42,195 km Writer Abdelkader Benali is preparing for the Rotterdam marathon. How does he prepare?
I walk along a dark river at six in the evening. I can no longer see the river. The road is poorly lit. Can the municipality of Amsterdam not provide decent lighting for evening runners? The lighting is off in some areas. I am invisible to the traffic around me. Cyclists pass me and thus light my path. The darkness swallows me up again. The Netherlands feels like an empty country. It is time to walk in a reflective jacket. Hourglass lifebuoy. Whoever does not wear such a reflective vest plays with his life. I didn't put on such a reflective vest. I play with my life. My shoes reflect a little bit. There are more and more reflection pieces incorporated in the outerwear and in the long pants. But that is not enough.
I will have to make a choice from the range of reflective clothing and attributes. The traffic on the road has increased. Scooters shoot past me a few centimeters away. Somewhere in a drawer, I have a handy headlight on my head. That will go next time.
Now it's too late. I don't see a hand. In the past, you didn't see that many runners with fluorescent vests. Times have changed. A well-prepared runner has a vest and often also a flickering light on the arm. Pure necessity.
My hands feel cold for the first time this year, the wind of the invisible river blows against it.
Walk faster. Whoever trains for the marathon will often have to go on the road alone. A long duration run lasts a few hours. One disappears in the endurance run. I think of what the Surinam-Dutch basketball player Francisco Elson said on Radio 1. He is the only Dutchman ever to achieve the highest title in the American NBA basketball. He told about that experience. Willemijn Veenhoven from De Nieuws BV asks him how he felt the day after the victory. His answer was strikingly sober. He had achieved his goal.
Why all this effort, all this training, all this sacrifice for a race that is over after a few hours
A clear goal to strive for is important. The 42 kilometers and 195 meters of the marathon run. There is no clearer goal. Training for a marathon can feel like walking in the dark. Why all this effort, all this training, all this sacrifice for a race that is over after a few hours. I feel very heavy. I want to stop walking to get that feeling of hopelessness out of my head. The darkness obscures all my ambitious plans. Don't nag, walk!
Just walk. This step that I am taking. I can see that step. Not the rest. The rest is also not important. I count every step. During my next evening training, I really need to wear such a reflective vest. And a light bracelet. And a light on the head. I have to relieve myself.
Freed from the start and finish I run home. When I walk into the house, I bathe in the light.
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