Love running!
But not always….
I’m a Dutch-born Aussie-Brit currently residing in the USA. Wife to Dion Leonard, and Fur-mama to Gobi and Lara, check out ‘Finding Gobi‘ the NY Times bestselling book for more details on that side of my life.
I am an ultra runner but hasn’t always been one! After becoming overweight in my early 20’s I took up running to become a healthier, fitter version of myself and after running my first road marathon, Amsterdam in 2010, I discovered a love of going long and went on to run the Kalahari Augrabies Extreme Marathon; a 6 stage, 7 day self sufficient multi stage ultra marathon through the Kalahari desert in northern South Africa where I really fell in love with ultra running.
I have since gone on to run a multitude of multistage and single stage ultras with the likes of Marathon Des Sables, Leadville 100, Ultra Trail Mont Blanc, Mohican 100 and even 200+miles non-stop with Bigfoot200 and Moab 240. Most recently I tackled the TransRockies Race, a multi stage ultra in Colorado with my friend, Amanda, running as a pair with 120miles and 20,000ft over 6 days as ‘Team Granny Pants’ where we came third open female team.
I am also a running and health coach and I can be found traveling all over the USA, exploring the most amazing places whilst working alongside my husband Dion, and his book ‘Finding Gobi’ with inspirational talks at corporate events, schools, libraries and running stores.
Running has been my saviour, and I am now just slightly addicted…..I am in no way suggesting that everyone needs to run crazy distances, but a little bit of running in everyone’s life would definitely be a good thing.
Hope to see you out on a run soon!
Contact me – runningdutchie@hotmail.com
Running Dutchie 
Reading your story you just insire me more than you allready did.
Keep up the good work!
Thanks Suzan! Keep it going, you are doing great!
Lucja, I’m amazed about your wealth of running knowledge, you’ll be an inspiration to anyone you take under your wing…from 10km to #MdS, take the challenge!
Thanks Julian, appreciate your support. Looking forward to helping some people out!