12 Steden Plog (12 City Plog)
My first truly epic adventure as a professional plogger
"Go BIG Paul, GO BIG!"
That is the voice in my head. It is time to listen to it
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The short version
Next May - for the ENTIRE month - I am going to run and plog around the entire Netherlands!
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1300 KM
31 MARATHONS
12 CITIES
1 MONTH
1 BANANA SUIT
In each city, I will organise a fun group cleanup.
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But let's look at it in detail now..
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THE DATES!
I have now figured out the provisional route, the smaller towns and places can be tweaked a bit but only slightly.
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These are the dates and where I will be staying overnight.
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So.. for example on Friday 2nd I will start the day in Wassenaar and then get to Den Haag for a cleanup at 10am (these cleanups will last an hour). Afterwards I will continue on to Rotterdam where I will stay the night.
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Each day will have a minimum of 42km running/plogging
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The really exciting one is the last day. I get back to Haarlem on 30th May which means I will do a full marathon around Haarlem itself before finishing in the grotemarkt at 6pm
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Click on the cities in this list to find out more details (cleanups, route, livestream and hotels)
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Thu 01 - Haarlem > Wassenaar
Fri 02 - Wassenaar > Rotterdam
​Sat 03 - Rotterdam > Hellevoetsluis
​Sun 04 - Hellevoetsluis > Buurgh
​Mon 05 - Burgh > Middleburg
​Tue 06 - Middleburg > Goes
​Wed 07 - Goes > Bergen op Zoom​
​Thu 08 - Bergen op Zoom > Breda
​Fri 09 - Breda > Den Bosch
​Sat 10 - Den Bosch > Eindhoven
​Sun 11 - Eindhoven > Wessem
​Mon 12 - Wessem > Maastricht
​Tue 13 - Maastricht > Linne
​Wed 14 - Linne > Limbursge Peel
​Thu 15 - Limbursge Peel > Nijmegen
​Fri 16 - Nijmegen > Arnhem
​Sat 17 - Arnhem > Apeldoorn
​Sun 18 - Apeldoorn > Zwolle
​Mon 19 - Zwolle > Meppel
Tue 20 - Meppel > Assen
​Wed 21 - Assen > Groningen​
​Thur 22 - Groningen > Leeuwarden
​Fri 23 - Leeuwarden > Terschelling
​Sat 24 - Terschelling > Leeuwarden
​Sun 25 - Leeuwarden > Lemmer
​Mon 26 - Lemmer > Lelystad
​Tue 27 - Lelystad > Almere
​Wed 28 - Almere > Utrecht
​Thu 29 - Utrecht > Amsterdam
Fri 30 - Amsterdam > Haarlem
​Sat 31 - Haarlem > Haarlem
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The spark of an idea
When I plan an adventure I ask myself "How can I make it the toughest yet?"
This is a good example of that; I could simply get on a train and do a cleanup in each of the 12 cities. Job done!
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But I need to push myself.
I want people to see that I put my heart, soul and every molecule of my body on the line for it. To inspire by doing something truly astounding.
For myself, I need to come up with something that really will push me to the limits. I need to start it unsure and unconfident that I can do it.​​
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"If I can do something as ridiculously tough as this, then hopefully it can inspire people to bend down and pick up a single piece of trash"
That's all I want. I don't want you to give money to a charity or do the same as me. Heck no!, I just want you to pick up a piece of trash next time you step out the door and think about how it makes you feel.​​
​Originally my idea was to run the entire border of the Netherlands. It was an idea I had had for a couple of years. But then a friend told me about a mountain biker who had done this 12-city tour, and the spark ignited. "Wow!", I thought, "What a great idea!" - it meant I would visit real cities and could arrange events in those places. And of course, one of those capitals is Haarlem, where I live! A perfect start and end to the adventure.
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​Now, here's the problem. It is still months away.
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I also tend to come up with new ideas to make it more epic. A perfect example of this is the flag I used with the canuary dress. That was an idea I had after I started on the dress; and that flag really made the outfit epic!
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For this adventure, I have already added a banana suit, and now I want to try and figure out if I can get funding for a documentary crew to film me (for me, I think this is worthy of one of those amazing YouTube films that gets shown at festivals!!)
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So I am kinda scared what layers I will add to the challenge before I even reach the start line!​​
The plan in detail
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The Netherlands is made up of 12 principalities and each principality has a capital city.
I want to plog my way to and from each one.
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I will start at the stadhouse (city hall) of each city and then just go and run to the next one.
That could be 150km away! So I will break each down into a marathon.
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In total it will be as a minimum, a marathon each day, for an entire month.
(31 x 42 = 1300km)
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On the map you can see the order of the cities I will run to. I will start in my home city of Haarlem and work my way down to Maastricht, before heading north to Groningen and then back to Haarlem.
I will also visit Amsterdam as an extra.. just because it would be fun to do!
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In each of the 12 cities I will organise a cleanup event.
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Self-supported
The biggest challenge is actually going to be that I want to do it self-supported (without help). So I need to take all my gear with me. To make this possible I will need to get a baby jogger (I am reaching out to brands at the moment to see if they will gift me one). This will hold all my gear as well as bags hanging on the side for the trash I collect - I will be continuously plogging.
I am hoping that I can convince hotels to put me up for the night for free (I think I need a hotel just to have that ability to escape and recover at the end of the night, just before the next marathon)
All weather
Yep, it tends to rain here. I need to accept that many days I will just be soaked.
Some good waterproof bags are a must haha
Join in? ABSOLUTELY!
I will be sharing my route as well as having a live tracker. I am hoping that it is going to be a Forest Gump type adventure; maybe no one at the start with me, but by the end I will have people joining me for sections (or maybe even an entire day!!
Marathon not a Sprint
This is not a race. So don't expect 4hrs marathons. I suspect that each day will take around 10hrs at least. So I will be jogging, but often walking. And always plogging.
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Documentary and Filming​​
Is it my imagination or is this adventure.. documentary worthy? The kinda epic YouTube film you see with 'shown at eco festival' on it?
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My priority is getting enough sponsors to fund my daily plogging (this is really just a part of that and my core business) - but I would love somehow to find additional funding for this to be turned into a proper high-quality documentary. Something worthy of the effort and commitment I have to put into it myself.
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Whatever happens, I will be filming it, and my son is going to compose the music!! He is currently studying music at the HKU in Utrecht.
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If you are interested in helping me with this, then email me (and especially maybe if you want to help fund it!!!) - my email is below
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Just the first!
I think that if I can pull this off, then I will have made one heck of a start to my vision as a professional plogger.
I want to do something epic each year like this (in 2027 I have the ultimate goal - but that is a surprise)
And each time.. bigger and crazier!
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Any questions? Then just email me or use the contact form
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