So isn’t running 42 kilometers by definition dangerous? Actually, not as much as you would believe. Hundreds of thousands of people around the world run marathons and the vast majority are fine except for some temporary aches. (If you are interested, here is an article on the subject: Are Marathons Dangerous? )

Serious medical issues during marathons are rare. With the right preparation, a marathon should be an event that you can look back on all your life with pride and a fond memory. I encourage people to set this goal and then take the time to learn about what it takes. Please don’t take my description of the 2010 Tiveria Marathon as a universal account of what will happen to you.

I believe that G-d gave us bodies that can be vastly improved. Just like the fact that the world is imperfect, our bodies are also. Making our bodies healthier to me is the same as making the world a better place. It should be a goal in life. I do not feel at all that my activities abuse my body, I feel quite the opposite. Richard is right (see last post’s comments). Our bodies are temples. That’s actually why I do what I do.

So with all that, why was I lying on the ground barely conscious in Tiveria? In simple terms, I was dumb. I could have avoided all the unpleasantness by running a bit slower and drinking a lot more right from the start. As Chaim – the coach and top runner of the club – put it:

So much work had already been done, so much sweat had already been spilled.  All that stood between us and our long awaited goal was one solitary, herculean effort.

Yes, we knew that prudence directed that we modify our goals. However, we had spent too much time carefully planning “marathon pace,” too many workouts carefully running at that precise pace to change our carefully laid plans on the fly.  Yes, we paid lip service to the need to adjust our pace in deference to the weather and run conservatively but we also knew that when the gun went off,  that we would put it all on the line and toss caution to the cruel Eastern winds in a do or die attempt at marathon glory.

Our exuberance and the sheer joy of being out there obscured the fact that it was hot as hell without a shade tree in sight.

Sounds really dumb, I know. Of course do not take “do or die”  literally. I know of no one who would seriously say that running anything was more important than life. But standing on the starting line, it honestly did not feel that hot. For those of us who have never run in this kind of weather, we had no idea just what an impact it can have.

Running a marathon is as much mental as it is physical. You simply must run smart. I did not. However, when I felt really bad, I still had an awareness of my surroundings. There were medics and race officials all around, and they were keeping an eye on us. I knew that I was suffering, but so was every other person running those last ten kilometers.

I believed that if the situation was going to become life threatening, the race officials would step in and cancel the rest of the run. I was very determined to finish, that is true. But I simply did not believe that I was putting myself in grave danger. Perhaps in hindsight I was wrong. Yes I did take a risk. But how great was that risk?

The fact of the matter is every day we place ourselves in danger. Every time we get into a car we take a chance. Those who smoke, eat poorly, and neglect any type of exercise are taking a big risk. By comparison, running a marathon – and especially all the training that you do to get ready – makes you much healthier and lowers your risk of dying tremendously.

To all my friends who moved to Israel from America and elsewhere, did we all not take on a greater risk to our lives? Would we not be safer in suburban America than in a “West Bank Settlement?” Did you ever carry a gun on your way to the mall before moving here? Did your house have a bomb shelter?

Did we not “place ourselves in danger” by moving here? I live within a few kilometers of Arab villages where terrorism is considered “heroic.” Yet I am taking chances by running around the Kinneret?

Let’s be honest here. Accepting some level of risk is a part of all of our lives. That doesn’t mean that we should be reckless and skip a water station while running a marathon. But it also doesn’t mean that we should shy away from our dreams. Simply saying that a big challenge (that hundreds of thousands complete) is too dangerous is a cop-out.

You can take Burgers Bar, I’ll take running marathons.

–

A few more answers to questions I received:

Was the crockodile real?Yes. I have no idea why he was there but there is a crocodile farm not that far away (Hamat Gedar).   The theory is that he escaped. I am sure he was just as confused to see thousands of people running down the road in the heat as we were to see him.

What was with the salt? Sweat contains lots of salt. When it evaporates, you are left with salt deposits. When you have been sweating seriously for a few hours, you look like the coast of the Dead Sea. You need to eat electrolytes during the race to replace the salt (stuff like Gatorade).

Why is your time in the picture different than your finishing time? Unless you are one of the elite runners, you do not start as soon as the gun goes off. You start when the computer chip you have attached to your shoe passes over the start line. The clock at the finish is the time since the first runners started. Your race ends when your shoe crosses the finish line.

Are you nuts? No. I think that people who watch life go by sharing the couch with a bowl of potato chips are nuts.

Are you trying to die? No, I’m trying to live.

Yesterday I completed the Tiveria Marathon for the second time.

It was a day that I will never forget.

And you know what? I’ll wait until the end of this post to determine if that is a good thing.

It has been said that trying to describe a marathon to one who has not completed it is like describing color to someone blind from birth. But I will try.

Finishing itself is a victory

The marathon is 42.2 kilometers or 26 miles. That’s far. Really far. After about 25 kilometers, your body does not react as it usually does. Without drinking and eating special glucose “gels” you will simply collapse. The reason is that you have used up all the sugars in your muscles and they start to digest themselves as your body continues to call for more energy.

While this is occurring, your mind can also break down. You can find yourself talking to yourself and even fighting with your own thoughts which can cry out for you to stop.

Having run the marathon last year I knew all this and had prepared for it. What I did not contemplate – especially considering that this is January – is that brutal heat can take all your carefully laid plans and chuck them in the garbage. It turns a race for a personal best time into a race for survival. You stop running to achieve a fast time, you run to end the agony as quickly as possible.

