the most beautiful marathon yet: every five kilometres between 5:26 and 5:38, purely on feel, with goosebumps on the Erasmus bridge.
A week later I wrote down the real reason for sport: who am I and what can I do. That is worth more than the PB moments of Valencia, Amstelveen and Eindhoven added together.