A decade of running

 

September 2010, my first ever Marathon training

"We spent the most days of our lives running. During the war*, when the fights were starting we ran from our homes to the safe houses. When the fights were stopping, we ran back to our houses to check the damage. We ran to our schools and we ran back from the schools to avoid the fights. After the war, we had to run for other things. When the electricity comes on, we run to turn on water boilers. When the electricity goes off, we had to run within three seconds to turn the boiler off, before the "ishtirak"** comes on, otherwise it will switch off. If it happened and you did not make it on time, then you have to run down, to switch the "ishtirak" on again and run back home to continue watching your favorite TV show which you had already lost at least 10 minutes running between boiler and ishtirak"! (from the speech of coach Walid Kabbani, opening ceremony of Beirut542 training program second addition,2015).

Actually by now, I have already been running for more than a decade, I would say I have started "serious" running and training by the end of 2009 when I registered for my first 10km race with Beirut Marathon Association, but in fact I started much earlier before when I was in Saudi Arabia and I did my first relay race. It was back in 2007 but then it took me till 2009 to register for a race again and meet some runners and start a new journey that I did not expect it to be so rich and full of new experiences and relations that will shape my character and the way I view things.

At one of the marathons'
finish line

So here I am, trying to summarize my whole experience from the first race to the last
marathon and how things have changed from the beginning till now, I will not say the end because till the moment I am blessed to be still running, though I am running with different perspectives now.

More than a decade ago I ran my first race in Bahrain, it was the race that introduced me to new atmosphere and to new beautiful people whom I am still in contact with such as Kerrie, Bettie, Marvin, Garry and others.

In a decade of running, I have done 11 Marathons, tens half marathons and countless races, I have joined the Elite Running Club in Beirut and met all those beautiful people and friends, then I moved to Romania and running helped me to adapt to life there and meet new people. 

Dr. Khalifeh to the left

In a decade of running I should mention the president of the club Dr. Ahmad Khalife. To
me, he is much more than this, he is my mentor whom I learned a lot from him about running and about clubs, a friend, a big brother, a coach. A man with whom I experienced a lot together, a man with whom we had a lot of ups and downs. We agreed on a lot of things, we disagreed on a lot others, but he will always be the same to me, the mentor and the friend and the reference that I always return to.

Dr. Hayek Group, its NOT
all about Running
 (Fadi in the middle)

In a decade of running, I did many challenging races, from races in places with temperature over 30 degrees to places full of ice and snow in less than zero Celsius temperature, from streets to fields to mountains to desert***. Running introduced me to Doctor Fadi Hayek, a man who had a great impact on me and whom I cannot describe the admiration and love to him. Literally, he is a charismatic man, you cannot ignore his presence, a sharp mind, a smart person and the funniest if he wants, also the most serious when he wants. A brilliant and respected surgeon and the most humble person in the same time, a man who knows me well, who can easily predict what I am feeling or what I am thinking, and he is always right about this, and of course, whenever I need an advice, he is the first to contact. And not to forget he is the one behind our hilarious group whom everybody wants to join the "Association of Young & Old Running Athletes". It is a fun group for running easy, quiet with no target no pressure just have fun of course everybody can join the run but not the group -according to the strict rules- it is only limited to 7 amazing members in addition to Fadi and me, there are Chadi, Ahmed Chmaitelly, Wissam and Maroun. 

A run in the snow
with Alergarea de seara

In this decade of running I moved to Romania, I reside in Bucharest and there I did a lot of races and marathons, I ran in snow and I ran in cold and I ran in forests. Running was always a nice experience here especially in the parks that are found all over the city especially my "all runs" favourite "Herastrau park" and its famous lake. Here, I also made a lot of friends beginning with Bogdan, the first guy whom I met in running, we are still friends and our families became friends Alice, Cornelia and Emma. I also met Florin the man behind the TTR or time trial running, one of my favourite running challenges. Florin is a man whom you can take as an example for fighting and standing up in life due to the story of his son Pavel whom he had to do many heart surgeries and he was still less than two years old, but they fought together and stood up together and Pavel is much more better now (he is almost seven years old by now, I guess). Among the friends too, there are Stefan, who almost knows all the running groups in the city he will tell you everything you need to know about them and we are still running together from time to time and finally Ovidiu Simon, a dear friend whom we had a lot of runs together and the passion and love for running that he has I have never saw it in anyone else, really Ovidiu runs each time as if it was his first run ever. 

