Sofico Marathon Ambassador Program

After 6 months of having to read my updates, you can now rest easy.

No longer shall you be pained by terrible puns. No longer shall I pretend to feel better than others for the purpose of humour. No longer shall you endure dog pictures.

Unfortunately, I did not make it, the last three weeks I had an injury on my knee, which prevented me from training as I hoped. While the doctor forbade me from participating, I decided that surely, I must be smarter than someone who studied 8 years to understand the human body and gave it a go.

All went well, a great start, with a good fast pace.

Unfortunately, at km 17, I felt a sharp pain in my knee, and I slowed down immediately. I managed to hobble along to km 23, where my knee gave in & I had to start walking. I spent the next 2km trying to rest & restart my running flow, but alas. At km 25, somewhere along the waters of the river Schelde, I was unable to lift my leg any higher than 5cm and gave in.

However, not to end with a negative note, there are some positives to take away from this:

I ran a PB on the half Marathon on race day (2h14mins)
I lost 7kg of fat
I learned how to train & run while being (almost) injury free
I discovered how much you are actually capable of, if you put in the work for 6 months

So while disappointment rules for the moment, I am sure that by next year, when I can give it another go, I will look back at this as just a slight bump in the road.

But what’s been happening the last few weeks?

Well, let me tell you.

We once again went to the place where it all started, the sanctum of sports, our holy shrine of suffering if you will. I’m talking about Golazo of course.

In the middle of January, right after the holiday food had finally converted itself into useful insulation (read: fat) we got to give the lactate tests another go.

While this time it wasn’t as exciting as the first time (once you know how much you’ll suffer, it takes the joy away somehow), it was even more insightful.

And the results were quite amazing, if I may say so myself. My baseline endurance, which was horrendous in the first test went up from 7,9km/h to 10,1km/h.

But that’s not all folks I also lost weight, all that food that I used to stuff my face with (and to cope with the dark depressing Belgian weather) somehow did not settle as fat. I even lost a full 3kg of pure fat.

From that point on, it also meant I had to start running a tad faster, resulting in breaking my personal records each session. Disregarding a slight hamstring annoyance, I’ve been flying forward ever since.

It is finally starting to feel like my body is adapting to distance running & I even managed a casual half marathon during training (if I compare to my first runs of 35mins where I was struggling, that’s craaaazy)

It’s all perspective folks!

So, what now? I have 7 weeks left to ‘lock in’. 7 weeks of pushing my body to it’s limits, the mental game will be the hardest in this whole process, but you just gotta listen to Dory (Just keep swimming).

To finish this edition, some pro tips:

Pro Tip #1: Sushi is amazing running food (my best runs are the day after a night of sushi, minimum of 40 rolls per person of course, nothing crazy…)

Pro Tip #2: Do your short runs together with someone else, it breaks the rhythm of running solo

Pro Tip #3: Goldband is amazing running music, that’s it.

Ok, this has gone on long enough, byebye driver byeeee

Con’s:

Trying to fit a household, a dog & running for a marathon in your schedule as a lazy person, turns out to be not so easy
So much extra washings… and yes, I do the washing, so I’m bullying myself. (It’s at the point where I would consider using clothing an extra time… I fear however my partner would not appreciate this).
The Belgian weather is greyer than the environmental outlook in research papers. Luckily, I have a gym close by to run on a treadmill and stare at a wall for an hour)
Running slow is hard on the ego, you want to push on and go faster, but you’re not allowed to.

All in all, the pro’s do outweigh the con’s, heavily. (Maybe largely due to the fact that I love eating, but shhtt).

So, are you still doubting? WRONG (it’s allowed, but it’s wrong), just go for it. If you need some extra motivation, let me know.

PS: there’s nothing more motivating than running to “Holding Out for a Hero by Bonnie Tyler” and imagining Divock Origi score a winner in the Champions League final. (If you got that reference, you have: elite humour, issues & I respect you. If you too want to enjoy the reference, hit me up & I’ll send you the link)

PSPS: The dog is not joining me again on a run, as it turns into a session of sprinting from tree to tree or hunting cat’s, rabits & other runners too easily. (you can literally see the speed in the picture)

PSPSPS: What? Did you think I would go a whole blog without mentioning my dog? As my family/direct colleagues know, that’s impossible.

This is a story that started in August. There I were, sitting at the breakfast table stuffing my face with another croissant, while Yoshi (dog, American Akita) turns his head in an effort to beguile me into sharing.

Stefanie (girlfriend, human) looks up from her TikTok - yes, we are Gen-Z, yes that’s young, no, I’m not afraid of calling the dentist myself (she is though…) – and starts about how difficult a half marathon would be to run. In my mindlessness I boast: “it’s only 20km, can’t be that hard, I can probably do it now without preparation”. Since our love for each other is based on endless competition, she tells me to not be so arrogant and just go run one then.

Cue to 2 hours later (had to finish my other croissant) where I leave the house to run 4 laps of 5km.

Round 1-3 went okay, after 16km I hit the feared runners wall and take over an hour to complete the last 5km…

I return home a sad mess of broken muscles & legs, ego through the roof that I managed to actually do it and can now continue my rhetoric of ‘how hard can it be’, all the while knowing it was insanely hard and I did something insanely unhealthy with that 3h run (yes 3 hours is a horrendous time, shhhttt).

So how does one find themselves signing up for a full marathon after crumbling during a half marathon? I could sit here and come up with a litany of motivational quotes & good reasons, but deep down, the real motivation is not wanting to give in.

I’m excited to see where I can get myself in 6 months with professional coaching, locking in & watching my food intake.

We’re now into the first week of the program, having done the intake day at Golazo Energy Lab. I got a full body DXA-scan (including dreaded fat percentages), did a lactate test that showed why I hit the runners wall (and that I will have to learn to run slow), as well as a checkup on injuries/misalignments/everythingsthatswrongwithyourbody.

Nevertheless, with full support from my personal coach Aron, I’m ready to hit the road and train to the absolute limit. My biggest difficulty will probably be managing injuries from football & doing enough mobility/injury prevention exercises (even though I’m Gen-Z, my body has no longer the idea that joints shouldn’t hurt after sports).

While I realise this blog might sound a bit arrogant, please take everything I say with a grain of salt… Except Yoshi’s croissants, we do not joke about that.

Next time you’ll hear from me, I will be deep into the first training block and have encountered the first bumps in the road undoubtedly. However, when the going gets tough, the tough get going!

| Meet the Ambassadors 2025

Cedric De Cooman

| Training updates

Follow Cedric's journey

We made it (but not really)

Sushi & Goldband, how running fuel evolves

Running slow, eating fast

From croissants to 42K: a Gen-Z guide to marathon madness