Jerusalem Marathon: One that Needed to Be Done

Amanda  B

Like many of my marathons, the Jerusalem Marathon was planned at short notice only 3 weeks out from the event after a friend sent me a message saying: “Do the Jerusalem Marathon with me!” This was the same friend who had also talked me into flying to California from my home on the Gold Coast in Australia with only two days notice of the Huntington Beach Surf City Marathon less than 6 weeks before. She knows how weak I am at passing up the opportunity, when asked, to run a marathon in a new city somewhere around the world.

 After messaging her back with the usual initial response of: “No, I can’t afford it and I don’t know if I’ll be working that week,” I soon received a reply saying she had booked a hotel room for both of us so the accommodation was sorted and I didn’t have to worry about that. Damn, she knows how to tempt me into submission lol! It only took me a couple of hours to show signs of caving and start Googling for airfares. I had soon convinced myself I needed to do just this one more marathon…and booked the flights.

My friend Gloria had started doing some research and found that many travel blogs mentioned about avoiding getting your passport stamped in Israel because it can be a problem if you go into Arab countries. As I was transiting through Dubai both ways I was hoping this wasn’t going to be an issue. Further blog research revealed that Israeli immigration no longer stamps people’s passports and instead issues you with a ticket and places a removable barcode sticker on the back of your passport so there is no record of your entry into Israel in your passport. That was a relief. A visa wasn’t required to enter the country so I didn’t have to worry about that either.

A couple of days out from travelling I went to the website of the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) to register my travel plans and also check out what warnings they were issuing for people travelling to Israel. The warnings weren’t very sobering but I figured terrorists can strike anywhere these days so I wasn’t going to let that spoil my marathon plans.

As the departure day drew closer I was beginning to dread the long trip of an expected 36 hours each way with only three nights and two days spent in Jerusalem. As I never know when I’m going to be needed at work I always book the minimum stay when I travel. Needless to say I was very glad to finally get to the hotel in Jerusalem at 2am on Thursday morning, the day before the marathon. Gloria had already arrived in the early afternoon the day before so had picked up our race bibs at the Expo so that freed up our time to spend all day Thursday doing some sightseeing around the Holy City.

We were staying at the Crowne Plaza Jerusalem Hotel, which was a very convenient short walk of about 1.6 km (1 mile) to the start line and an even shorter walk from the finish line. Avoiding race day logistics of how to get to and from the start and finish lines in a city you’re unfamiliar with is always a huge bonus.

After getting to bed around 2:30am I fell straight to sleep with earplugs and an eye mask in place to make sure I slept well. At 8:30am I was woken by the phone ringing with Gloria urging me to get down to the dining room so I didn’t miss out on breakfast. While I’d been sleeping she had organized with the help of the hotel concierge, Benny, for a local taxi driver to give us a tour of Jerusalem and Bethlehem. Benny proved to be a wonderful help during our short visit in organizing all our travel needs.

Our guide picked us up at the pre-arranged time of 11:30am and drove us around the city of Jerusalem, showing us as much as he could in the short amount of time we had. We had requested to go to Bethlehem and as this is situated in Palestine it was necessary to change drivers before passing from the Jewish state of Israel to the Arab state of Palestine. Although the neighboring citizens seem to live in harmony with each other there is the problem that the Israelis are not covered by insurance while they’re in Palestine so the taxi drivers are reluctant to drive over the boarder. This is why we had to change drivers and cars.

Once we were in Bethlehem with the Palestinian guide, we were met by a third guide who would show us through the Church of Nativity which lays on the site where baby Jesus was supposedly born. It was starting to feel like a covert mission with all the car changes and different tour guides synchronizing their appearance at designated meeting points as we arrived. This third guide appeared out of a souvenir shop across the road from where we were parked and dressed in a very smart suit and his eyes concealed behind mirrored Ray Ban sunglasses perched on his bald head he looked extremely out of place amongst the predominantly Muslim village folk. With all the heavily armed military personnel at checkpoint locations throughout our afternoon drive, and now being met by this bald well-suited man, I was starting to feel like we were extras in a Jason Bourne movie!

