Behind me the lawn with the sculpture of Picasso, right in front of me the ribbon and behind it again: the runners. I’m good here. Nice and quiet. I can hear the steps, the panting and groaning. Further on at the large pond there is loud clapping and cheering. Rightly so, but I don’t want that. I want to observe in silence, the feet, the legs, the motor skills, the voluntary suffering.
Every third Sunday in October it almost feels like a duty to see at least something from Onze Marathon. As if the mass of toilers adds a new dimension to the familiar environment that you should not miss. Amsterdam for a few hours on the world map: that will also play a role.
The leading group is already on its way to the finish when I have found my ideal spot in the Vondelpark. I am on time for the fastest women. Even better, the fastest woman. The park glistens in the autumn sun, there are puddles of rainwater along the trail and there she comes running: the medical miracle. The Ethiopian running goddess Almaz Ayana.
In the Vondelpark, always populated by many foreigners, our global village to great heights and I was there
Completely crippled three years ago, two knees broken, now majestically subdued two meters away from me.
A privilege.
Thanks to her implanted cartilage as elegant as a doe. Virtually silent on the south side of the Vondelpark, with more than two kilometers to go until the finish in the Olympic Stadium. Almaz Ayana must be exhausted, use her last remnants of willpower, feel pain everywhere… Nothing to see. The look down, as if walking inside herself. Her short ponytail loosely between her shoulder blades. Her soles kiss the asphalt, fleetingly, she has to move on.
Also read: Close to Picasso, just in the park
She passes me and Picasso untouchably smoothly. Magical moment: in front of and behind me the incomprehensible. The riddle of endless self-expression. For two seconds I am sandwiched by beauty. Long enough to never forget.
I watch her feet, bending willingly after each landing. Her skinny legs twirled beautifully on the prettiest Sunday morning of the year. A rusty chestnut, lonely in the grass in front of Picassos Figure Decoupeeis my witness.
After returning home I read that Almaz Ayana also became a mother during her rehabilitation. And that the thirty-year-old was the first woman to cross the finish line about six minutes after my sandwich. This makes her the fastest marathon debutant of all time.
Debutante: that could also be added.
The Amsterdam Marathon is one of the most accessible in the world and has had a special international field of participants for years. Everything around me was international, the runners, the expats with prams, it c’mon guys! at the pond. In the Vondelpark, always populated by many foreigners, our global village to great heights and I was there.
Countless pistils I saw coming after Ayana, sighing, moaning, spitting. The anonymous heroes dragged themselves to the end with cramped heads. Between all those memories I see the Ethiopian wonder woman running past me again and again. Imperturbable and graceful, an artist on his way to glory.
Auke Kok is a writer and journalist.