Runner Maron Janssen ran through all the streets of his hometown Waalre. He kept track of this on a map in the running app Strava. Now he has set himself the goal of turning the whole of Eindhoven, where he lived until he was 12, orange in the same way. ‘This keeps my motivation optimal for the long runs.’
People around him think he is crazy when twenty-year-old Maron talks about his goal to run across every street in Eindhoven. And that gives him extra motivation to get it done. In the Strava app you can see from the many orange running lines that he has already reached the south of Eindhoven and is well on his way to his ultimate goal.
Maron is a student at Eindhoven University of Technology and a board member of the Eindhoven Student Athletics Association Asterix. His desire to take on the challenge was sparked by other runners who did the same in Rotterdam and Groningen. He started in his village Waalre and has now colored that map. “In Strava you have a function that allows you to see where you have been as a runner. I love numbers and statistics and I thought it would be fun to completely color in my hometown.”
“According to my information, Eindhoven has 2765 streets.”
So he can already check Waalre off his list. He is not that far yet with the streets of Eindhoven. “I think I’m at 20 percent now,” says Maron. “That’s about 200 kilometers. According to my information, Eindhoven has 2765 streets.”
The runs through the city take him to places he has never been before. “I lived in Eindhoven until I was 12 and thought I knew the city well. But I still see new places. The nice thing is that many people from the athletics club walk along when I pass through their residential area.”
“I want to run under two minutes in the eight hundred meters.”
Not all Eindhoven streets are a good place for running. There are traffic lights or cars that cause delays. Still, Maron wants to cross off all avenues in the end. “These are always stretches of an average of ten to fifteen kilometers. I alternate this with training on the athletics track. The variety ensures that my motivation for the long runs remains optimal.”
Maron trains for fast times in the eight hundred and four hundred meters. “I would like to get under two minutes in the eight hundred meters. To achieve these kinds of times you have to train a lot and then it is fun to run through the whole of Eindhoven.”