Why I Run the Beirut Marathon

The 6^th annual Beirut Marathon will be Sunday, 30 November 2008. www.beirutmarathon.org

Why? My first reasons are the conventional ones: Beirut is beautiful, its culture excites the imagination, and the Marathon is an extraordinary way to tour the city.

The Beirut Marathon is also well-organized. Having run my first marathon in 2006 in Beirut, I ran my second marathon in Istanbul in 2007. For much of that race I appreciated anew the efficiency and excitement of the Beirut Marathon. Lebanon’s runners, both competitive and recreational, are fortunate that the Beirut Marathon enjoys broad community support, including private citizens, non-profit service organizations, corporations and government offices. The pre-race “Expo,” the closing celebration, and, most important, the course itself – scenery, onlookers and provisions – combine to make the Beirut Marathon a great event.

Furthermore, the Beirut Marathon Association (BMA) works not only to organize this annual event. It also offers training programs and running events around the year, enticing people to pick up running – anywhere, any time. This is a worthy cause. Running is an expression of hope and determination – it is challenging, it feels good, it contributes to good health. The BMA translates these attributes to a social level; its programs are collective expressions of hope and determination for the future.

Running a marathon is a long-term project, and the training gives you time each day to breathe deeply, to move exactly as you care to. This is one hour during which you know pretty much what will happen: there is a goal, you work toward the goal, you meet the goal. It’s simple, predictable.

Running is an escape from the daily grind – a time to disrupt the status quo with movement that counters the dominant rhythm of the street. You – either alone or within a group – set your own pace, you move around those walking, sitting or driving.

You run, hitting your stride. You breathe – deeply. You realize that the most important moment is right now. The most important thing is to keep running, to keep breathing – deeply. Immersed in the now, you easily lose perspective, trusting that the world will yield to your stride. The streets are yours. By extension, the city is yours.

And you begin to see the world, your city, your life, in a new light. New light, new possibilities.

Once your imagination takes over from the relentless monotony of hitting the pavement, one foot at a time, the run is no longer just about the now. It’s about the future. A future that is subtly but substantively different from what you had been expecting just moments before you began running.

An alternative sense of the future: this is the thrill of running. Is it just the endorphins, those chemicals the body releases when it realizes it must keep working? Does it matter? Running builds confidence – both in the future itself and in the ability to meet the challenges of the future.

Perhaps the best reason for running the Beirut Marathon is that, in my experience, training is more energetic, no matter where I am, if I know I’ll run in Beirut. Because Beirut, endlessly considering the alternatives, still excites the imagination. There is no better place to be – especially if the streets are crowded with runners – absorbed in the now for the sake of the future.

(This article original published in Running Middle East, June 2008)