Training with the Bet Shemesh Running Club had improved my running enormously. I learned pacing, nutrition, and recovery and made some great friends — compatriots in suffering. My speed was way up, and when I finished the Bet Shean Half Marathon a few weeks ago in an hour and thirty-two minutes, I felt I was on track for an amazing time in Tiveria.

In the morning at the hotel, as my roommate and I prepared for the race by smearing Vaseline on our toes, sun block on our noses, and surgical tape on our nipples (yes, that’s right), I laughed and remarked that this is not what a normal person would do on a Friday morning (or any other time for that matter).

Standing at the starting line, I did not even realize how hot it was, I was too excited. I looked around at the crowd of spectators and thought about how much better it is to be a player than a watcher. (One of the reasons I made aliyah as a matter of fact, but that’s another story).

The starting gun went off and the moment I had been waiting for since the race ended last year was finally upon us. We ran packed together for the first few kilometers until the crowd thinned out as everyone settled into their own pace.

The first 21 kilometers was fun. Eight of us from the club ran together, our white, orange and black uniforms forming a solid block. We kept to a great pace (4:45 per kilometer). I had planned to run this pace for half the marathon, and then see if I could kick it up for the second half.

At kilometer 15, there was a crocodile in the road. I really don’t know why he was there but the police made all the runners give it a wide birth. From now on I know that seeing a crocodile is a really bad omen for a runner.

I was grabbing bottles of water along the way and eating my gels. Everything was going completely according to plan. I was happy as the kilometers clicked by and thought about how amazing it would be if I could finish in three hours and twenty minutes.

You know, sometimes not everything goes according to your plans. That’s just life. There is nothing you can do about it except try and adapt and keep moving ahead.

As I reached the halfway point something happened, something bad. I felt like I was running backwards. One by one the guys who I had been running with passed me. Then others runners passed me. I tried to keep up the pace but my legs would not obey. I started feeling dizzy and had no idea what was going on.

The real danger of dehydration is once it hits, it is very hard to do anything about it. At the next water stop I drank a whole bottle and poured another one on my head. It didn’t help. Several kilometers later I couldn’t run any more and started to walk. The 3:30 pacer passed me, and I readjusted my goal to beating last year’s time of 3:50.

I started running again but slowly. I took my headphones off as the music was making me sicker. A race medic came by on a bike and gave me a water bottle. I started running one kilometer segments and then walking for about 30 seconds. Then I was walking for a minute.

I tried focusing on the quote that

pain is temporary, pride last forever

but as I tried to focus on the temporary nature of pain, from somewhere deep inside, I heard my body yell “FU!”

So instead I came up with a better quote for the circumstance, from Dean Karnazes, a well known ultra-marathoner.

Run when you can, walk if you have to, crawl if you must.

Just never give up.

All I wanted during those last few kilometers was to finish. At around the thirty-fifth kilometer, I saw a guy being loaded into an ambulance. Later I was to find out that it was one of the fastest runners from our team who had collapsed. He would be joined by dozens of other runners who passed out from the heat.

I hadn’t realized what a toll the sun had taken on everyone. Hundreds of runners dropped out. Our club had many members who didn’t come close to their goals. I didn’t know any of this. All I knew, all I could focus on, was that I wanted to cross that finish line.

Around the fortieth kilometer I started dancing. It wasn’t on purpose. My legs simply could not keep moving, and I was having trouble controlling the muscles. I started walking again slowly and tried to get them back.

Then I collapsed.

I ended up laying on the ground while my teammates tried to get me to drink. I was pale, encrusted with salt, and had very vague recollection of what was going on.

Over the next few hours I felt even worse. It seemed clear that the pain I experienced was much stronger than the pride of finishing the marathon. Lying on the floor of my hotel room, I looked over at my running shoes and said “I hate you. I hate both of you.” My feet were in such bad shape I went home barefoot.

Yeah. That's right.

But you know, today is a new day. Memories of pain fade. And although I came up short of my goals in the marathon, I feel an amazing sense of pride. Right now, as bad as the feeling of pain had been, the feeling of pride is that much more.

I may forget the details of the run, but I will never forget the details on how I feel right now. Which somehow, despite the above description [originally I was going to call this post "A Day in Hell"], makes it all worth it.

We only live once. Don’t keep putting off your dreams. Whether it is finishing a marathon or something else that you have always wanted to do, now is the time to start.

Our boundaries are not caused by the difficulty of our task, they come from within.

See what you are capable of.

All it takes is will.

Shabbat Shalom from a tired but proud runner in our blessed nation.

With great appreciation for Chaim Wizman and the rest of my teammates in the Bet Shemesh Running Club. We’ll get ‘em next year.

Well look at the price paid by the Palestinians for all these accomplishments-they live in a prison and all efforts to create that 2 state solution seem to go nowhere. The Palestianians [sic] have lost and continue to lose their land, crops and homes to settlements. The Palestianians [sic] are abused , attacked and terorized by settlers with no protection from the Isreali [sic] police and the IDF.

Germany achieved many scientific and engineering marvels and look at the price paid by the peoples of the world during WWI and WWII by the German war machine and aggession [sic].

I don’t know who wrote the comment, but I appreciate the opportunity to set the record straight.

Strawberry fields forever.. in Israel!

First, I had referred to Israeli advances in all sorts of scientific endeavors. The idea that the Palestinians have paid a price because farmers in the Jordan River Valley developed a new way to grow pesticide free strawberries –  and are sharing it with the world – makes no sense.

Advances in medicine, telecommunications, and high speed computing have nothing to do with the dispute with the Palestinians. If anything, they like the rest of the world have benefited from Israeli advances. Ask any Palestinian seeking treatment in an Israeli hospital what he thinks of Israeli medical science.

