Midwinter Marathon

Hi,

Today it was a special day! For the first time i run the distance of 27.5 km. The weather was perfect, not warm at all but not cold at all. The course itself was beautiful!!! A lot of woods and no cars and thats what I love the most. Running in the nature and looking around is such a nice feeling!!
This is a photo of the course

What i am so excited about that when i crossed the 21 K i was at 1h 34 and my PR in 1/2 marathon is 1h 33 so i am sure on March 14 th when i will be running my 1/2 marathon i should be able to set a new PR.
Today there were 285 ladies and i managed to finish 10th!! I am very happy about my result.

Now time to relax and take a 1 day off before i start my training again!

Ciao

The 3rd Olympic Games for my little Sister!!!!

In 2002, My sister and I were members of the skiing Olympic team representing lebanon. Lebanon is not like what everyone thinks it is. Lebanon has beautiful mountains and the ski season starts in December until April.
Since the sea is only 45 min drive from the mountains, my parents took us every weekend skiing. We started racing at a young age and we traveled the world representing Lebanon.

My sister and I moved to the US to pursue our dream. I was a student at the University of Utah while she was still in high school. After my graduation, I decided that i would like to ski for fun .Skiing takes a lot of dedication, focus, time, motivation..

My sister in the other hand, she was still determined she joined the NCAA utah ski team. She was qualified to the Olympic games in Torino in 2006 and Now she is representing lebanon for the 3rd time in Vancouver. I am so proud of my little sister. She left home at a young age to be where she is now. That is a photo of her.

I will add some links below. A great interview of her in the US. And another link on Eurosport where they get to mention me as well. 

http://connect2utah.com/content/video/?cid=75101

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzHu9z7OLro

Go sis....So proud of you!!!

My training

It has been quiet some time where i didn't dedicate time to my Blog. My passion for running is just growing without any limit.
This year goal is to run my First Marathon. I decided to run Rotterdam marathon which means it is only 2 months from now " 11th of April" I have been training seriously for 3 weeks and i still have another 8 weeks.

In between i will be running a 20 miles race on the 21st of February and a 1/2 marathon on March 14th in Lebanon the country where I was born.

Training at times could be very hard, especially living in the Netherlands with all the weather tough conditions.
The only thing that keeps me motivated it is always the feeling after running... I feel on top of the world.

I am so excited and nervous fro my first marathon... I will do my best to keep updating my blog.

My First 1/2 marathon

This sunday I run my first 1/2 Marathon in amsterdam. I couldn't train as much as i would have wanted too because i had an ankle injury.
I set my Nike + to 90 min... My friends were a little gossiping that I wouldn't be able to run that fast. The race started and i picked a nice pace and stayed on that pace.The whole way was great beside that I felt a little pissed about the slow people running on the left so i had to run right and left. The last 2 kilometers i felt very energetic to run faster but i started having pain in my stomach...that feeling was terrible... i felt my belly was going to explode...the finish was on the Olympic stadium instead of running fast my pain was slowing me down...i was praying to finish without any accident (you know what i am talking about). that is the picture of the stadium.

My nike + was saying 1 min to go and here I saw the finish line.... So I was sooooooo Happy to stop the ipod before it says your reach your goal of 90 min.

This is my result

Startnummer	23661
Naam	N. L
Woonplaats	Utrecht
8,9 km	39:36
13,9 km	1:01:50 (22:14)
18,9 km	1:24:19 (22:29)
Netto tijd	1:34:43
Bruto tijd	1:39:14
Snelheid	13,365 km/uur
Afstand	Mizuno Halve marathon
Plaats	39 / Vrecr

I am so Happy to finish my first 1/2 marathon in 1 h 34 min.

My First half Marathon

I am 2 days away from my first half marathon. the last few weeks i had a terrible ankle pain.
This week I started running again... i still have pain but i will run this sunday.
I am so excited, i didn't really train for it seriously i just run 4 times a week long distances, I hope i will do well.

I always like to set a goal time and my goal is below 1h 40 min. I did the 10 mile in 1h 7 so i believe if i can keep my Pace the same i can do it in 1 h 40 or below.

I will Update everything about the race on Sunday!

Wish Me luck!!!

Achilles tendonitis

Achilles tendonitis is also very common among high mileage runners. Since i wasn't a runner until recently, I didn't take the good precautions I need to prevent injuries.
One of my main goal was to run most km in 1 week. the fact i never stretched after running  lead to developing heel pain.

Now that it is a little too late i learned that stretching is one of the most important activities and should be done before and after exercising. Stretching improperly can often be the cause of serious pain in the heel. However, not stretching at all is sometimes the worst mistake that could be made before a long run. Without stretching, the plantar fascia and Achilles tendon become too tight, resulting in increased stress while running and leading to a greater risk of injury. Tears and even rupturing the ligament can become an issue when you don’t take the time to stretch.

Now it had been a full week i am not able to run. I tried to run an 8 km last night, with a lot of pain i made it back home.
I am not sure what to do i just hope the pain goes away.

10 Mile Race

September 19th i run a 10 mile race in Amsterdam called the Dam tot Damloop. It was an amazing race because it was at night. Running at night with a great music and a great atmosphere makes me want to run faster.

Before i start running i set a goal of 1h 10 min or Less... The course was amazing, Nike did a great job with all the set up. I felt very good, a steady Pace of 13.5 km/h. Usually at the last few km i can just move my pace to 14 but this time i was stuck at that pace. i did every 5 km in 22 min and i end up finishing with 1h 11.

I am a little disappointed, because i really wanted to go below 1h 10 and i know i can.  This was my first race since the spring so i shouldn't be too hard on myself. On october 18th i am running my first 1/2 marathon and i am super excited about it.

Usually I dont set time for a new Distance but i would love to do my first 1/2 marathon arounf the 1h 30.
23 days to go and i am getting super excited about it.

My love for running has increased big time. After work even when i am tired going out and running is the best feeling of the day. I am runner and i will keep running.