Mountain 2 Valley 2012

Mountain 2 Valley is a relay event covering ~215km from Tel Hai in the North to Timrat (Izrael Valley). It can be done in the teams of 8, 6 or 4 runners or as either long (215km) or "short" (129km) ultra run.

This time I coerced 3 colleagues from Intel Jerusalem to form a 4 team and to enjoy the consequences.

We had a mixed team: two fast guys: Jonathan Maresky and Tsion Vidal and two "slower" ladies: me and Clementine Haddad. The race took us 20 hours 35 minutes of running + driving the "fresh-tired" runners to the next section. It was new experience to all of us, Jonathan &Clem done the race in bigger 8-team a year ago and it was first relay for me & Tsion.

International Flower Exhibition in Haifa 2012

This year the international flower exhibition was back to Haifa. The only downside was that it was way too crowded, but that's understandable, considering the quality of the exhibition...

Pictures from the exhibition are @ KodakGallery.

Tel Aviv Marathon 2012

Although finishing time does not show it (4h 10min) it was a good run. This time the weather cooperated, it was really perfect for the run: a bit overcast most of the time with gentle sun during the last hour (unlike Jerusalem Marathon two weeks ago).
I started it saying "easy" to myself and in a few minutes felt like during one of nice morning outings, enjoying the city, the weather and the feeling moving comfortably along... I did slow down gradually but was able to run comfortably till the end... first time in marathon! well, I know I was injured during two of 4 previous versions and recovering after 100k once, but still it did feel good for a change...

The route with the splits info is at Garmin site. The pictures are at KodakGallery.

Second Jerusalem Marathon (2012)

I did run it again, had fun and finished almost with the same result as a year ago... although a story was different this time. The route and organization were again as good as they get, the weather was... ...not boring: we had wind (up to 70km/h), rain, hail, sun... The views that would be great were covered with the thick mist most of the time...

I must admit, that though I was not trained enough for it, I was ready to enjoy the special run... Life interfered during the last week and I had minimal rest/fueling and plenty of stress along. I even was lucky I had a set of running clothes + shoes in my car, so I was almost geared up ;-)
Nevertheless, I am thankful to this run (race?) for reminding me that life is beautiful and full of surprises... and that I love running even if I do not race ;-)

This picture was taken at finish line:

Videos from Judo competitions in Tel Aviv, March 3

Michael has won this time and all three fights are on-line: the first fight, the second fight and the final.

Winter in Israel

Winter in Israel is very close to Spring/Summer in Europe: we have rains, cool mornings, plenty of flowers and beautiful sunrises (well, this we have all year round).
I have uploaded few pictures, most of them taken near my place, on Carmel Mountain on December and January mornings.

Best of climbing 2011

This video was published by Outside.
Sasha DiGiulian's Pure Imagination 9A route was rated #3 in top 10 climbs of 2011.
I just loved this video:

Images from morning walk

Today I made almost regular weekend trip to Muhraka and was treated not only to a beautiful sunrise scene, but also plenty of flowers showing up after the week of rains. Morning was a cold one (3 deg.) and with crisp clear views.

Few snapshots are at KodakGallery.

Judo Competition in Yokneam

It was really nice competition inside the club, so most of the competitors new each other and were used to work together.

Michael took second this time, loosing one fight to Rotem, and winning another two fights: see the first and second videos. Few pictures are at KodakGallery.

Sovev Emek 2011, 92km

This was the second year of the race, which combines the range of trail running 

events from 10km to 92km and several off-road bicycle routes from 22km to 62km.

I've done the 92km run and it was definitely the best ultra running event in Israel. It was perfectly organized (BIG "thank you" to Shai Hazan and Kibbuts HaZorea) with great atmosphere, nice route -- not boring and not too hard, full moon, and runners with right attitude!

My run was not without some surprises, I guess water/fuel was a bit off as well as my knees that scared me, so I went slower than I planned, but actually the legs feel almost fresh just two days after it, so I am happy with the run the way it was.

As always, the statistics from the run are at Garmin site, pictures are on-line at KodakGallery and there is also

a finisher clip this time...