At Alyn, I have seen kids from Gaza who are only alive due to Israeli technology. So I hope the author of the comment will at least agree that Palestinian suffering is not due to Israeli accomplishments.

The next comment was that Palestinians live “in a prison.” I will not deny that Israeli border restrictions make life difficult for people in Gaza. But the rulers of Gaza are engaged in a war with Israel. The war could easily be ended any second if they accepted and recognized Israel and disavowed the use of violence. But they choose not to. Can you name any country that keeps an open border with a country with which it is at war?

One wall of the "prison" is an Arab country

Besides, I always wonder why it is just Israel blamed for the “siege” of Gaza. Last time I checked on a map, Gaza borders on Egypt. Where are all the attacks against the Egyptians for keeping Gazans in a “prison?”

“all efforts to create that 2 state solution seem to go nowhere”

Well Prime Minister Netanyahu has invited Abbas over and over again to sit down and negotiate a 2 state solution. Abbas has answered that before negotiations begin, Israel must agree to give up everything. Well what would be the point of negotiations then?

We (Israel) have legitimate claims to the land in dispute as do the Palestinians. The only way to reach compromises is through serious negotiation. Yes, I share your dismay that the “peace process is going nowhere.” Why don’t you send an e-mail to Abbas about that?

“The Palestinians have lost and continue to lose their land, crops and homes to settlements.”

Some of the 250 Jews massacred in pre-State Gush Etzion

Sorry, but its just too simple a way to look at this dispute. Jews have also lost land, crops, and homes to Palestinians. The Jewish community in Hevron is a fraction of what it once was. Why? Because the Jews were murdered and the survivors driven out. Now when Jews try to reclaim historical Jewish property there, they are accused of stealing someone else’s land.

I live in Gush Etzion. There were thriving Jewish communities here before 1948. In 1948, the Jews were massacred and the towns were burnt down. In 1967, the rebuilding began and goes on to this day. What’s wrong with that?

Today, we have a court system where those who claim that someone is taking their land can seek redress. And it may surprise you, but the courts have been quite vocal in defending land that is proven to be owned by Palestinians. But you have to understand that you cannot simply label the entire “West Bank” Palestinian land. Doing so is simply inaccurate.

“The Palestinians are abused, attacked and terorized by settlers with no protection from the Isreali police and the IDF.”

There may be isolated incidents where this happens. But there are far more incidents where the police and IDF protect Palestinians from the tiny minority of Jewish extremists. Personally, as a settler, I vehemently reject any type of attacks on Palestinians or their property.

From today’s Ha’aretz:

A special border police battalion was assigned to protect the farmers from settlers’ attacks during the harvest, which began this week.

The forces – at least twice as large as in previous years, IDF officers say – were deployed around the illegal Havat Gilad outpost at the beginning of the week. On Tuesday they protected harvesters near the Yitzhar settlement and intend to safeguard other West Bank areas including around Hebron.

The Palestinians are our neighbors. They built my house and almost every other house, synagogue, and shop in Neve Daniel and every other settlement. The majority of settlers like myself believe in peaceful coexistence. Stop believing everything you read in the media. We do not terrorize them. Last time I checked we were the ones who had to guard our communities.

Is the World that dumb?

So finally you close with the old Jew baiting reference to the Nazis. Lots of people who dislike Israel try and use this, but it just doesn’t fit. We don’t murder or enslave Palestinians. We employ them, work with them, and treat them in our hospitals. While our enemies like to use propaganda to convince the world that we are monsters, these are just Big Lies.

Still, I appreciate that you wrote in and hope that you will consider my response.

I’m not a Nazi. Just a guy who runs and loves his country.

Put on a pair of sneakers and just run.

Running in Israel is more than just exercise. Every step you take, every hill, every trail has some history behind it.

Get your heart beating fast, it feels good. Gaze out at the views and think how incredibly fortunate you are to be right here, right at this point in history.

Work up a sweat and reflect how many people throughout history longed for every square inch of land passing below your feet. Reflect on how many people made the ultimate sacrifice so that you could live here freely.

Run faster with your arms pumping.  You feel like nothing can stop you as the kilometers fall away one by one.

When I moved to Israel four and a half years ago , if you would have told me that I was about to run my second full distance marathon, I would have thought you insane.

Of course, four and a half years before that, if you would have told me that I would be living in the land of Israel, I would have viewed you as equally insane.

What is it about this place that makes us stretch to reach and pass our limits?

Perhaps the air encourages dreaming. Hertzl was right, “If you will it, it is no dream.” Right you go Ted. Perhaps more than you ever imagined.

Every day, Israelis turn dreams into reality. Sorry to all the post-Zionists, but we have never been and never will be a nation like all the others. A tiny spit of land with very little natural resources continues to produce miracles every day.

Every day you can read about breakthroughs in high tech, agriculture, medicine, you name it. From innovative start-ups to Nobel Prize winners (I mean the ones awarded for actual accomplishments), we produce more than our share by far.

In a few years, when you are driving your electric car around and watching how Saudi Arabia is trying to find an export market for sand, you can thank this tiny and often maligned little land.

And yes, despite what you may read, it is the Israeli “war machine” that has done more to safeguard civilians than any other army in history. By the way, that was said by a Brit, not an Israeli. Don’t believe me? I don’t care, the facts are out in the open.

This is the land where the difficult becomes the average and the impossible becomes possible.

We can do whatever we dream. All it takes is will.

Now get some sneakers and join me in Tiveria for a little run around the Kinneret next week.

No limits.

Terrorists? Yes. Children's toothpaste? No way.

