the winter is over - so are eight months and eight foot races

end of august 2006 i had a crazy idea: i wanted to organize various foot races throughout amman during the winter. to be exact, my intention was to organize every month - from september to april - one foot race. every race should be in a different location.

when i spoke to my friends about this plan their eyes had a skeptical view and their face a mild and rather pitiful smile. but, never the less they promised to show up and participate. I guess they all showed their friendliness and didn’t want to disappoint me. anyhow, on september 1st, the first foot race was on display. the distances where 2km for children 15 years and younger and 5km for 16 years and older. that first foot race 18 people showed up. most of it where children and no, not all runners who promised to come participated.

at the beginning the foot races where really simple. as my budget is small i provided not even t-shirts. the basic and most important i wanted to offer was: [1] a properly measured distance and [2] the running time. eager to fulfill my promise and - i myself i run for the love of running - wanted to improve what i just started. over the following two months my mind developed permanent ideas for improvements - kind of an uninterrupted brainstorming. my first aim was in getting more and more people joining. then, only with a large turnout others will really follow. even during ramadan we held the foot race at the end of the day just shortly before iftar and with a rather short distance.
in december first time i organized the foot race on the streets of amman itself. so i went to seek permission that, to my astonishment, i received. december 8th we met at jabal weibdeh with some changes. we had a host who paid for t-shirts and offered a light buffet at the end of the race. the police came and closed the road and - we where 35 people - the highest number of participants until then. this gave a boost of motivation to continue on this track. 2007 started with four months left until april my brainstorming was still active and didn’t want to give up reaching the set goal.

in january 2007 i got the ever first permission to hold a foot race in abdoun. then, vy the health club just opened and they where our host. a marvelous buffet was offered, a fast race as it was flat, cool t-shirts where given out and, yes you guess it right, a new record in participants. we had 70 people coming. playFM made a live interview and JO magazine wrote a one page story with nice pictures on it. at the beginning of february this blog was opened with the hope in reaching out more people. the foot race in february, despite having the arab bank as a host, had only 25 runners showing up due to bad weather (read the race review). but it’s being not less fun. at the end we all stood around the big buffet and enjoyed telling and listening to stories and getting to know each other better. nevertheless, the arab bank was very happy with the work of and by Run in Jordan. march has being a foot race on historical ground - we run in the heart of old jabal amman hosted by JARA the jabal amman residential association. and after all those successes we expected a great number again. romero, the italian restaurant close to the third circle, made the richest and to most varied light buffet. that month we had 77 finishers and 82 showed up in total. the jordan times wrote a great article on this foot race.
one moth to go, april is coming and all where wondering what is going to be offered. i knew it long before but kept it for me until 10 days before. days after the dead sea marathon the news went out - the host is mecca mall and the race track will be outside around the mall. now eager to get a round figure of finishers i posted a call let’s make it 100 finisher. the host on his side made a great pr effort. april 27. was the most important day of the past eight months. i knew and all knew april is pay day as all will measure the success of Run in Jordan by the numbers of people showing up. until 9:40 there where hardly people at the mall. but then out of sudden runners where here. i still don’t know the exact number of runners at the start, it must being more than 180 and we had 140 finishers despite a difficult track and hot weather.

looking back the eight months, we see great success. usually people talk to me and congratulate for what i have achieved. thank you! but remember, without you the runners itself young and old, girls and boy, women and man, Run in Jordan would not be successful. in other words: all of you who came and participated you are part of this success - thank you and congratulation to you! we all have done well and we are 100% above expectations. i hope you all liked the eight foot races during the past eight months. now, i make a promise here and now - as long as i can i will offer such foot races in various places.

of course, looking back also means looking forward. i see plenty of room for improvements and of new events coming. you can be assured and only in short for now, Run in Jordan will be organizing new events and you will be challenged again to run for yourself, with your friends and families as i am persuaded you run for the love of running. see you around.