Our tour guide, Adel, explained how the basilica was originally commissioned in 327 by Constantine the Great and his mother Helena, over the site that’s still traditionally considered to be located over the cave that marks the birthplace of Jesus of Nazareth. The original basilica was competed in 339 and destroyed by fire during the Samaritan Revolts of the 6th century. A new basilica was built in 565 by Justinian, the Byzantine Emperor, with the original architectural tone of the original church restored. Numerous additions have been constructed since then with the site holding prominent religious significance to both Christian and Muslim faiths. We visited the underground cave located beneath the basilica, which enshrines the site where Jesus is said to have been born. Next to this “Grotto of the Nativity” is the “Grotto of the Manger” which marks the site where Mary supposedly laid the newborn baby Jesus in the manger.

With the church visit completed we walked back down the basilica steps to the road where our tour guide #2 was waiting and we all jumped in his vehicle and drove around to the souvenir shop where we had picked up Adel. After having a wander through the shop it was time for tour guide #2 to take us back into the Jewish side of Jerusalem. As we drove around the hilly streets of Bethlehem I noticed a very high limestone wall with rolls of barbed wire on top of it and asked the tour guide if that was a prison. He replied “That’s the wall.” Oh, “The Wall,” how could I have forgotten The Wall! I felt like an idiot as I ignorantly ask about the wall that literally imprisons the people of Palestine from the rest of the world. The wall is known as the Israeli West Bank barrier (amongst other names) and once completed it will be about 700 kilometres (430 miles) long. It was built by the Israeli government in the West Bank and acts as a separation barrier that separates about 9.4% of the West Bank and prevents 23,000 Palestinians from accessing the bulk of that territory. Even after visiting the country I still have problems understanding the politics of the troubled states and was surprised to see everyone living harmoniously, despite the abundance of heavily armed soldiers everywhere. It seemed like a ticking time bomb, never really knowing when it was going to go off.

Source:
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Dome_of_the_Rock_and_Wailing_wall_by_Peter_Mulligan.jpg

We had an early night so we could make an early start the next day. Friday and Saturday are the weekend in Middle Eastern countries, which is why the marathon was held on a Friday, with Friday being their equivalent of our Sunday.

The marathon was to start at 7am with the half marathon starting at 6:30am in the grounds of the Sacher Gardens. The hotel accommodated the many guests who were staying there for the events with an early opening of the dining room for breakfast at 4:30am. By 6am we were dressed and fed and ready to leave for the start line. We enjoyed a leisurely stroll to the southern end of Sacher Garden in the brisk morning air, chatting to other race participants along the way. The weather forecast for the day was a range of 7 - 16°C (45 - 61°F) but despite being fairly cool it was to be fine and sunny. I was rugged up for a cold start but fortunately it wasn’t too chilly while standing around waiting for the race to start.

While lining up to use the port-a-loo it was difficult to ignore the security presence in the area. Unfortunately, since the Boston bombings in 2013 these heightened security measures are becoming increasingly more commonplace in many big city marathons, although there was definitely a larger amount of heavily armed police and military personnel at this marathon than what I’d seen at any other I’ve done.

With the marathon start time getting closer we herded into the start line corral with the rest of the marathoners and half marathoners. The half marathon seemed to be starting late so we had to wait off to the side until they all got started and left the marathoners to start our race. There were a total of 1,264 participants for the 42.2 km marathon and 4,076 participants in the 21.1 km half marathon. Later in the morning there would also be 7,364 people run a 10 km event and 2,629 people participate in the 5 km event. With a total of over 15,000 runners between all four events there was no shortage of atmosphere at the start line.