A woman is at the airport with several small children. At least one is crying and one needs a change. She puts all the carry-ons on the conveyor belt and fumbles for a collection of boarding passes and passports. Several drop on the floor, and she attempts to pick them up while holding one barefoot child and trying to keep track of the rest. (All their shoes have been placed into bins that seem to have disappeared completely.)

“Just a second lady,” says the uniformed TSA official. Another one appears with a  frown and holds up a tube of Tom and Jerry toothpaste. “We found this.”

There is a pause because the TSA officials assume that the problem will be obvious to the traveler. When she just looks confused they inform her that she has violated federal anti-terrorism transportation safety rules. They hold up the toothpaste and glare at her for almost endangering everyone’s lives with the purple toothpaste.  For a second the children actually are quiet as they watch the strange men in blue uniforms with gloves throw away the only toothpaste they like. Then they start to wail.

In the next line, another man approaches the security checkpoint. He gives his name as Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. He seems very nervous. The security officers looks him up the the computer and see that he in on a terrorist watch list. Another entry in the computer indicates that Mr. Abdulmutallab’s father had called the U.S. Embassy to try and turn his son — the Al Quada terrorist – in.

Much to the relief of the TSA officials, a search of his carry-on reveals no purple toothpaste. They give him a smile and direct him where to pick up his shoes. He walks by the mother standing in the middle of screaming, unchanged, barefoot children all clutching at her demanding that she get their toothpaste back immediately.

Just one question.

WHO ARE THE IDIOTS WHO DESIGNED THIS SYSTEM??????

There is no airport with more terrorist threats against it than Ben Gurion. Yet I have never had to take off my shoes and do the barefoot shuffle through security. How does Israel prevent people from blowing up our planes?

"No toothpaste?"

I don’t think I am divulging any state secrets when I say that for starters: Guys who are named Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab and have proven ties to international terror organizations do not get on the airplane. They are not searched for Tom and Jerry toothpaste — they are searched for explosives.

Way before they even get that far, single travelers with no luggage are questioned to see if they appear half as nervous as Umar was said to be.

This is not rocket science. Do not praise the incredible Israeli ingenuity on this one. Praise us for computer chips, solar power, and agricultural breakthroughs. Those require clever people. The security procedures just require people who are not idiots to be in charge.

Why is it so difficult to understand that the most effective way of stopping a terrorist from blowing up a plane is by not letting him board one.

No clothes flights. Coming soon.

Yet we all know that this common sense approach will be ignored. One day in the not too distant future I will be sitting on the plane stark naked and with absolutely no baggage as per the latest TSA  rules. I will turn to the guy sitting next to me and watch as he pulls some strange looking substances out of his artificial…

Just use your imagination.

We can wait

I acknowledge ahead of time that many of my neighbors will disagree with me. But the fact is, public opinion among “settlers” is not and has never been represented by one or two shrill voices. So while many are gearing up to fight the settlement freeze temporary lull in initiating certain residential construction, I think the energy could be put to better use.

I don’t feel this way because I think that a slight delay in building Jewish homes is either just or will bring about peace. No, it is clear to everyone (except maybe the White House) that the lack of peace in the Middle East has nothing to do with settlements and everything to do with Arab intransigence. And that’s the point.

Bibi skillfully turned a demand to freeze all Jewish construction in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria into a ten month lull that only applies to residential units in which work has not started.

Not only did he manage to gain U.S. acceptance of a plan whose overall impact will have little practical significance, but he received international praise for the move. He has shifted all the pressure off of  Israel and squarely onto the shoulders of the Palestinians. I am sure they will not disappoint us by giving every reason to start massive construction within a year.

Why will it have little tangible impact? Because it effects a small handful of people.

Right now construction can continue on synagogues, commercial buildings, and schools. Parks and playgrounds may be built. Homes already under construction may be built. Planning for homes not yet started may continue. And Jerusalem — as defined by Israel — will continue to grow by thousands of Jewish homes.

No homes are being destroyed. There is no “expulsion.” Even outposts which the Supreme Court have ordered to be dismantled are spared.

True, there are some people who have will have their new homes delayed for a few months. Every Yishuv probably has two or three families that were ready to start construction but now must wait.

But there are always delays when you build, this one is just a few months longer than most. But it’s only a delay. We have no refugees living in tents desperately waiting for a shelter to be built. No one will starve because they have to wait a few months to build a home.

In the end, after ten months nothing will have changed. If we are smart, we will use this period to make sure that come October 1, 2010 we are ready to renew construction at 12:01. Architectural plans will have been completed, contractors hired, and materials delivered.

In return for abiding by the lull, Israel will gain enormously. Once more, it will be clear to the world that we are a law-abiding nation interested in true peace.

The only ones that will really suffer due to the construction lull are all the Palestinians who work on the building projects. They are the ones being asked to go ten months without work. I have no idea how they will support their families. But that’s not my primary concern.

All ready for 10/01/10

The popular image of settlers within Israel is that we are out of control extremists who accept government benefits but ignore policies with which we disagree. This is not a great public profile to have if we need the support of the majority of regular Israelis.

So I am proud to be a Judean Hills resident who supports the Prime Minister and will not fight the construction lull. Instead I look forward to hearing the sounds of construction next Fall.

Shabbat Shalom from our Blessed Nation.

I am Gilad, son of Aviva and Noam Shalit

I am Gilad, son of Aviva and Noam Shalit, brother of Hadas and Yoel, who lives in Mitzpe Hila. My identification number is 300097029.

I want to send my regards to my family and to tell them that I love them and miss them very much, and pray for the day that I will see them again.

