On the Road to Rotterdam

A few weeks ago I received a notice from the organizers of the Tel Aviv marathon announcing that the marathon had been postponed from March 26^th to May 13^th .The postponement is due to a disagreement between the police, the sponsors (Adidas) and the city regarding the course of the race. Only someone with absolutely no understanding of the kind of training that goes in to marathon running could decide to postpone a marathon six weeks before it is set to take place.

Last year the Tel Aviv marathon took place on April 24^th, on a relatively nice day (a humid 72 °F). The race started at 7:00 am and the first 3 hours were comfortable, but the last hour was very hot. A mid-May marathon in Tel Aviv could prove to be a total disaster weather-wise, since the temperature can be as high as 85°F.  And furthermore, postponing the race by a month and a half also messes up my training program (I’m not sure I can keep the intensity up for that long).  Generally speaking marathon training is a four month project (16 weeks is the minimum), Unless you’re a pro or  are one of those 52 races in 52 weeks guys like Tristan Miller whom I met the night before the Tiberias marathon.

So, like many others in my situation, I decided to look for another race to run in April and found the Rotterdam Marathon.  There weren’t all that many options (cost, distance….) and the Rotterdam Marathon has a good reputation.  RunnersWorld (international edition) even voted it of the top ten marathons in the world.  It’s a very flat course and it’s very cool. I’ve met people who have  run the Rotterdam marathon in past years, and broken their personal records. In my case that shouldn’t be too hard.

I’m happy to say that I was able to make arrangements easily to get to the marathon, and – I’m not going alone. A good friend of mine, Yaron (the guy who got me into running marathons) is going too.

I am very excited. I’m also a bit nervous. Running a Marathon abroad means travelling, and that is always tricky. I’m already worrying about what I’ll eat the night before and the morning of the race (the race starts at 11:00 am). When eating at home (or at your usual cafe or restaurant) there are few surprises. But eating away from home with diabetes, especially in a foreign country, you never know where your BS will end up.

Check out last years highlight:

Michael Aviad

Michael Aviad is co-founder of ASweetLife. He was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 2002. Michael was born in Santa Barbara and grew up in Jerusalem. He studied law and after passing his bar exam went on to get an MBA with a major in finance. Michael worked for many years as an economist. He and his wife Jess, also a type 1 diabetic, have three sons. Michael loves to run and is always training for the next marathon.

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