We have known for a week that Sifan Hassan finished sixth in the New York Marathon and defending champion Abdi Nageeye dropped out halfway. But I didn’t find it in any news report that another Dutch top runner was participating. Yet it is so. Three weeks ago she won bronze at the Dutch championship, during the Amsterdam marathon.
She would start among the recreationalists, only around noon, but early in the morning she is already eager. She films themselves, like influencers do: “Aaah! Oh my god. It’s seven in the morning and I’m already ready. I’m going to grab some breakfast and some hairspray for my curls. I’m really hours early. But I know how busy New York is and I know myself.”
A little later she films herself on the street, between the skyscrapers. She doesn’t walk, she bounces. “Because you go six hours ahead in time, I always wake up super early here and then you can take it easy. Absolutely wonderful. I will first encourage Abdi and Sifan and then go to the start myself.” She has pink diamonds in the shape of hearts stuck to the corners of her eyes, as if she is going to a festival.
You might have already guessed it: this message is about Mikky Keetels, the flying stewardess, who runs around the world. I’ve written about her before, and she continues to fascinate me.
She flew to New York last week for her employer. She slept for a few hours, and while most marathon runners rest for weeks after a top performance – she ran two minutes off her personal record in Amsterdam – she thought: oh, well, I’ll be there anyway.
But it’s not that easy if you’re a bouncy ball. After a few more videos between skyscrapers, I come across big scared eyes. “Oh my god. The bus is not going and we start in an hour. I am very panicky.” The image shakes as Mikky sprints and ends up in another bus. Phew.
Not practice anyway. Wrong bus. “Right now I could really cry. I’m an hour from the start, but it will be fine, I ordered an Uber.” Tears in her eyes, but she also laughs at herself.
Then she runs on the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, where the marathon starts. She walks against the current and continues to film herself. “Everyone shouts at me: wrong way! Yeah duh. I know!” She points to the signs, to show that she is almost at the start. But then: “Oh my god, I now realize that ‘4’ is of course miles here, and not kilometers.”
She is now walking on her own on the bridge and bursting out laughing: “I’m going to pieces. Look, there is absolutely no one there.” She speeds up. Suddenly she is walking among people again. She still has to pee quickly, so she disappears into a dixie. When she comes out, everyone is gone again. Who cares. Not Mickey. “Yoooo here we go,” she shouts.
As the very last starter, Mikky Keetels finished in a time that almost everyone who runs dreams of: 2 hours, 52 minutes and 37 seconds – even though she had already run seventeen kilometers before she started. It cannot be otherwise than that living life so cheerfully, unapologetically and full of self-mockery gives you wings.
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