Harald, me, Renald

I also had the pleasure to run with the "Alergarea de Searea" group or "The evening running group", I still run with them from time to time whenever I can. The group is formed by Andreea and thanks to her you can always meet new people and join them after each run to have a drink or eat something at a nearby restaurant. And thanks to Andreea and the group I met amazing people such as Harald with whom I did the best, toughest and fastest runs ever, I never enjoyed running as much as I enjoyed it with him, because it was never easy and we were always fast and we would run even "if it was raining dogs and bears". Daniel, who was the best partner when you want a calm easy run and a good conversation after, and we are still in contact though he had left to Canada and also our other Canadian friend Renald, the super star, the cosmopolitan citizen and the traveller of the world and the best partner for almost everything: cinema, drink, run, lunch, dinner, breakfast, party, whatever, he will always be first choice, unfortunately he also left too to his country, but I am still in contact with him.

Special needs team:
 Ahmad third to the left

In a decade of running, I have developed my passion for running to a skill in many different
ways, the marathon had gave a lot of experience and I had the pleasure to work in two projects with Beirut Marathon association which enhanced my experience and shaped my personality in many ways, first project was in 2012, I was responsible for the training and support of the special needs athletes, an experience that introduced me to special athletes with super powers. Thus, I had the chance to meet Ahmad Ghoul, one of the Lebanese champs of Hand cycle and a firefighter, Ahmad also joined me twice in Bucharest Marathon ( I had a previous article about our run in Bucharest). The experience with the Special needs was one of kind because it’s for people with strong minds and mentalities. The other experience was in 2015, when I was responsible for the second edition of the 542 training program, a program for preparing new athletes to cross the marathon's finish line for the first time. That was a lifetime experience, I was in touch with coaches, runners, clubs, companies, volunteers, charities,

Walid to the left

etc... At this stage running has become to me more than just training and running, but rather a responsibility at this stage I believe that one of the benefits of the program was strengthening the bonds with a dear friend and running partner, Walid Kabbani. If I have to describe running with him in one word simply it will be "Quality". Walid is a man who worships sports, it is found in his blood and he enjoys it to the maximum level and he transmits this passion to all those who train with him. In addition, the quality time, including all the outings we had together away from the running field and the discussions we had. If I had to take an example in running simply it will be Walid.

Finally, in a decade of running a lot had changed for me, from someone who used to run on
temporary basis like in football games or sports class in school, to someone who runs on regular and permanent basis. Running now is not only a hobby and passion, but is became a life style and part of my daily routine, I may not run and train for competitions now, but I run because I got also accustomed to it, it is not only physical activity but it may also include researched and reading and managing and preparing etc. ... 

Running had introduced me to a lot of people and friends from different countries and I am sorry I did not mention everybody otherwise I will not finish writing. But people like Rabih Khalil a unique person you never find a friend like him. Lamis, Nadia, Joumana, Joe, Mohammed Tabbara, Jackie, the Cairo Runners like Amr Ismail, Moustapha Mouneer, and Ahmad Saaddine, they all left their finger print in a way or another.

Left to right: Imad, Wissam,
me, Samer.

The last words goes to my forever friends, Samer Hijazi, Imad Wehbe and Wissam Akiki.
Most of us spent a life time searching for real friends and they may never find them. Personally, I am in contact with those guys on daily basis, my day would not be complete without talking to them at least once per day. There are the ones who I refer to whenever I need help, they are the guys whom I am sure they will back me up when needed, whom I share my secrets with, whom I will trust them for anything, they are simply my real friends and forever, and how did I meet them? I met them after a decade of running...

* War in Lebanon: we had a civil war that lasted 15 years from 1975 till 1990 and we are still suffering its consequences.

**Ishtirak: We still also suffer from electricity going on & off all the time. So there are private generators, you pay a monthly subscription fee. Subscription in arabic means Ishtirak.

*** Please do not mix with desert races that are ultra marathons for 250km and above. I ran a race in the desert and not a desert race, it was my first ever race in Bahrain but it was a relay I only did 6km divided on two legs each 3km.