The Jerusalem Marathon is an absolutely fantastic event. Every single year. Sometimes the weather is better, and sometimes it is worse, but the Marathon event is always great - it is fun, it is inspiring, it is exciting and it is all in Jerusalem.

But I was not going to participate in it this year. I had decided to take the year off from running the standard Israel marathons, and that included Tiberias, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Even though I could have planned to run the half instead of the whole, I still felt like staying away from the major events.

And then HASC came calling.

A couple of weeks ago HASC asked me if I would run for them in Jerusalem, and I could choose to run either the half marathon or the 10km race.

When an organization like HASC comes calling, you can't just ignore them. I had an opportunity to help a great organization, without even needing to do fundraising, and enjoy the side benefit of participating in the most enjoyable running event in Israel.

So I said yes. I would run the half marathon for HASC.

I did not train for the run. I was recovering from a bout of the flu. I only received final confirmation of my participation the day before, on Thursday. I did not know anything about the weather forecast or the details of the route. I decided I would not even take my watch along. I was just going to run - slowly - and enjoy.

And I did.









After the first couple of kilometers I bumped into a couple friends - the Sommers brothers, and we ran the next 5 or 6 kilometers together and had some great conversation.


this is a finish line photo taken by my friend Randy Zelcer. He had not even noticed me, and my face is blocked by the water bottle held by the guy in front me of. He was actually taking a picture of the motorcycle crossing the finish line. The guy whose image is blocked by the motorcycle is Mayor of Jerusalem Nir Barkat. His finishing time was 2:22:47. Mine was 2:22:46. That's right - I finished the half marathon two steps ahead of Nir Barkat.


Truth is, I had run the last 5 or 6 kilometers with Barkat and his team right behind me. At some point I thought of slowing down slightly and approaching him to say how great of an event he puts on and slap him five. Then I thought that if I approached him during the run like that, one of his bodyguards and running partners would give me some sort of krav maga kick in the head and that would be the end of my run.. so I waited until after we crossed the finish line. After the finish line I did turn around and go over to him, after he and his team finished high-fiving and hugging each other, and I congratulated him and complimented him on the event.

Also, if you look at the picture, you'll see that I did not have my hands raised in the normal finish line style of raising your hands with V signs for victory. You can see that I was making some strange symbol with my fingers. That symbol I was making was the hashtag symbol - the pound sign, #. I was making the hashtag symbol to represent the "happylanche" hashtag created by my friend Ahava Emuna Lange, formerly known as Erika. Ahava Emuna is very not well with cancer and has just started a round of chemo. With Ahava going through so much and still trying to find every possible way to be happy and surround herself with happiness, I dedicated my happy event of the Jerusalem Marathon to Ahava's happylanche. An avalanche of happiness.

After the finish line, I made my way down to get my bottle of water and medal, an awesome clementina, and then to find the HASC booth again. I picked up my stuff from the booth and saw the other few runners who had run the half and the tens of runners who were getting to run the 10k race for HASC. HASC put out for them drinks and food, along with paraphanelia such as the HASC shirts and kippot and other things. And most of all there was great camaraderie and friendship and excitement among the runners and the staff at the HASC booth. They really are a great organization, they had a lot of great and dedicated people (including a few people I know) running to benefit HASC, and HASC was doing everything they could to support and help the runners.

I was proud to be associated with HASC, even if for just one Friday morning in Jerusalem.