Nijmegen Vierdaagse

**Eville** · 07-22-2012, 05:24 AM

I went to Nijmegen, The Netherlands last week and did 102.5 miles over the last 4 days with a 15 kilo ruck. Now that I am comfortably resting at home with swollen feet and ankles and extreme chafing in my own Netherlands(That was terrible placement for a seam, Dri-Duke.) I'll post up some pics for those of you not on my FB.

Here's the first town we walked through on the first day. The people were fantastic everywhere; it was like a hero's welcome every time we went through a town. Kids would line the street for high fives, people were holding out bowls of fruit, cucumber slices, candy, throwing flowers, etc.

Here you can see the line of people behind me still crossing the bridge over whatever river that was. 41,000+ people walked in the event. Classes ranged from 30km no pack, 40km with and without a pack, and 50 km without a pack, per day. I walked the 40km with 15kilo pack class.

Here I am standing under the famous(maybe) boots and hat at the Camp Heumensoord (Human Sword!) gate at the end of the first day. This route was 28.5 miles. I completed it at 1400, with the time limit set for 1700. We stepped off at 0430 that morning.

Here's a bunch of people walking. The event began as all military, but now, sadly, military marchers are vastly outnumbered. 41,000+ walkers overall.

Hooray Beers!

My friend is sad that we are out of Beers.

And here I am, just finished the last day and got my medal. I was kind of happy at this point...

Until I found out there was a 5k victory lap. We gathered all the Americans we could find and made a little formation.

There were dutch girls everywhere with signs for free kisses. Of course I couldn't say no.

100+ miles and this was my only blister.

And of course, the after party!
This was easily the most rewarding experience of my life. Of course, I brought a few cigars with me, but at the end of each day all I wanted to do was lay day on my rack with a pizza and pass out, which is exactly what I did.

Here's a video of the victory lap. The video is less than a minute long, but could have easily lasted over an hour. The crowds were like this through each of the 10ish towns we passed through each day.