2025 Frienships

Dear 2025…where do we start?
A short summary: Great start followed by some bad luck, wrong decisions by others leading to hard recovery. Changing my mindset and finding my way back to happiness. New friendships.

Lesson learned

2025 started great. Whisper's training went very good…maybe too good. We were preparing for higher altitude trail runs. Sometimes we would run along with trail events - Timeline end of February - At one of the events I hurt myself. Nothing serious (so i thought) Heavy pain in my calf and groin area. The doctor suggested an echo and sent me to the hospital. The doctor at the hospital had a hard time finding anything and after a while the verdict was “inguinal hernia”. So the doctor sent me to a physiotherapist. After four painful treatments, they decided that my hip was not functioning correctly so they gave me a “dry needling" treatment at a place of my body where I didn't have any pain at all. This resulted in a complete dysfunction of my hip where even walking became painful. I decided that I had enough of this bullshit and I went back to my doctor (I was angry) where I insisted on making me go to a specialist. The same specialist that had helped me before after a physiotherapist did about the same mistake with my ankle in 2022. The specialist required only 5 minutes to come to the right diagnosis: pectineus & adductors overloaded because of the higher intensity with Whisper's training.

Finally the correct cause of my pain. No more physiotherapists for me.

Special note…when a specialist tells you that he is impressed with the way you handle your injuries and your recovery and says he has never seen anyone who is so dedicated to stay alive…it makes you feel great.

Fall and get up

It's a life lesson for many of us. You fall and get back up, sometimes you become stronger, sometimes you just become smarter.

And I have fallen many times…I almost consider myself a specialist in falling and getting up.
Maybe you remember from my previous post that my running frequency is almost daily. Since July 2024, I run every weekday before work, I only have one day off and that is Saturday. I run 99% off-road and I start very early in the morning…regardless of bad weather. Even when it is totally dark in the forest. I have a light with me but that's no guarantee that I don't trip over a branch or run straight into a cow. I actually ran into a black Galloway cow twice this year.

But falling and getting back up your feet isn't always literally. Besides the overload injury with Whisper, I also sprained my ankle during a dark morning run and had to deal with lots of emotions and attacks in the beginning of 2025. Running isn't only physical, it's also mental. Finding the balance is something that is often underestimated.
Fight your demons and get stronger.

Some demons are real

One should think that after years of mental and physical attacks, that should come to an end. Even though I didn't want to write anything about it in this year's blog, I want people to know that it's still very real. In the first months of 2025 Whisper and myself were attacked twice by people on mountain bikes. They threw rocks at us. I got one against my back while I was protecting Whisper.
In that same period I was followed by a person during my morning runs in the dark before work. A guy wearing black started to follow me after I had posted stories on Instagram revealing my location. Another incident was when two guys cornered me by blocking my passage. I didn't budge then and I will never budge again in my life. Even though at the start I was scared and watched my back all the time. At one moment I decided that it had to stop and I changed from pray to hunter. When I saw the guy that was following me, I killed my light so he wouldn't see me anymore. I waited for him to get closer and started running in his direction. He started running away very fast…too fast for me. But I know now what his height is and that he is a fast runner. I will get him sooner or later. Probably later because I never saw him again…chicken.
I know who they are. I've seen them getting closer to my home (I saw one of them running in the street in front of my home). They are always around when there is a social run in my neighborhood and that's why I never participate in a social run anymore. I don't need it to be happy.
Enough of this topic…it doesn't control my life anymore.

Mental battle

When during a morning run you see a person you once considered to be a friend and that person ignores you when you say “hi"...it is hard. I know from their socials that they are still friends with my attackers and that is a mental fuck.

A body that has been in trauma will not heal…the body simply adjusts. That doesn't happen with your mind and that affects your mindset.
Many times during a morning run, your mind has time to think and to process. For me it helps to record spoken messages of things that bother me at that moment. After some time I listen to these recorded messages again. It helps me to process.

It are the moments of physical pain that tell your mind that it will be hard for the coming period. It's important to have a friend that will help you get through that period.

I have the best friend

You may have seen him in some of the pictures on my socials. I say “some" because we have been on many runs and hikes together and on my computer there are over 2000 pictures of him and me together. I guess I'm not so good at sharing anymore. 2025 goes in my book as the year I almost didn't use Instagram…but Whisper and I just don't care about socials.
If you have the chance to get to know my best friend, you will see that he is amazing. He loves trailruns, he loves climbing, he is fearless, he is extremely smart, he is funny…a real goofball sometimes. He's just an amazing running partner and friend.

He takes care of me during our times on the trails together. If there is something wrong with me, he will react, slow down or completely stop. He will come to me and check if I'm okay. Sometimes he just comes for a hug…to show me that he is happy…and that makes me happy too.

Love, friendship and trust

Having a running partner who is always there for me, who motivates me to keep going is the best gift life has to offer. Sometimes in the middle of our run, we just sit and talk…I do all the talking and he listens…but that's okay. We have an amazing time together and that's all that matters.

2025 was the year I had to reinvent myself and I had the help from my dear friend Whisper. I also gained new friendships. People that just appeared in my life. Starting with a friendly chat and keeping in touch…because that's what friends do.

Borrowed time

I've been living on borrowed time for almost 10 years now. I should have died in 2016…but I fought hard to be where I am now. But the fight never ends. During a medical examination in February as result of an injury, they found high levels of tumor values in my blood. Six months later the tumor level was doubled in value and it's still rising. Yet another battle to fight.
Too bad that some people think that cancer is contagious because the moment they found out they broke all contact. That's the difference between people and animals, animals don't judge.

Positive mindset

Even though I have another battle to fight and I have to take pain medicine on a daily basis, my mindset is set to enjoying life as best as possible.
2025 has taught me what's important in my life, it taught me that life can be short and I have to live today not in the future. That I have to put my energy in the positive things in life and that I have to leave and avoid all negative things. This resulted in many beautiful runs and hikes. While I don't care about running statistics, I am very proud of myself that I ran a total of 4012 kilometers in 2025.

I believe that my positive mindset together with the help of Whisper and my new friends, life will be worth living again.

Let's take it day by day

Have a wonderful 2026