Jerusalem 21.1km Half Marathon

 Altra Rivera

I couple of weeks ago I decided to sign up to run the half marathon in the Jerusalem Marathon event. I dont remember what my last race was, but it has been a few years since I participated in any race.

I decided to run the half marathon, even though it is a little bit longer than my longest long runs in recent times. The hills of Jerusalem are very tough so I didnt know how I would do, but I employed my new hill strategy of taking it slow on the hills and running harder on the downs and flats. I think it was successful as I finished the race at give or take my expected time, and I did not even stop once to rest nor did I walk at all.

It was a beautiful day, a beautiful city, a beautiful race.

21.1km in 2:22:22 (official time) to keep all the OCD people satisified

BTW, I beat the Marathon winner, who rana  2:24... then again, he ran the full marathon and I only ran the half..

Eilat Desert Half Marathon

It has been a long time since I wrote anything here about my running experiences and thoughts. I assure you that in the interim I have been running a lot. At the same time I have not been running nearly enough. It seems I have been running close to the minimum necessary to make it through the marathon sort of respectably. My running has been at an average of about twice a week - including usually a medium run of about 12-14km and a long run. The past couple of weeks, as we finished the bulk of the training regimen and began to move into taper mode, I actually ramped it up a bit to 3 times a week.

In the interim I also ran the Bet Shean half marathon. I came in with better results than I expected at 1:52. I was 11 seconds off my half marathon record. I give credit to an army trainer who I discovered in the middle of a marathon leading a running group form the army. I tagged along with them at the same pace and pushed hard. At about 19km they lost me and pulled ahead. i think I finished about 1 minute behind them, but it was this trainers solid running and encouragement to those in hsi group that kept me running at a hard enough pace to finish that well.

Most of the running has been pretty boring. While I enjoy the running, I get the feeling of "been there done that" for a lot of the training. I was out looking for some new experiences. I found one in the First International Eilat Desert Half Marathon. I signed up for it with another friend and made plans to go down.

The trip would be daunting - a drive down to Eilat in the middle of the night, running a half marathon on nearly no sleep, running a half marathon on a trail with a difficult course, in my Vibrams (trails are always more difficult in Vibrams) and then getting back home in time for the Shabbat. Now this was definitely going to be a challenge!

So, here is what happened. We left at 1 AM, giving ourselves ample time in case we would meet unexpected problems on the road, if we would need to look for the meeting point, and this would allow us to possibly catch a few winks before the race.

Josh drove us down and did a great job of getting us there in one piece in exactly the amount of time the GPS had said it would take and that we had planned on in the best scenario. After settling down upon arrival, we stretched out for a short nap. After we got up at about 6 we got our race kits and davened. The forecast had been for warm and sunny weather, but at this point it was still pretty cold. We warmed up and stretched and got ready to run.

The race began at 7 am. We began at the edge of Eilat in the parking lot of the BIG shopping center. From there we ran out, crossing the street and entering the trails through the canyons. The trail led us mostly uphill, though not steep, through the first 9 kilometers of the race. For some reason I kept thinking to myself that these seemed like the longest kilometers I had ever run.

The race was fun, but difficult. the trails were an unusual surface - very soft rock mixed with some sort of sandy surface. A lot of the trails were very soft and good for my feet. The bigger problem was that often the soft sand was deep and gave little resistance. sinking in to that made the running slower. As well, there were some rockier sections, though none were so big or long that they were too difficult to deal with.

The canyons were amazingly beautiful to run through, and it was definitely a change of pace and scenery from the regular running and training.

I was running it pretty slow, probably for a variety of reasons. The trails are always slower for me because of the Vibrams, the lack of sleep, the amount of uphill in this course, and more. During the run I felt my hamstring start to hurt a bit and I took it easy because of that as well.

As we were coming close to the finish, I started to speed up. I ran the last kilometer pretty fast, spotting targets along the way - runners ahead of me - and deciding I was going to pass him or her. As I passed, i would eye the next runner as my target. I was really zipping along, and my hamstring was starting to hurt more. I had to keep remembering to shorten my strides, each time I would feel the sharp flare of my hamstring.

I kept passing runners on my way to the finish lines, and in the last 300 meters I really poured it on, going full speed ahead, and ignored the hamstring. i passed everyone along the way and powered through the finish line. the final time was my worst half marathon ever, finishing at 2:29, but I was there just looking for a different experience, not really trying to run a specific time, so it was a great experience.



And then Josh drove us back, after we rested up a bit, cooled down, and had a bite to eat, and we made great time getting home for Shabbos!

My First Barefoot Half Marathon

This past Friday (yesterday) was my first race of this marathon season. The Bet She'an Half Marathon, which is the premier half marathon in Israel, now in its 32nd year. And my Vibram FiveFinger Bilia barefoot running shoes did not let me down in crunch time. I must say though that people ask really silly questions when they see the Vibrams.

