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| Beirut Marathon 2015: Photo Source: BMA facebook page |
The best is to start from where I finished last
time, last time I was crossing the finish line (2015) 65 times through my heart
and not through my legs, being part of the Beirut542 training program.
Nevertheless, until this moment it still hurts me not running the marathon.
Anyway, I was looking forward towards this year
Beirut Marathon hoping that I will be able to achieve a good result and keep my
record under four hours especially that it would be more than a year without a
marathon and thus my ability to face a full marathon may be affected.
My season started by receiving a call from the
Beirut Marathon Association to be part of the Beirut542 again, unfortunately
because of several reasons I could not be a part of the project this year
–running the marathon was one of them- hence, it seems I got attached to the
project and this is a matter I will mention later.
I should mention here that I was supposed to do
my sixth marathon this year. Usually I do not opt to do it more than once per
year but what I did not know is that I was going to break my own rules this
year.
I started my marathon training as usual in the
first of September, training four days per week (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday
and long runs on Sunday). Everything was going as
normal until I decided to
travel to Bucharest on the 9th of October. By that time, my longest
run was 28km and I was supposed to do my 32km. I arrived to Bucharest on the
morning of Sunday October 9th, at six in the morning, having slept
only half an hour during the night, just to find that it was the day of the
marathon. Without thinking I went to the marathon’s expo. For my good luck they
were still taking registrations. I simply registered and managed to do it in
03h59m keeping my timing under four hours. Honestly, my initial plan was to do
my 32km training and for the rest whatever it happens, but it all turned out well.
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| During Bucharest International Marathon 2016 Photo Source: Bucharest Running CLub |
Returning to Beirut, a dear friend of mine
Jihad Shouaib who was one of the new coaches in Beirut542-third edition,
contacted me to help him in training his team because he had to travel urgently
to Canada. As a result, I found myself a part of the Beirut542 programonce
again.
To be clear, I never considered myself a coach
and I do not think I will ever be. I rather
prefer to be in the logistics and
administration work rather than coaching. Coaching is a huge responsibility;
you need to prepare people mentally and physically and follow up with their
training, their fitness, etc. … Coaching really needs people who are dedicated
to it, people who have a positive effect and have the influence to motivate
others and make them follow their motivation.
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| Beirut542 Team-Jihad |
In addition, the team’s training was different
than my own training. It was difficult for me to change to the 542 training or
make them switch to my training. So what I did it was doing both trainings, I
did my training when I was with my team the “Elite Running Club” and I did the
542 training when I was with Jihad’s team. I must admit that it was not an easy
task because combining the two programs ruined my training because I had to mix
between “beginners program” and “advanced program”.
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| The Elite Running Club Photo Source: Elite Running Club facebook page |
In fact, I enjoyed this new experience, the
lads in the 542 team were all fresh runners some of them were sporty guys and
others have not run at all before. The common link between them was the
enthusiasm and excitement to do their first ever marathon; in a way or another,
they loaded me with the same excitement they were feeling, as if it was my
first marathon. My excitement was almost the same as Ranwa, Saad, Khodr,
Roland, Nisreen, Lama, Maha, Mario, Rayan and the rest of the team – I am sorry
I could not mention all the names, I mentioned those which came first to my
mind.
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| Me & Joe during the race Photo source: ERC fb page |
On the personal level, I did not have a lot of
expectations, I was not thinking of making a new personal best but I still
wanted to do it under four hours, so my estimated time was between 03h40m to
03h50m though my dream was to do it in 03h30. Before the race a lot of friends
wanted to run with me because they wanted to do it in less than four hours,
this aspect having put additional pressure on me and though I am usually not
stressed it was the first time I feel the stress because I was thinking of the
big responsibility towards those friends, what if something happened with me
during the race and I could not continue? What if my estimation was wrong and I
was not able to do it under four hour?
Anyway, on the race’s day only one person
stayed with me. Joe Daoud, ran with me till the
36thkm and then he
had some cramps, luckily he managed to finish his race. As for me, I also did
great and I finished my race in 03h 48m, a time that falls in my estimated
range. (I will explain my race course in another article later). I finished two
marathons in the course of one month, I think it was the best compensation for
my 2015 marathon. And finally, I should not forget to mention that all the
runners of 542-Team Jihad managed to cross the finish line in their first
marathon. In summary: “Mission Accomplished”.
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| Photo Source: Elite Running Club Page |