It has been three and a half years since Gilad Shalit was taken hostage by Palestinian terrorists. For three and a half years, Hamas has toyed with Gilad’s family, toyed with Gilad’s friends, and toyed with Gilad’s nation.

More civilized than Hamas

Hamas stages parades where Palestinians dress up as Gilad and crawl about on their hands and knees begging for freedom. The crowds roar with laughter at this quality “entertainment.” I would call Hamas “Neanderthals” but to do so would be an insult to all prehistoric, semi-upright walking creatures.

Enough already. Bring Gilad home now.

Of course, I would love a daring commando raid that would bring him out without having to make any disgusting deal with the beasts who rule the Gaza Strip. I would also prefer taking Hamas hostages and executing them one by one until Gilad is set free.

But you know what? It wouldn’t work. These are people whose leaders hide behind baby carriages. They really don’t care about whether their own people live or die.

There are many who point out that releasing terrorists will only reward kidnapping. Others correctly observe that many of these terrorists will return to terrorism within hours of their release. It’s not as though they will put down the bombs and become gardeners. We know that.

But I also don’t believe that the Palestinians have a current shortage of terrorists. It doesn’t matter if there are ten thousand potential bombers or eleven thousand. Every Israeli citizen knows that within a few kilometers of where he lives is someone who would like to kill him. That has been the situation throughout Israel’s history, and that will be the situation in the future. It’s a sad price of living here.

And while one could assume that releasing terrorists will cause them to try and kidnap more Israeli soldiers, I was not aware that they had stopped trying. We always read about the IDF arresting or shooting terrorists who are trying to grab soldiers.  They do not seem to lack motivation right now.

So what would an exchange of Gilad for terrorists look like? For one, we would have to sit through the nauseating images of happy terrorists dancing in the streets. As long as the Shabak cameras are recording the images, that’s fine. My gut tells me that every couple of weeks on the back page of the paper we will read about some “work accident” where several of these “freedom fighters” finally get to meet Allah.

But could you imagine how it would feel to see Gilad reunited with his family? Gilad is not just one young soldier. Gilad represents all of Israel’s children. Israeli parents allow their children to serve in the IDF because we know this is the only way our country can survive.

But I know of no parent who walks away from an IDF induction ceremony the way he or she could walk away from a graduation. Every day that an Israeli has a son or daughter in the army is a day with some anxiety lurking deep inside.

All of us want to know that if G-d forbid our child is captured by the enemy, the government will do everything possible (and try to do everything impossible) to get him or her back alive.

Let’s not wait a few years and then have another spectacle where our enemy hands over a coffin to us. We don’t know if any released terrorist will succeed in killing again, but we do know that Gilad is alive. For now.

So last stop this pointless debate and bring Gilad home now.

I want to send my regards to my family and to tell them that I love them and miss them very much, and pray for the day that I will see them again.

Gilad, we are all praying for that day too.

Take a "shot" at us, please

What do you do when someone who wants you dead gets sick? What would most reasonable people do?

Let me rephrase. Let’s say that the United States faced a serious terrorist threat on its Southern border. Let’s also say that the Mexican government was not taking any action to stop the terrorists from launching missiles at Austin, Texas.

Now, pretend that the President of Mexico dismissed U.S. complaints and basically said that it was Americans own fault that they were being shot. If the U.S. just turned over a major chunk of its territory to Mexico, then the terrorists would be happy and stop shooting people.

Still with me in the dream? O.K., next President Obama declares that he is willing to sit down and negotiate with Mexico anytime and any place. The Mexican President’s answer is that there can be no negotiations until the U.S. in advance stops all construction in every city that Mexico claims for itself.

Now, in a major city in Mexico, amidst streets and schools named after terrorists, a few people get the swine flu. In return for flu vaccinations, does the United States:

• Demand that Mexico put an end to the rockets being shot at the U.S.?
• Request that Mexico please sit down and negotiate a peace agreement?
• Nicely ask Mexico to stop rallying the World against the U.S. on false charges?

I don’t think so.

The only reason I ask is that I see that Israel has just shipped twenty thousand Swine Flue vaccinations to the Palestinians. These are the same vaccinations that I am told are not yet available in Neve Daniel. Yes, if I get Swine Flu, I may be sick as a dog for a few days but at least I will be comforted by the knowledge that 20,000 Palestinians are feeling fine and immune from the bug.

Great. I like to see a well thought out use of my tax dollars.

Please stop shooting while we try and FEED you

Skeptics might tell me that at the very least Israel will get some good PR out of this whole episode. Like when we sent trucks loaded with food and medicine into Gaza during the war. Right, that story made it onto page one of the Goldstone Report, didn’t it? Anyone remember praise for Israel from the UN Human Rights Council for that humanitarian gesture?

Didn’t think so.

Speaking of Goldstone, if you have not seen the little video we did at HonestReporting and signed the petition, please take 2 minutes now. Click here to watch.

So stay warm and if you can somehow obtain a vaccination without having to shoot at Israel, go for it.

Sometimes this country is so nuts the only thing you can do is jump on a bike and ride through the mud for a few days. More sensible than half the stuff our government keeps cooking up.

Shabbat Shalom from our really nuts but always blessed nation.

My ride number

I just spent a week riding through mud.

Not the kind of nice warm Dead Sea mud that tourists buy. I’m talking about freezing cold mud. It gets on your arms, your legs, in your nose, and between your teeth. Every day after the ride you take a shower wearing your riding gear to try and get some of it off. But it’s just not possible.

The mud gets on your bike chain and in your gears. It gets in your brakes and clogs your pedals. Your bike weighs a ton no matter how often you try and clean some muck off.

