8th and last foot race is over

the last foot race of the winter is over. after calling out loud that we like to have 100 finishers, it turned out to be even better. people where calling me until 12:00pm on friday to ask what time the Run in Jordan foot race was on. sorry, at that it’s over! actually the phone stated already to ring on wednesday. i can predict according to the number of calls i get haw to race day will be. i even msg to our host Mecca Mall to ask if there would be sufficient t-shirts. personally i expected over 200 people coming.

the day is beautiful and promised to be hot. at 9:00am the place in front of gate 4 was still empty. i know this week-end was difficult for Run in Jordan because of two reasons: first it was a prolonged week-end as on sunday was 1. of may (workers day) so many left amman for a longer week-end. and, that same friday thousands went to petra to vote for this monument of world heritage. as at 9:30 only very few people cam i got a bit nervous. but, by this winter experience showed, that when you say start at 10:00am the people show up at 10:00.

9:40am - suddenly, runners coming from all sides are starting to fill the place in front of gate 4. and in less than 20 minutes there must be arund 200 people who like to participate at this last foot race. this is going to be a successful event. we are late - as usual - giving out t-shirts and haitam giving some stretching instructions. unfortunately not all got their t-shirt as some where taking two. finally at 10:15am we started the kids. definitely there where more than in any other foot race. how many i will see at the end when the last crosses the finish line. this time we also changed the procedure and let the kid’s run alone until they finished. so the participants of the longer distance had to wait a half an hour before going to their start. usually ayub is ahead of all other, but not this time. he faced two older boys who where running together all the way from start to finish. the youngest boy - armen - was 3 years old only and completed two laps (2km) - bravo armen.
10:45am finally we could also start the longer distance. they where all nervouse as they had to wait so long. we had all sorts of people coming - top runners like mohamed al-sweiti, mohamed masri, fahed abdel asiz, haitham and others. but also not so well trained came who needed around 40 minutes to complete the not so easy 6km.

all in all we can say that the mecca mall foot race was the race with the highest participants. 63 kids crossed the finish line and about 77 adults. making it 140 finishers. this is much more than we all expected. but also the track was not realy easy. and looking at the faces of all who came you could see a brightness and happiness that only can be noticed when you participate at the foot races for the love of running.

jabal amman - currently the most successful foot race

on march 23. Run in Jordan with the support by JARA (jabal amman residence association) held the seventh and second last foot race of the winter series 2006/07. the weather forecast have not being positive and it was expected to rain and get colder. i was concerned that march will repeat itself where only 25 showed up because of the weather. on friday, looking up to the sky i was confident that we gona have a great day. one and a half hour before we started i went up to jabal amman and found the romero people already preparing the buffet. wasn’t this a bit too early? i didn’t ask, but i felt it was. i started to prepare my part; measuring the track and defining the starting point for the 4km and 6km distances. it was done quickly and so i hade a bit time to relax with a nicely made coffee before the expected rush.
already by 9:20 the first participants came to the meeting point. by 9:40 there where surely over 40 people waiting impatiently to start. by 9:50 we started to give out the t-shirts. can you believe, JARA printed 330 t-shirts and all where gone? those are so popular that some took several peaces for their whole family. and in jordan family size can be quit large

finally five after ten we send the kids to race. their starting point was just below the mosque and they had to complete six laps. the kids category had this time also young runners (boys and girls) from the jabal amman neighborhood. that gave the event a better mixed and more realistic picture. some really challenged themselves and others tried to shortcut. as we do not give prizes and make rankings there was not real hard feelings.
a few minutes later the longer distance was ready on the starting line to be send off for nine laps. also this category was better mixed and realistic. we had one wheel chair participant and two coming with their dogs. we had superb runners and others just enjoying being part of the Run in Jordan foot race on jabal amman.
at the finish line all where happy and enjoying the buffet from romero which comprised filled crepes (freshly made), traditional arabic bread with cheese and zatar, muesli, fruit juices, tee, coffee etc, etc.

we counted 82 participants where 78 finished. this is a new record for this winter. let’s see if we can get 100 runners for the last foot race on april 27. please spread this news to make this real!

small but beautiful

by 9:50 people where coming in to al-sweifieh who intended to participate at the monthly foot race. our host, the arab bank, put up a nice table with apples, bananas and fruit juices. crumz put in muffins and juthour gave us delicious assorted organic grains with hazelnut, oat and other milks. as more and more joined, you could really see that many knew each other and it became like a big family greeting and hugging each other. all the time we had sometimes less sometimes more clouds over us while all where wondering if it would rain or not. we gave 15 more minutes before the start as others arrived. 10 am we had a special guest coming in. it must have being zeus, grothar (or was it tefnut?) as it started to rain lightly. the weather god finally had sympathy with our presence so it was just short and stopped 2-3 minutes later.

10:10, haitham took the runners for a warm-up round so as at 10:15 sharp the kid’s could start their 4km endurance run where 7 laps had to be completed. 5 minutes later we send the big kid’s into the race. they had to complete 11 laps so as to cover their 6km.
at the beginning of the race it has being a bit fresh especially with the wind who has being our friend all the morning (otherwise it would have rained much more). later in the morning it got warmer. while you grow up you learn you can’t have it all - so in short: ‘windy but fair with no rain‘. I felt sorry for all who didn’t come because they thought it would only rain. i am persuaded those will join next month.

after the race we all enjoyed standing around the table in front of the arab bank entrance, small taking and tasting our healthy breakfast. all where happy to have come to the foot race and promised to run next month. and the arab bank, they gave us a big compliment for the work - they liked it honestly. frankly, this is what i am used to experience back home in germany. a runners community meeting anywhere, enjoying a short moment with friends because we all came for the same cause - for the love of running.

run in jordan is growing

abdoun al-janouby foot race

on 12. of january 2007 we had our best race so far. this was thanks to our host Vy a new health club. it was the first time the government gave permission to hold on such a place a street foot race. abdoun is a high security area with many embassies. the police came and closed/secured the roads -thank you. being on my own and getting such a permission is a huge success. there was a radio interview two days before the race was on and a company offered to send out 10’000 eMails as invitation. do you believe all came? almost all that is giving to the abdoun race a even higher moral success. i like to thank to all who put in their own effort and help to make this event a success. especially the Vy people, JorMall, PlayFM and last but not least the police and government of amman involved. thank you all!