Mikky Keetels from Schijndel wants to become a professional runner. She said this on Sunday evening on the talk show RTL Tonight. Earlier in the day, the full-time stewardess won the Dutch title for the very first time at the Rotterdam marathon.
She had only returned from Buenos Aires two days ago and immediately took part in the Rotterdam marathon on Sunday. And then Mikky Keetels also wins. For someone who has had such hectic days, Keetels looks great at the table with Humberto Tan not tired.
“I think that is also due to the adrenaline,” she says. “I’m actually feeling really good.”
Marathons abroad
How does she do it? Would you like to work full-time as a flight attendant and also achieve such a sporting performance? “I think flying is really fantastic. I visit the most beautiful places and then I put on my running shoes. When I get to do my 30 kilometer run through New York, I really enjoy it.”
Sometimes she even participates in competitions on her 24-hour flights, she says. “When I was in New York for 24 hours, I ran the marathon and the half marathon in Boston,” she says. “I run so many miles because I enjoy it.”
Combining your career with flying
She now wants to use that pleasure in a career as a professional runner. “That is my ambition. I now have a management and my goal is to gradually become more serious.”
“So KLM has lost you?” Tan asks her. But that is not the case. “I want to keep combining it,” says Keetels. “Flying and running work well for me, but I do want to work part-time. So 50 percent flying: then I fly once or twice a month.”
Discussions with KLM
De Schijndelse previously told Omroep Brabant that she has a ‘dream job’. “I visit great places. Before my flight I look online and via ChatGPT to see which training sessions I can schedule. What is the weather like there, where is it safe and what are nice routes?”
Keetels has already had discussions with KLM about her wish to work part-time. “They are very cooperative. What exactly it will look like? I don’t know yet. I’m going to enjoy it a bit this week and celebrate it.”