I Ran in the Jerusalem Marathon!

Please note: I said that I ran in the Jerusalem Marathon, and not that I ran the Jerusalem Marathon.

The Jerusalem Marathon event has a number of races and not everyone is capable of running the 42-kilometers of the marathon. There are races at shorter distances as well and some of them are actually runs, and not races.

Last week I ran the Jerusalem Marathon's 5 kilometer run. I crossed the finish line in, well, I don't know the exact time. The goal was not to set a new record time but to finish the race, and I did!

I had been exercising and training for the run for some time. In the run-up to the run (excuse my pun), I was running 5 kilometers a day, but this was on a treadmill. The actual run, in the chilly Jerusalem morning, included a few ups and downs as the track circled the Hebrew University campus at Givat Ram.

As you can see, my competition was tough, but then again, this was not a competitive race. Thousands ran the 5 kilometer distance (they said a total of 35,000 runners participated in the Jerusalem Marathon runs). Runners included families, children, soldiers, tourists, and people like me, running for the first time.

Having completed the course, I feel like I have truly accomplished something. I proved that running is a mind-over-matter affair. If you will it, it is no dream. I set a goal for myself, and I succeeded.

Until next year!

Link: The Jerusalem Marathon website.