What an amazing week.

I'm shivering!

But let me go back a bit. For the fourth year in a row I was riding in the Alyn 5 day bike ride to raise money for the Alyn Children’s Hospital in Jerusalem. I was joined by fellow Team Neve Daniel members Pinney and Lawrence.

Also along with us was our friend Bob, who we like so darn much we just put him on the team. He has a daughter my age, and he can still hang with the best riders in the pack. Also honorary team member Yael from Kfar Meiman, showing us that girls can ride crazy too.

This year, the ride would spend four days on the Golan Heights and one day riding from Modi’in to Jerusalem. Except when it rains, the Golan is an ideal place to ride a mountain bike since the views are spectacular and the Heights are full of amazing bike trails.

Like I said, except when it rains.

It rained.

It flooded.

The Golan turned to mud.

Team Neve Daniel at the Start: Dry and Happy

We started the ride on Sunday in Rosh Pina. Within the first hour, I knew it was going to be a tough year. Riding fast down a winding trail, another rider swerved to the right to avoid a big rock. There was just one problem — I was on his right side.

Down I went and when I got up I found I had a gashed leg and a bent derailleur (the thing that changes gears.)  As I was contemplating what that would mean for the next five days, the skies opened up and dropped what felt like a lake on us. The rain was so thick, you could hardly see where you were going. Then it started to get cold. Yael reminded me of the article I wrote before the ride about how we should just accept the inevitable and embrace the rain.

I told her to shut up.

We rode on road for a bit up a very steep climb and then turned onto the first segment of the North-South Golan trail. Here was my first experience of real mud riding.  For what seemed to be hours, we road through the mud. The key is that you must keep moving, no matter how slowly. If you stop and put a foot down, it will become almost impossible to start again.

Team Neve Daniel after the Mud

After the mud came puddles. Big puddles. These were not the type of puddles that kids like to jump up and down in. These were long stretches of the trail where water went from one side to the other and you had no choice but to ride through. At some point your bike could sink up to the hubs and you wondered if you were about to take an ice bath. (Lots of riders did). Every time you peddled your foot went through icy water. (Every morning I dreaded lacing up the cold wet shoes.)

To be perfectly honest I was not pleased with my performance. I felt tired and miserable and had a million reasons why I did not want to continue riding. My leg hurt, the bike couldn’t stay in gear, and the forecast was not gloomy — it was catastrophic.

Yet the next day, I decided I would have a better attitude. I put on all my rain gear, looked in the mirror, and gave myself a little pep talk. I was actually pumped up when I left the room and headed for the staging area.

That was when word came down the line that something had happened that has never happened before in the Alyn Ride’s ten-year history. The whole day’s ride was canceled. Due to massive flooding and extreme winds, the powers that be decided it would be too dangerous to ride. What followed was a rather dull day. As we ate dinner in the youth hostel and watched water leaking from the ceiling, no one was very upbeat.

A backpack gave my mud jacket an interesting look

It rained through the night and into the next day. Yet, the decision was made to ride. The route was changed so that the only off road segments became optional. But the route would still be a challenge.

We started with a 24 kilometer climb up the slopes of Mount Hermon to the Beduin village of Masade. The climb was fantastic although the fog was so thick that you couldn’t see anything but a patch of road in front of you. Along the way up I found the rider who had knocked me off on Sunday. We exchanged some pleasantries which gave me the added incentive to ride hard and leave him in the dust rain. (He did apologize in the end, and I did NOT knock him into the ditch at the side of the road.)

The real problem was that when we got up to the top, the temperature dropped and the winds picked up. I changed into the last dry shirt I had and still froze. Coming down the winds pushed us across the road. There was nothing to do but put your head down and pedal. Around this time I again started wondering if it was worth it. Actually, I felt miserable and decided it wasn’t. I decided that I would finish the ride but no way would I ever sign up for this hell again.

Later in the day we had a few off road bits including a dangerous descent which put my good friend Simcha into an ambulance and out of the ride. I didn’t see Simcha’s fall, but another guy in front of me lost the traction on his bike wheel and went skidding down into the ground. He yelled that he was o.k. so I kept going – gripping the bars, saying a prayer, and looking forward to getting to the bottom.

At the bottom were several kilometers through what were basically a few flooded fields with mushy patches of mud to ride on. The riders were so spread out that I could scream like a banshee all sorts of colorful words. I was in my own little world. My own freezing, wet little world.

Then an interesting thing happened. We came out on the road and all of a sudden I felt a surge of energy. I hammered down on the pedals and felt myself flying. Kilometer after kilometer just clicked by. I no longer felt the cold. When I reached Keshet, the end of the day’s ride, I felt exhilarated but completely spent. By  5:30 I was sound asleep. (Thankfully I woke up for dinner.)

Boomer and Pinney's bike: Our trusted steeds

The next day was more mud and more climbs including a 2 kilometer haul over a 15% grade. Yet the sun came out and that made everything much better. I even fell into one of the mud lakes, but I didn’t freeze to death. I joked about it and let the sun dry me off. We rode down one final descent to the Kinneret and all of a sudden there was just one more day of Alyn.

Of course today was more like Alyn rides I have done before. Tons of climbing going from Modi’in up to Alyn in Jerusalem, but it was warm and we knew the end of the ride was coming, so everything felt great.

We finished by charging up the hill from Ein Karem to Alyn and got to ride past all the cheering people who had come to see us finish. We got mobbed by our families and high- fived each other like we had just won the Tour de France.