The weather started to give us a scare as low cloud cover began drizzling light rain down on us but fortunately it was only short-lived and the clouds dissipated and the threat of a wet start to the race eased. It was still cold enough as the starters siren sounded for me to keep my wooly jumper and scarf on for a while but after 10 minutes I’d warmed up enough to be able to shed the layers of disposable clothing. When I’m expecting a cold start to a race I always buy some cheap layers at a thrift store that I can discard once I start running. At most big city marathons now they have people collect any discarded clothing at the start of the course and distribute them to needy people in their community.

With the expected daily high temperature not being too high for my liking I chose to wear a long sleeved running shirt under my race singlet and I also still had a pair of gloves on my hands, which

stayed there for another 15 minutes. I was glad I wore long sleeves as the sun kept hiding behind the clouds for a lot of the morning and while we were on top of the hills it was quite windy and chilly. I spent the whole race adjusting my sleeves up and down as I ran from sun into shade.

The course was very hilly and for the first half of it we wound our way up Mt Scopus, which was the highest point on the course. The views were amazing looking back through the valley as the marathon course meandered it’s way around the high ground of the mountain that stood guard above the Holy City.

The limestone buildings of Jerusalem stretched out for miles beneath us with barely a change in color between the buildings and the barren limestone outcropping on the surrounding hills. The landscape was void of any trees for as far as the eye could see, except for the few in the landscaped grounds of the university that sat atop the mountain. The only rare trees that could be seen in some areas on the hilly slopes of the city were olive trees, some of them straight out of the history books. Olive trees in Jerusalem’s Garden of Gethsemane, revered by Christians as the place where Jesus Christ prayed before he was crucified, have been dated to at least 900 years old. These olive trees are among the oldest broad-leaved trees in the world.

As we wound our way around the ancient streets of Jerusalem it was impossible not to notice the strong security presence, with groups of soldiers and police positioned along the course with machine guns slung over their shoulders as they watched the passing parade of runners. Their presence seemed more of a supportive role than a menacing one and they cheered the runners as we ran past, certainly not concerned about us taking photos of them.

In the second half of the race we wound around the ancient walled confines of the Old City of Jerusalem. The Old City is a 0.9 square kilometres (0.35 sq mi) walled area within the modern city of Jerusalem. Until 1860 this area constituted the entire city of Jerusalem and is home to several sites of key religious importance for Muslims, Jews and Christians. We only skirted around the outer perimeter walls as it seems strangers are not advised, or welcomed, within its inner sanctum.

The last few kilometres of the course were very steep hills and it was a great relief to come out of a tunnel and emerge on the carpeted path to the finish line. It had taken me 4 hours and 37 minutes to get there but I had a memorable tour of the city of Jerusalem over that time. The course had been well stocked with water bottles, energy gels and energy drinks, as well as the occasional aid station with orange and banana pieces and also yummy fresh dates.

There were thousands of people congregated in Sacher Garden at the finish line and the mood was very festive. I kept my legs moving by walking the short distance back to the hotel and enjoyed a nice long hot recovery shower once I got there. Gloria and I both flew out of Tel Aviv the next morning, heading to Istanbul, although on different flights. I was only transiting through the airport on the way to Dubai but Gloria decided to spend a couple of days in Istanbul but was shocked to hear there had been a suicide bomber in the city soon after she arrived and everyone was advised to remain indoors. Fortunately the remainder of my trip home was incident free but hearing of the bombing in Istanbul reminded me again of not taking my safety for granted. In a way though I think it has probably added to the excitement of running my way around the world and exploring places that I might not otherwise have visited. The Jerusalem marathon was very well organized and the route was amazing. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in visiting the Holy City and getting a lot of sightseeing done on foot while you’re there!

-Amanda B

Blogmaster's Note: Amanda Barlow lives in Australia is an accomplished runner and adventurer, besides being a member of the NY Flyers.  To order her book about her exploits running an ultramarathon in the Amazon jungle, please click HERE.