The day was forecast for really lousy running weather - strong winds and rain (the beginning of a four day storm). I went to run, shlepping two hours up north to do so, only because this is the barometer of progress before the marathon. I am familiar with the course, it is mostly flat making for a good run, and it is the premier half marathon in Israel. I had no expectation to have a particularly good run, mostly because of the weather, and partly because I have not been training with any particular level of intensity.

Yet, the forecasters seem to not know what they are talking about.

I went up north with my friends, the Running Bubby and her husband, and the weather was absolutely beautiful. The day started off sunny and cool, heating up as time went on but there was a nice cool breeze throughout.

The run started off with lots of excitement and adrenaline. I was careful to not start off running too fast, sticking to my expected pace of about 5:40km/m. I did not know exactly how fast I'd run, especially because I had been expecting a slow run due to bad weather, but I figured I could run it a bit faster than the average pace of my long runs, so I figured 5:40 was a safe pace to settle in at.

After a couple of kilometers I was feeling great and figured I could pick up the pace. At least for a few kilometers of a tempo, and then I could always slow down to my expected pace..

Not to belabor the details, I had a great run, and felt all the way through that I could keep going at my faster pace. Eventually I realized that if I can keep it up I could break my personal record from my first year running the half marathon two years ago. The trick would be to actually keep up the pace. Especially with the uphill stretch still coming up. Uphills always kill me, even if I run it decently. The run after the uphill always seems slower.

The uphill came, and the Bet She'an uphill is not really such a serious uphill, but it is significant, and I powered through it only slowing down a bit. For the first kilometer after the uphill I still felt a bit slower, and then I motivated myself to pick up the pace again. Familiarity with the route makes a big difference. I knew what was coming up and what I could expect. So speed up I did. I still felt great, though when I hit kilometer #19 or so I was starting to feel a little winded, but I was on track to a personal record so I figured I could push myself to the limit and keep it up for just a bit more.

At kilometer 18-19 people I am picking up my pace a bit and am passing other runners. The final stretch comes, and I exploded through the finish line with a new personal record of 1:51:44. It is amazing how you can make a big deal, and be so excited, about a difference of 1 minute.

Now, about the Vibrams. They generated a lot of interest. A lot of people saw them and started talkign to me about them, before, during and after the run. I actually saw one other person wearing Vibrams. I saw him after the race, in the staging hall after returning the chip - he was on his way out and I was on my way in. Because of the crowds flowing I could not ask him about his experience, but we both looked at each others feet and then up at each other as we passed by.

People ask silly questions. The silliest of them all is the question about whether I am going to be running the whole thing in them - what should I say? No, I am going to be switching to regular running shoes halfway.. Other questions like are they comfortable or do they hurt.. those are not as silly, but they get shocked when I answer no they are not comfortable. After their initial moment of shock, like if they are not comfy why are you wearing them, I say they aren't comfy but they are not meant to be - there is no padding and cushioning..

Anyway, lots of people looked and noticed and asked about them. It seems people are interested, they just are hesitant to try them out.. I suspect we'll be seeing increasing numbers in the near future. Eventually the interest will turn to people actually running in them.

The next frontier: Barefoot Running

I have been having a lot of pain recently on long runs. As I am running, I can feel it building up in my arch (left foot) and ankles. Eventually, after 18km or so, it becomes almost unbearable and I have to stop running for breaks or to walk a bit.

As I keep running, which I can do with taking breaks, I begin to feel pain in my hamstring and knees. Probably this is from compensating to minimize the original pain.

Because of this, I dropped out of the marathon training for this year. I just could not handle the long runs and saw no purpose in running in pain for 42km for no real gain.

I did run the Israel Half Marathon in Bet She'an last week, and ran it slower than last year. Between the 18km and 21km markers I had to stop twice because of the pain. I finished in a time equivalent to last years full marathon, but slower than last years half marathon. I was not disappointed because I had not really focused on training, especially after I had decided I was dropping out of the marathon training.

But because of my recent experiences, and because of the amazing book "Born to Run" by Christopher McDougall that I am reading, I have decided to research barefoot running. From everything I have been reading, it looks like it really might be the way to go to run without pain, to run farther without problems, and to run faster.

I am going to continue reading about it, but I am already pretty sure that that is the direction I plan on moving in. If I do, this blog will see a new rebirth, as I will likely document my experiences with barefoot running.

The first decision to make is what type of shoe to go with. It seems funny to talk about buying shoes to run barefoot, but running barefoot worries me about destroying my feet - running pebbles, glass, screws and nails, etc. Vibram makes a shoe called the FiveFinger, and Nike makes one called the Nike Free. They both look good, and are pretty close to be considered barefoot, mostly just protecting the feet from being torn up.