Even better, there to greet us were all the children being treated at Alyn. A young child in a wheelchair put a medal around my neck and his smile said it all. Now I felt guilty for ever having such negative thoughts. What the hell is a little mud compared to what we were really there for?

I will leave you with one example of why this ride is important. There is a little boy who lives in a town near Sderot. During the Gaza war, his leg was blown off by a Palestinian rocket (HELLO JUDGE GOLDSTONE?? YOU HOME??? — Sorry).

Anyway, after he was stabilized, he was fitted with a prosthetic leg. Yet learning to walk with an artificial leg is not easy, especially for a child. At first, walking is very painful. But that is exactly what you need to do for your body to get used to the leg. This boy would just not walk — it was too painful.

So at Alyn, instead of medicine, they gave him….  a rabbit. His job was to try and walk after the rabbit. Now it was no longer painful therapy – it was a game. And that is how this boy is learning to walk again. That’s Alyn for you. This kind of therapy is not covered by health insurance – it is covered by Alyn Ride insurance.

So if a boy can forget the pain and learn to walk even when it hurts him,  I guess a bike rider can forget about a  little mud and cold and just enjoy learning what he is capable of doing.

Kol HaKavod to Alyn for staging another great ride under very trying circumstances and thank you to each and every one my sponsors for making this week possible.

Next year?

Not even a question.

I’ll be there.

How about you?

Team Neve Daniel has trained as much as we can and raised the money for our sponsorships for Alyn. For everyone who sponsored us, thank you.

The weather report for the next week is grim. The Golan is expected to be cold, rainy, and muddy. Now anyone who seriously rides a bike has gotten caught in the rain more than once. A cold rain can make a ride quite difficult and uncomfortable. Basically, when it starts to come down and the trails turn to mud, there are only two ways to look at the situation:The first is to curse and shiver. We have all been there when all of a sudden the fun ride becomes like a scene from the Titanic. You feel wet from head to toe. Even if you are lucky enough to be wearing foul weather gear, cold water has a way of getting to your skin and cozying up. First you try and ride around puddles, then at some point they become big enough that you have no choice. You plunge straight through, and your body and bike end up wearing a suit of mud.

The other way to react is to accept the weather and embrace it. Know that there is nothing you can do so you might as well enjoy the fact that you are out riding a bike and see how big a splash you can make. You can’t stop the rain but wearing a smile can be even better than wearing Goretex.

But no matter how you react, the simple fact remains is that unlike your physical shape, weather is the thing you can do nothing about. I am sure there will be times in the next few days that it might seem preferable to be in a warm house with a cup of tea and a good book. But then again, this is the Alyn ride. The Alyn ride is about pushing yourself, not staying home with the cup of tea.

While a week of riding in the rain and mud might be challenging – it is absolutely nothing compared to a little girl learning to walk again. In fact, almost any child at Alyn would give anything to trade places with an Alyn rider for the week. I know that because for four years I have met many of the Alyn children after the ride and their expressions say it all. When you can’t even walk on your own, the prospect of riding a bike – in any weather – is just a dream.

So off we go on the next adventure. If the money that we have raised helps some of the Alyn children get the help they need to stop being medical patients and return to being kids, then there is no amount of rain than can make it a “bad ride.”

I hope you have a great week – rain or shine I know I will.

Let’s roll.

So the question is: Should I feel guilty that I use more water than an average Palestinian? While Amnesty International just published a report claiming that I should, they left out a few inconvenient facts from their manifesto:

First: In the famous war-ending Oslo Accords, Israel and the Palestinian Authority negotiated how much water would be provided to each side. Israel routinely violates this agreement by providing the Palestinians with more water than agreed to.

Second:Israel continues to invest my tax dollars into increasing the water supply. More wells are being dug, desalination plants are being built, and sewage treatment plants are converting waste water to agricultural uses. On the other hand, the Palestinians are using some of the billions of dollars in aid they receive from American and European tax payers each year to build water purification plants pay bloated salaries to bureaucrats.

Third: Israel has launched a huge public information campaign to reduce water consumption. The Frankls are now limited to 5 minute showers even after 30 kilometer runs. The Palestinians meanwhile  have launched a public campaign to save water blame Israel for water shortages.

Fourth: Israel is trying to stop water theft from pipelines and aqueducts so that there is enough water to go around. The Palestinians also try and stop are the ones stealing it.

Fifth: while Israel continues to build sewage treatment plants and has offered to help the Palestinians build their own, this would involve recognizing the legitimacy of Israel. So instead the Palestinians continue to dump sewage into streams and rivers which:

• Wastes water
• Creates a public health danger
• Makes a really obnoxious odor when I ride through certain areas.

According to the stats provided by Government spokesman Mark Regev:

Israeli fresh water use per capita had gone down since 1967 due to efficiency and new technologies, while the Palestinians’ use had increased and more than a third of their water was wasted.

For some strange reason, none of the above made it into the Amnesty International report. Instead, the media are eating up the report (because human rights groups must always be right, right?) with headlines such as:

No, couldn't be a set-up BBC photo of a thirsty kid.

Report: Palestinians denied water (BBC)

Israel is denying Palestinians access to even the basic minimum of clean, safe water, Amnesty International says.

Palestinians’ Water Cut ‘To A Trickle’ (SKY NEWS)

Amnesty International has launched a scathing attack on Israel, accusing it of rationing Palestinians to a “trickle of water”.

And my personal favorite from the Times of London (Thanks Backspin)

Palestinians suffer under Israeli water torture

There’s a lot more from all those journalists whose mission in life is to get to the facts show how miserable Israel is. But you get the picture.

