BDL Beirut International Marathon 2014: The Emotional Comeback.

         

From Left to Right: Samer Hijazi, Hussam Zinedine & Fares Kikano.

          On November 09^th, 2014 I had my fifth consecutive marathon and the first one in Beirut since 2012. Though the slogan for the marathon this year was “Run, Peace, love”, to me it meant more than this, I would call it my “Emotional Marathon” simply for the amount of emotions and different feelings and thoughts I passed through during each phase of the marathon from the moment I started training two months before the race till the moment I crossed the finish line.

I called my first marathon “The Start” because simply it was the first; the second “The Best” because it was really the easiest and the fastest, when I scored my personal best; the third one “The Sufferance” because I suffered from terrible pain in my knee at the 25^th Km and I was going to stop at some point but I managed to finish, the fourth was the “Smoothest” it was so smooth I ran it very easily without any pressure and finally this marathon was “The Emotional” that also announced my comeback to good results in races.

Start of the race.

As a beginning, I started training less than two months before the big day, I have been only two months in Lebanon, I have started a new job and I did not have a lot of time to train and prepare well. In addition, in the middle of the training I had to travel for one week and I could not train during this period. I was not sure if I was really going to participate or not because I was not sure if I could be ready for a marathon. Hence, in the last moment I decided to run the marathon and whatever the result, it would still be better than not running at all.

The marathon day arrived; the first feelings I had sensed were a mix of joy, fear and enthusiasm.  It was a joy to meet all those runners again, and this small community of unique people. I was so enthusiastic to run my fourth Beirut Marathon to improve my timing. As I mentioned before I was injured in my last Beirut Marathon –My third one, because the fourth was not in Lebanon- and at the same time I had the fear of another injury.

Anyway, the moment of truth came. All the runners were at the start line, preparing their GPS watches, warming up their gears, holding their breath, and looking forward to start the 42.195km adventure. To me, I was ready, I tried not to think of anything at the moment, I was only concentrating, the “Special Needs” started and after few minutes, BOOM, the marathon race started, I could recall again the cheering, the crowd, the people and the noise and all the beautiful aspects that individualize a marathon race.

Samer Hijazi

It is important to mention here that some runners and I am one of them, start their races alone without any company but they may pick up some runners during the race, someone who is of the same pace. This is what happened with me, I started alone and after one kilometer I met my first partner “Samer Hijazi” we had the same pace and same target so we decided to keep going together as much as we can.

As usual, the first five kilometers were the easiest we were just warming up, I was still afraid to get injured again but fortunately everything was going all right.

Fares Kikano

At the 7^th km at “Raouche” I met my second partner who completed our “Trio”, the gentleman “Fares Kikano”. I should tell that I never knew “Fares” before, I saw him before once or twice but I have never had the chance to run with him. And honestly, I have under-estimated him, I thought that after 2-3 kilometers I will pass him but on the contrary we kept together until the 28^th km when he disappeared, simply because he was ahead of me. Fares, I am sorry I owe you an apology.

In fact, my run with Samer and Fares was one of my best runs, we had almost the same speed and pace, I think if we had trained together from the beginning we could have finished all three together. We tried to make things funny and cheerful on the way, by greeting people on the roads and encouraging the cheering and support teams to be “our cheering” although they were doing this.

Fadi Saleh

The race went well until the 21^st KM when I received the first shock during the race. On the opposite side of the route (which means the 27^th KM for the others), two of our fastest runners were passing, Marwan Arabi and Fadi Saleh. Before the race, we were assuming that Fadi is going to be between the “The First Three” Overall men’s category. Unfortunately, my heart really ached to see him stopping due to a sudden severe injury, and till this moment, I cannot forget the scene of Marwan, shouting and trying to push him, “Continue, do not stop”. I was really upset at that moment, nevertheless, Fadi did not stop, he continued his race and he finished with an amazing time, in less than three hours, while Marwan finished with 02h:46m but unfortunately Fadi did not achieve the goal of the ”first three”.

The race was still going on, we crossed the 23^rd Kilometer and it seems that it was time to depart from the group, Samer started to slow down, he could not keep the pace with me and Fares, he tried as much as possible but he was getting further and further until we couldn’t see him, but the good thing we knew he was still on the track. It is important to mention here that our pace was between 05m: 00s – 05m: 15s per Kilometer.

There was nothing special about the next 5 kilometers, honestly, we started getting tired, we tried not to talk in order to save effort, the weather was getting hotter and fatigue and pain started to kick in but there were no time to think of such matters, the race was already in its final countdown.

We crossed the 28^th kilometer, we could not see Samer anymore, and Fares – whom I under estimated him at the beginning- was infront of me, it was obvious he was in a better shape, as for me, I started getting tired, I haven’t made long runs since long time, my last half marathon race was six months ago and I made only two or three long runs training, so I had, to improvise, adapt and overcome this barrier.

During the race

The distance increased between Fares and me, the last 10 kilometers are always the toughest in any marathon, they are always full of mixed feelings, the physical feeling of pain in all your body and the feeling of the “final countdown”, the first feeling tell you to stop, while the second one pushes you harder to continue and finish, and of course 99.99% of the runners listen (luckily) to the second one.

My heart ached for the second time at the 35^th kilometer when I saw one of our toughest and strongest runners “Abou El Abed” suffering, it was well known that he had an injury some time ago but I didn’t think for a moment that it was a serious injury, when I passed him, I tried not to look at him and I pretended that I did not saw him, I have been participating in races since 2009 and I have never ever passed “Abou Abed” before, it was the first time and maybe the last, and I may have not done it if he was in good shape.

I reached the 38^th kilometer and an Australian athlete passed by me, this man was amazing, he kept with me and pushed me harder, his support gave me a new feeling of power and strength, I do not know why it came to my mind the scene from “The Terry Fox Story” where Terry was running and training and I thought to myself yes I can do it, I ran with him about two kilometers and our pace was about 04m:00s per kilometer, can you imagine this pace at the last four kilometers of a marathon for an amateur running!

Again: Left to Right: Samer, me, Fares

Unfortunately, this feeling of strength did not last too long, because I could not stand it up more than two kilometers, frankly speaking, I was afraid to continue with this pace, the man was so fast and I was tired and afraid of a sudden injury, I preferred to ran the last 2.195 kilometers on a slower pace, I thank the Australian lad whom I did not knew his name but till this day I still think to myself that could I make it on that pace till the end? A question I will not know its answer.

The moment of truth appeared, I am now almost at the finish line I could hear the cheering of the crowd, I pushed with all the strength left in my tired body, with my knees that were going through terrible pain, I pushed to reach the finish line, the feeling of joy and happiness overcame me, I was at the last curve and less than a hundred meters left when suddenly I experienced a feeling of sadness and gloom, directly before the finish line. In the last two years, “Cornelia” my wife, was always there at the finish line, to encourage and cheer me up, giving me strength for the last leg of the journey, but this time she was not in the country.

At the finish line

 The “Arc de triomphe” was so close now that I could restore my sensations, the voice of the crowd was amazing, it is a feeling that only marathon runners know, this crowd is the music for every runner, it is worth a thousand prizes, and each time we hear it, we feel as if it was the first time. I crossed the finish line, I had a good timing compared to my training, I finished in 03h41m, it was better than the last two years and I am sure I will be able to improve it more with proper training. 

The 2014 BDL Beirut International Marathon finished, but the Marathon’s love is a story that does not have an end, in short, the 2014 Marathon ended just to start preparing for the 2015 one.

Mission Accomplished