I ran an 8km loop around Zaandam on Tuesday. Zaandam is an old industrial city, and still has a lot of processing and manufacturing businesses. I ran past lots of old industrial buildings, which no doubt will be converted into apartments one day, because many of these turn of the century buildings are beautiful and have a character that’s warm and familiar. They are just sleeping between uses right now. Their time will come.
New industry is not really the same. The buildings are places nobody wants to live next nevermind live in. One good example is the Zor oil refinery- I always pass it on my 8km loop. It’s not a super scale refinery but a small one, which has a road passing through the middle of it. Zor has a very menacing place.
The first thing that hits me is the smell. The smell reaches down your throat and seeps into your insides. The roads around the refinery are stained black, like it’s trying to go back into the ground it was taken out of. Sometimes, I see workers enter and leave the building when I pass, all in protective clothing head to toe- stopping the oil from seeping into them. They must never get the smell off though. Wives fall asleep next to that smell.
The oil refined at Zor is used in cosmetics, food and pharmaceuticals. I don’t look at butter, my make-up and a bunch of other things the same way thanks to that place.
Running takes me to Zor for no other reason other than the road that passes through it. It’s surprising what you find in these places that are not meant to be visited. They’re not beautiful or inspiring, but they are confronting, uncomfortable and thought-provoking.
The simple need to make kilometers, to clock the distance, takes me on journeys and once in a while, there is a discovery, a clearing in forest and I never know what the next one will look like or behind which bend it lies. All that and I still only ran 8km! It’s not about the total distance it’s about paying attention during the run and where it’s taking you. The longer it is of course the bigger the adventure.
It all calls me back to that statement by Jan Knippenberg:
“lopen is geen sport maar een manier van reizen”
(running is not a sport but a means of travelling).
Running round -up
Distance: 8.3km
Time: 46:34
Shoe: GEL-NOOSA TRI 5
Even in the most unpromising of paces there is always something. Sometimes it is a scary grandeur sometimes a little path or a building that has been left behind.
The beauty of running is that it gives you an excuse to go anywhere.