Running to extremes

Posted September 24, 2008 at 10:17 am by Martijn Estor in General.

As IT worker I spend most part of my working day sitting behind a desk. As a true nerd, a nickname openly used by our managing director to describe the average Jitscale employee, I spend even more ‘screen hours’ outside the office because of my home computer and games console. Days where I spend 12 hours sitting in front of a screen are the rule rather than the exception, and I can’t help noticing I am not the only one.

It may be obvious such an existence can not go without consequences unless some compensating is done. Employers are also aware of this and present employees with the opportunity to exercise against a reduced rate or even for free; after all, a healthy employee is a productive one. Jitscale employees can also use sports facilities for free in the town of our headquarters. Regularly an abundance of sweat is produced on the squash courts or in the gym.

Growing popularity of company sports has not gone unnoticed by running events organizations. It’s becoming more easy to take part in a running competition under the colours of an employer. No wonder employers are happy to pay for all costs involved; employees are engaged in healthy activities, it increases team spirit and it presents an opportunity to meet people from other companies. Coaches and clubs respond to this by organising clinics to cram runners over a period of some weeks for an event. Health insurers often are happy to contribute financially as they also see the need of a fit and healthy working population.

Some years ago I witnessed hundreds, or even thousands, of employees of the biggest grocer of the country take part in the Dam tot Damloop. Despite a head start of fifteen minutes on the regular runners legion, I already overtook the first cashiers and stock clerks dressed in Zaans blue, evidently they were not well prepared for those sixteen long kilometres between Amsterdam and Zaandam. I myself have been a keen runner since about five years now. As a student, I started with a quiet jog around the park to put a stop to my sedentary existence, and now the ‘running virus’ has slowly but strongly caught me. I hope to run my second marathon, after my marathon début in Amsterdam in 2004, on the island of Terschelling. I have stopped taken track of the number of times I crossed the finish line, with distances ranging from five to thirty kilometres, but it must be adding up to over a hundred. You could say my existence is a matter of running to extremes.

You will understand I enthusiastically turned to my colleagues when my own athletics club entered a company run in the programme of the Brecheisen Makelaars Maliebaanloop this autumn. The idea to form a team was well received and so Jitscale will start with six nerds on Sunday the 19th of October at the well known Maliebaan in Utrecht, to participate in the 10k company run. The track includes the Wilheminapark, where I took my first steps as a runner. I welcome you to team up with your colleagues and take up a sportive battle with us! Please check for more information on http://www.maliebaanloop.nl.