The white Kenyan

Usually injuries lead to new injuries. In this case, however, a special art project followed: a bodypaint in the style of the people of the Omo valley, bordering on the marathon winner producing countries Kenya and Ethiopia.

In the weeks leading up to the marathon, it seemed almost impossible for me that I would be able to run it. Because of an injury to my ankle I could hardly stand on two legs, as even doing so made the right ankle hurt. After seeing Gekleurd Naakt posted a few pictures of bodypaints following a period of no updates on their Facebook-page, it started itching. And if the goal you've been training for so long is about to fall away, you might want to comfort yourself a little, right? So I made an appointment with Iepke Seebregts and Saskia Hoek for a new bodypaint. Together we did a bodypaint of a phoenix 2 years ago and that was a great experience.

The basic idea for the paint was actually finished pretty quickly. I wanted to do something with running and had a beautiful book by Hans Silvester lying around for quite some time,  Natural Fashion: Tribal Decoration from Africafeaturing photos of bodypaints from the Omo Valley. This valley borders on the big running countries Kenya and Ethiopia. The tribal art from the Omo valley is also very beautiful in its simplicity: the colors are made with natural pigments, mostly white, yellow and red, and they also use natural materials such as cabbage leaves and flowers in the hair to finish it all off. Given my speed this is the only way to become a white Kenyan, so that seemed like a nice nod to the marathon. And fortunately Saskia liked it too. The date for execution: April 9th, 2 days after the intended marathon.

In the meantime I happily continued with the physiotherapist to be able to run again and did some good abdominal exercises for the paint. Slowly the marathon seemed feasible again, which I had never expected in the short term. However, it did mean a risk for the paint project. A spot of rubbed skin here and there, some blisters and loose, blue toenails, that was the harvest after the previous marathon. Running 42,195 km means that every brand tag can produce a wound. And besides that, 2 days later there is often a bit of stiffness, which is not going to help if you have to lie down and pose for a long time. 

On marathon Sunday I used some extra bodyglide as countermeasure. Because of the bad preparation, and with the help of running buddy Ramona den Toom, the starting pace was a bit lowered compared to the previous marathon (good against the stiffness). And it worked: two days later there was almost nothing to see on my skin and my body felt as supple as that of a lamb. At least, as long as I didn't have to hop through the meadow. So both the paint and the marathon seemed to work out.

The great thing about a bodypaint project is that it's something you really do together. I come up with a basic idea, a blank canvas – be it a bit dented by Lanzarote, Saskia and Iepke think about how they can make a design covering the whole body from the basic patterns and photographer Andrew Greening together with Iepke, makes sure I'm in the right position and in the right place.

The pattern may look simple in the picture. But make no mistake, it shouldn't look like a striped pyjamas and the stripes should be tight and parallel. That takes quite some time. We started around 10.30 hour with the paint and were only ready to start with the photo around 19.30. And all that time I had to lie still or – during finishing in the last hour – stand still. One movement and the line will most likely have to be repainted.

The funny thing is that it's actually not that hard to fully relax at all. Just let go of everything. The painting itself feels like a gentle massage and for the rest I didn't catch much of what happened around me; the fatigue of the marathon made it so that I was able to easily relax and retreat into my own world. Fortunately Iepke and Saskia can also create a safe environment, because you are very vulnerable with all your imperfections (high female-like waist, belly, and so on) in full exposure. 

And then suddenly there's the moment I had to stand up again. Shaking out the legs. Lying on a heated blanket was easy, standing is another story. The limbs feel heavy and the legs stiff. But it's the only way to paint everything right. This time the whole front (yes also down there) and back was painted, so Andrew could use all angles of my body. If you lean on something, it needs to be repaired or painted in later. 

While Iepke made the final stripes, Saskia was busy making a headdress. At first I have to say that I didn't like the white band in the mirror. It's not a natural material and that distracted me a bit from the photos by Silvester. But in the final photo’s it makes me look a bit longer (read thinner) and is nicer than I thought

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The toughest stage was posing, just like last time. The blood sugars are a bit higher then (you don't burn as much when lying still) and standing in position is tough. Abdomen retracting, looking exactly at a fixed point, hand slightly down, buttocks twisted, fingers and shoulders relaxed, it's like yoga. The photo session lasted about an hour and a half. In practice it turned out to be difficult to really put movement in it, as if the body is truly running. So in the end it became more like a proud warrior, but I don't mind.

Because I had my doubts about the headdress, Saskia spent a lot of time in a second variant with ivy from the garden. It fits better with the book and gives a completely different atmosphere. In order to stay completely natural, we also decided to take a few photos outside. Because of the wind it was a lot colder than expected, so the active movement part unfortunately disappeared. But in the end it is the picture I am most proud of: the white Kenyan in the polder.

Apparently the paint was a bit too warlike for the train passengers, because I didn't get a question about it... But after the return trip I had to remove it with pain in my heart. Normally the paint disappears quickly through the shower drain, but this time the white was a bit more stubborn. Over an hour and a half later I was practically paint free. Although I suspect that a day later there were still some dashes of paint to be found in my ears.