When we got to Jerusalem it was amazing that there was not a flat spot to be found.  The hills of Jerusalem where everywhere – and not small – and many of the streets were stone or cobblestone and slippery when dry.  The day before the marathon it was pouring rain, windy, and about 40 degrees.  I went for a short run that morning before the deluge and then went on a walk to find the Start/Finish line so that I could find my way back to the hotel after the marathon.  All the street signs, if there were any, were in Hebrew – so I wanted to make sure that I had an idea of where to go.

The morning of the marathon it was cloudy, but not raining, and the wind had died to a strong breeze and was 50 degrees.  Perfect for a marathon.  The half marathon started 15 minutes before the full marathon and there were ten times more half marathoners than marathoners, and even more 5k and 10k runners.  The city shut down all the roads.  I mean shut them down.  They parked tour buses to block the intersections and did not let any cars or people cross the course until the marathon was complete.  Everywhere else they open the roads as soon as the last runners are past.  The other thing was the security…I have never seen so many machine guns in my life.

Start Line

In Israel everyone (men and women) have to serve in the military for three years before they can go to college and/or start their career.  For the marathon, they were all out to make sure the runners were secure.  Seemed like every 100 yards was a soldier standing guard and then there were lots of motorcycles with two people and the one on the back was armed with a rifle or machine gun.

Photo by Maria

My investigative walk to and from the Start/Finish line the day before the marathon paid off.  The streets were closed for two hours after I finished and even though the walk was 1.5 miles, I still beat the bus back to the hotel by over two hours.  Every street was closed down, and you got to walk down the middle of the street.  I walked a bit of the way with some college students that lived there and had run the 5k.

In the end the marathon did have the hills they had hidden in the description, but I had seen worse.  The scenery was spectacular that the support was excellent.  If anything, they had too many people at the water stops.  Another great marathon on the way to completing a marathon on all 7 continents!

Finish Line!

Thanks for following along and hearing more about marathon day in Jerusalem!  One more post on the trip to Jerusalem coming soon!