Tag: Running

Irene Gabriëlle Ergün & the privilege of being healthy

“it’s the subtle things that I get from my runs. I never come back without feeling different from at the beginning of my run. It makes me on one level physically satisfied for the rest of the day.” ** Running is so full of numbers. There is a proliferation of digits. Athletes are categorised by […]

Vehicles for your feet

One of the outcomes of running most days of the is frequent visits to the running shoe shop. In Melbourne, my choice of shoe shops was simple: I would go to Neil Ryan’s shop in Kew: Runners World. It is at the top of a hill in a leafy eastern suburb. Not far from a […]

Sportized Landscapes

How are the tensions between cultural heritage and sportized landscapes negotiated? What are the implications of the sportization (sportification) upon the landscape?

Of Tracks and Shoes

There is a book, Swimming Studies, by a Canadian author Leanne Shapton, which documents her notes on swimming and the shapes of pools she swims in. The book also contains photographs of the swim-suits she has collected over time as a swimmer – both serious and recreational. She writes of the smells of pools and […]

Elzy Wellings: Athlete and Activist

It is no easy life being an elite 10,000m runner. One is under-paid and under-appreciated at least by the standards of global sports. A track runner can be anonymous for as good as four years, yet, on the Olympic stage, the athlete can become a star, on the minor proviso that she or he, wins […]

Love the Training

It’s getting late on Tuesday afternoon. It could be any Tuesday of any week of the year: coaching and training is relentless. There are always runners in our group, Love the Run, with events coming up and each race needs to be prepared for adequately. Each runner’s race needs to be given importance. Unlike team […]

Hello, Eindhoven Marathon

Running is about getting a good time and improving. My time today in Eindhoven was not what I was aiming for: it was more or less eight minutes slower than the time I had set as a target. Of course, perhaps because I talk too much or had too much confidence I had mentioned this […]

Running, Somewhere in Holland

A crowd of runners gathers beneath the roof of an apartment balcony near the start of the race. Slowly, the density increases. Some perform mild stretches; others talk and joke lightly with others – either their friends or strangers. With five minutes to go, the crowd dissipates and heads towards the start line, marked by […]

The Overhead Lockers Landed in a Sunflower Field

Fragments /1/ There is a Ritual Salts bag lying in a field in Eastern Ukraine. The farmer, Valeriy Sulyivka who picked it up and who saw the suitcase in which it was packed fall, doesn’t care for Breestraat in Leiden, but that is where the passenger Hans Noteboom bought his gifts for his wife. He […]