I like the reviews of the Vibram better than those of the Nike, so will probably go with those, assuming I decide to actually do this.

I will keep you posted...

Rafi the Maccabi

I am now a Jewish athlete. A Maccabean.

I must say, I did not grow up always dreaming of participating in the Maccabiah. As a matter of fact, I don't even remember hearing about it until I was in high school and met someone who had been in a Maccabiah (he was a weightlifter). But once I did hear of it, I was always impressed by people I met who took their hobbies and interests seriously enough to compete at a semi-professional level like the Maccabiah.

I finally had my chance this year. being Jewish, that puts me extremely in the group of non-athletes of the world. Even Jews who plays sports regularly (myself is a good example) generally are not good enough to compete at any real level. Of course there are the exceptions, as a few Jews do make it in the big time of the Major Leagues and even are seeing an improvement in basketball. But they are the exceptions. the rule, I think, still stands that Jews are not real athletes. So being that I excel at nothing, but play lots of sports, I never actually had the dream, or even the idea, of participating in a Maccabiah.

Since I took up running, it became possible. You don't have to be a top runner to run a half-marathon. You just have to be able to endure, as only a few top runners are competing for the actual win. the rest of us are just competing with our own physical limitations and mental blocks. It is not like playing baseball or volleyball or whatever other sport where you have to be extremely skilled and talented to compete. With running, all you gotta do is compete against yourself.

So I ran the Maccabiah Half-Marathon this week and became a Maccabi.

Actually, there is irony in having a sporting event styled after the Greek Olympics, and calling it the Maccabiah - named after the Maccabees who fought the Greeks and Hellenists who imitated the Greek lifestyle.

The venue was Tuesday evening in Netanya. The half-marathon would take us around southern Netanya, starting from Independence Square. The temperature was hot, though not terrible, at about 80 degrees. The humidity was really the problem, weighing in at 91%!!! It was going to be a very difficult run. While waiting for the run to start, I said to a friend that it feels like I already ran 12km. I was dripping with sweat and all sticky, and all I was doing was standing still!

The run began, and I actually enjoyed the first 7 or so 8 kilometers. It was hot, but was a nice experience, we were running along the coastline for much of that section, and was a nice experience.

After that I started to suffer. I had started out slow, but I guess not slow enough. After about kilometer #9, it was getting difficult to breathe. The stretches of running were becoming more monotonous, as we would run 3 or so kilometers out on a long empty road, and then run the same stretch back, then go up another road and back, etc.

I was pouring sweat. At each water station I would drink nearly the whole bottle of water, but just a few minutes later would have sweat the whole bottle out into my shirt and shorts. It was like running with an extra 10 pounds, considering how wet my shirt and shorts were. There was no relief.

At about 15km or so, it got extremely difficult. There were sections in which I could hardly draw in air to breathe. The humidity was so bad, along with (I think) being surrounded by buildings in those areas (unlike the more open roads the earlier kilometers had spanned) made it very difficult to find air. I had to stop and walk a few times from the 15km marker and on.

The humidity was wreaking carnage on the streets of Netanya. people were gasping for air, runners were walking, etc. Nobody was having a good run. Everybody was running slower, and more painfully, than what they had expected.

I completed the run at 2:08:51, which was about 15 minutes slower than I expected. I came in just after a few of our better runners, which was surprising to find out., Had I known I was so close to them I would have pushed myself a bit more to beat them, just so I could chide them about it afterwards.

One thing was interesting - I had just read earlier in the day on Seth Godin's blog about working the uphills. he used cycling as an example to teach a lesson about business. His idea was that there is very little room for improvement on the downhills. On the downhills everything is fine and you are flying. How much can you improve? The real improvement is possible on the uphills. When everything is a challenge. There you can work to improve and cycle better, more efficiently, harder, etc. His comparison is to business about working harder when business is bad. the same is true with running. You can't improve much on the downhills, but if you work on performing better on the uphills you have lots of room for improvement.


Anyways, back to the half, the humidity was so bad that the news the next day said 7 people had been hospitalized from running the half-marathon. All I know is that I completed the run and was not one of those 7. So now I am a Maccabean. hear me roar!

Legs and Lungs

I registered and will be running in the Maccabiah Half-Marathon this Tuesday evening.

Considering I have only run more than 16km once (and that was 18km) since the full marathon in January, I realized I am pretty out of shape. But I did not really force myself to train for the Maccabiah Half.

Aside from the challenge of the distance and being prepared, an even greater challenge, possibly, is the heat and humidity. It is hot and it is humid. With a 6:35pm starting time, it is about the worst time of day for the humidity, though not for the heat. And Netanya, the venue for the Half, being right off the Mediterranean, is very humid.

