Woke up to rain and cool weather, but fortunately at the expo the day before I bought tights (note to travelers, always bring clothes for every occasion)
The marathon stats at 7 a.m. so got up at 6 and walked over with Ben and Ross to the starting line. As we are here on behalf of the Israeli Tourism Ministry we got to store our bags in press tent.
After the required yet quick portlet check, (no line up) there was a short sprint to Start.
After the required yet quick portlet check, (no line up) there was a short sprint to Start.
The marathon race has a different start and finish area vs the half marathon and 10 k/
Few High 5s and the gun goes off
The run begins downhill to start.. Just so you know the course (track in Hebrew) is a series of what feels like uphills. Jerusalem is called the city of hills.
So the downhill was quite a nice surprise. However, as soon as we turned the, corner,the hills began.
Unknown to me at the time, there had been a terrorist attack the day before and that may have explained the 400 or so armed soldiers on route.
Met a blind runner from Detroit who was guided by an Israeli major.
Met a blind runner from Detroit who was guided by an Israeli major.
Also ran for a while another blind runner from Italy and there were 2 others from France, and each of them had only one guide with them.
I have acted as a guide for Achilles athletes but we usually have more than one guide.
I am a volunteer with Achilles Canada, so have an interest In these athletes.
Despite the relentless wind the spectacular views distracted me from the rain was not as annoying as it could have been. This post is written after the event and looking back at some of the pictures of me on that you would think the opposite.
Despite the relentless wind the spectacular views distracted me from the rain was not as annoying as it could have been. This post is written after the event and looking back at some of the pictures of me on that you would think the opposite.
I actually was laughing out loud at one point due to the intensity of the wind while I as running uphill into the wind.
Imagine being in a country which you typically think of as hot (but it does in the middle of summer) but needing gloves and and warm coat.
For those of you who live in the GTA, their brand new LRT (light rapid transit = above ground trains) is quite sleek and good looking.
We ran past the president’s house .
We ran past the president’s house .
Water is provided about every 3 km and is given to us in n bottles, which is unlike the races in North America where you get cups.
One volunteeer group was handing to bananas and dates.. The biblical reference in the ” land of milk and honey” refers to Date honey and not bee honey.We ran through some quite nice residential areas.
The spectators would cheer you on with shouts of Yasher koach (YAH-shehyr KOH-ahkh) which is Hebrew. Literally, straight strength. Figuratively, may you have strength, or mway your strength be increased.
One volunteeer group was handing to bananas and dates.. The biblical reference in the ” land of milk and honey” refers to Date honey and not bee honey.We ran through some quite nice residential areas.
The spectators would cheer you on with shouts of Yasher koach (YAH-shehyr KOH-ahkh) which is Hebrew. Literally, straight strength. Figuratively, may you have strength, or mway your strength be increased.
A few of the runners had run the Jerusalem marathon the first year.
Some of the runners I spoke with were born in NY and Toronto. Moved to Israel years ago.
Some of the runners I spoke with were born in NY and Toronto. Moved to Israel years ago.
I think my hill training with the Ultimate Warriors paid off. The Saturday before I left, we had run 16 hills covering 30 km.
The k’s in the marathon went by quickly and was at 21 and 30 k before I knew it.
My initial race goal was 4:30 and with 5 km to go, thought I could pull that off, but then another hill appeared in front of me to spoil that plan.
My final clock time 4:36, but my personal time was awesome.
The winner was Daniel Toniok (where else but Kenya) 2:19 and a course record
Second place Gudeth Biratu ( Ethiopia) 2:22 and Third John Mutai (KEN) 2:23
The Ethopian women continue to be strong runners this year as evidenced by Mihiret Antios win in a time of 2:48
Second Kamila Khanpova 2:49 from Russia. (picture here)
And third Alena Vinitskaya 2:50 from Belarus.
The Mayor of Jerusalem, Nir Barkat ran the half marathon in a time of 2:07.
On the journey home on El Al from Tel Aviv a few people congratulated me.
One runner said it was the hardest race he had ever done, and he has run 33 New York City Marathons. I asked him why he would do that and he replied “to see my 6 grand children. But I will never do this race again”
So I answered back “You are never ready for your next race until you forget about your last. And then you can come back and see your 7 grand children.
As I always wear the race t-shirt when returning home from a race destination, one of the sponsors is the Israel Lottery Corporation known as Winner, which happened to be the logo on the back of my shirt.
Cool.
Keep on runnin’
Duff