Add to all this, the Maccabiah has a 2 hour limit for the running of the Half. I was not much better than that under normal conditions, fully trained, so this was really setting myself up for a challenge.

The one plus of this is that Netanya is basically flat, and with all my running being in the Bet Shemesh area, running with lots of hills, running flat in a competition does give me a few extra minutes from my normal times, as my run will be flatter than what I am used to.

So I finally realized that I have to start training for the Maccabiah or I wil have no chance at all. With all those challenges, I can see myself collapsing from the heat and exertion and not finishing within 2 hours. I had to come up with a plan.

I called my plan (which I really just named) "Legs and Lungs". Legs and Lungs means I have to get my legs and lungs ready for the race. I basically decided I would cram for the big exam. If I could get my legs and lungs ready for the race, and have my only challenge be the heat, I would probably be ok.

So, "Legs and Lungs" means I had to run a bunch of times enough of a distance that my legs could go the distance and that my lungs could go the distance.

So, in the last 4 days I have run 17+km already 3 times. The first was Wednesday evening. I chose to do that one at the same time as the Half would be - about 6pm. It was so hot and humid, I had a lot of trouble with the run. I ran 19km, but had to stop a couple of times on the way. I overran the first half, and paid for it by having trouble during the second half when it was cooler. I should have gone the other way, taking it easy the first half and then extending myself in the second half of the run.

Friday we ran a 17km trail.

And Saturday night I ran from my house, out to the 38, over to Elah Junction, down (more up) the 375 to Road 10. Across and up to RBS, and down back to my house. Totalling about 18km. It was much cooler, though humid, a lot of ups, and pitch black (I wore a reflective vest and carried a headlight for safety).

I felt much stronger already. And I still plan to run early Monday morning another 18 or so km.

As long as my legs and lungs are ready, and my only real challenge is the heat, I will probably be ok.

I won!

Here I am as I cross the finish line, winning my first ever half-marathon...

A cornucopia of inspiration

Another thing that I forgot to write in my previous post about the half-marathon is the first impression.

You walk into the grounds, to go sign in and it is like a festival, with sponsors booths, drinks, snacks, people milling about, people stretching, warmign up, etc.

But you see people there in all sizes and shapes. Men, women, old, young, very old, skinny, fat, athletic builds, non-athletic builds, pretty much everything. You see all that and it is very motivating. I can do this. If that guy in the 70-99 age group category can be running 21km, I can as well. If that guy who looks like he is in much worse shape than me can do this, so can I.

Seeing the cornucopia of people who do this, despite the odds stacked against them, is very inspiring.

Rabbi ran a half marathon

What an experience. The atmosphere was electric. The excitement was almost tangible.

Today we ran our Bet She'an half-marathon. 21km. Our group was something like 30 runners from Bet Shemesh.

We got there and signed in, getting our pre-run packages including our numbers with tracking chips.

We got ready and then went out for a warm-up run. There were tons of people. I think they said 1300 had registered for this, but the results website (so far) only shows 1083.

I started near the front, because I did not want to be stuck in the back.

They give some instructions, letting us know where the water stands will be and some more details, and then he shoots the gun to start the race!

There was one section by the start where we turn left and run for a kilometer or so and then turn around and run the other direction. That is really the only opportunity to see the really fast runners, as they run by on the other side of the road.

The people in the front of the pack were a group of 5 or 6 Kenyans (or Nigerians - I really don't know), and they were already pretty decently ahead of everyone else... Those Kenyans ended up winning by a nice gap over the first "white guy"...

The race was pretty good. The track was pretty flat except for one section of uphill in the middle going through Bet She'an. The flat track was good because it meant you could really get a good rhythm going.

The weather was beautiful. That was good for us runners, but bad for Israel because we need rain. It was even a bit hot. There was one long open stretch where the wind was a bit strong and everyone was complaining afterwords that that had slowed them down.

About every 4 kilometers there were tables on the side with people handing out bottles of water. Runners would drink a few "shloogs" from the bottle and toss the rest of it into the grass on the side of the road. The grass and trees got watered pretty nicely I guess, but it seemed like a waste of a lot of water. Maybe they should have used smaller bottles (but maybe some people need that much water...).

There were people along the course cheering on their friends and relatives, and some just cheering in general for all the runners. Also, some school teachers took out their little kids to cheer on the runners.

All that, along with running with so many people, really give the runner a boost of motivation and help keep you going.

I finished the race at 1:51:07 at an average pace of 5:15/km. According to the marathon website, I placed #687.
People asked me before the race what goal time I was shooting for. I responded I am shooting to finish, and not for any specific time. I am expecting however to finish at between 1:50 and 1:55 based on my training and previous runs. So it turned otu I was right on the mark, as I finished at 1:51:07.

It was a great experience, and now I have to finish getting ready for the full marathon in another month.