So can I possibly risk being labeled a human rights abuser by going to the pool tonight? In the words of the linguistically concise Sarah Palin:

“You Betcha!”

If she can't join why would I want to?

My mother used to tell me of a country club in Cardiff, Wales where she grew up that had a sign at the entrance “No Dogs or Jews.”

Sounds shocking when you think that: 1) As part of the UK, Wales was on our side in the war, and 2) How can people feel so free to express such racist beliefs in public. I’m sure glad that was so many years ago. No civilized people would dare express such notions in today’s enlightened world, right?

Wrong. While we have all been fixated on the bizarre news story of President Obama being named Nobel Peace Prize winner, the Pope, and Time Magazine’s “Man of the Universe,” another incredible news story has been happening, not nearly as amusing.

Rocks collected in advance for "spontaneous" riots

Over the last two weeks, the Palestinians have thrown stones and pleaded with the International Community to stop the Jews on the Temple Mount.

What exactly are they terrified that the Jews will do on the Mount? Are they worried that the Jews will attack the Muslim worshipers there? Did the Jews bring bulldozers with them to demolish the places the Muslims claim as sacred on the Mount?

No, the Jews have done none of those things. The crimes of the Jews are astonishing. First, Jews want to visit their holiest site and this by itself is an outrage. Even worse, Palestinians claimed that some Jews were planning to… get this… PRAY… on the sacred spot.

Yes, there was great fear that devout Jews might actually look to heaven and silently move their lips while standing by Judaism’s holiest spot.  Could you imagine such a provocation? It’s no wonder that all sorts of world leaders urgently requested that Israel calm the situation down. Please Israel — stop those Jews from praying already. Jews praying? What could that lead to?

Quick, stop him before he prays again

For those who are a bit confused, let me give a brief explanation. The Temple Mount is the location where the ancient Jewish temples once stood. For 2,000 years, Jews are supposed to face this area when they pray — wherever in the world they may be at the time. It is the spot where the ancient teachings of Judaism say that Abraham was to sacrifice his son Yitzhak only to be stopped by the hand of G-d.

The Muslims also revere the site and it is considered the most holy, second most holy, third holiest place in Islam. Thousands of Muslims go up to the Temple Mount and pray five times a day. They reverently turn their backs on their sacred “Dome of the Rock” so that they will be able to face Mecca in Saudi Arabia as they offer modest prayers for Islamic rule over the entire world peace.

For much of history, Jews were barred from going to the site. Then, in 1967, the Mount was liberated by the Israeli Defense Forces. Despite having military control, it was decided that the Islamic authorities should administer the spot. At different times Jews have either been prohibited or severely limited from visiting the Mount.  Israeli law now backs the prohibitions of Jewish prayer or the carrying of any Jewish religious items like tefillin. All done in the name of not upsetting the Muslims.

Jews face the holy place in prayer, Muslims moon it

So today, we have the bizarre situation in which tens of thousands of Muslim worshipers can scream their prayers out loud and knock their heads against the ground five times a day, but a single Jew moving his lips will be promptly escorted out of the area.

The Palestinians claim that the mere presence of religious Jews on the Mount is a provocation. Seems to me it as much of a provocation as when a woman named Rosa Parks sat in a “whites only” seat on the bus in Alabama a few decades ago. (Yes BA, if you are reading that was for you.)

In their own words:

“No one has rights to the Al-Aqsa Mosque other than the Muslims. The mosque compound is Muslim, Palestinian and Arab, and Israel has no rights to the mosque or East Jerusalem.” – Islamic Movement Head Sheikh Ra’ad Salah.

Meanwhile the ultra-right wing government of Benjamin Netanyahu is doing whatever it can to allow the Muslim racists worshipers to continue to throw stones at Jews pray on the Mount while trying to keep the situation Jew free calm.

In the interests of peace, why can't Jews pray too?

All those who believe in justice, equality, and religious freedom must speak up against the restrictions on Jews and Jewish prayer in the heart of Jerusalem. It would only be fitting if the first leader to raise his voice would be the recently honored Nobel Peace Prize winner.

If you don’t speak up against racism, you are as guilty as the racists.

Won it without even trying!

By now of course, you have heard the news that I have been awarded the Olympic Gold medal in cycling. For a long time I was worried that I would never win it, especially considering that I am not actually a world class bike racer. Apparently, we now live in an age where actual accomplishments are no longer a determining factor in receiving even the highest public honors.

The committee that awarded me the gold medal said that while I did not really win any bike races, there was an unanimous feeling that I have done a “great deal to create conditions for the winning of bike races.”

At first I thought I had won because of my participation in the national bike race of North Korea. Then I remembered: I didn’t enter. In fact, I don’t believe the race directors there took my request to ride very seriously. The committee must have determined that just the idea of me riding among the starving, militaristic Korean masses was inspiring enough to grant me the medal.

Come to think of it, I haven’t ridden my bike in Central or South America, Russia, China, or anywhere outside of Israel for that matter. Still, a number of people who comment on this blog live somewhere on Earth and say they like my writing riding. Perhaps that moved the committee to make their decision?

No, it must have been my efforts here in Israel and in the famous “territories” that tipped the scale in my favor. Although I haven’t won any bike races here either, I have called out loudly for peace (usually when riding past Palestinians holding stones).

Did you get yours yet? Why not?

For whatever the reason the Committee chose to give me this medal, I will accept it and believe myself worthy. So I thank the committee for all their hard work at recognizing (and overlooking) my lack of world class accomplishment.

So now all those who stand equally undeserving of the highest honors the planet has to give should feel inspired. Just recite the slogan:

Even without accomplishment, Yes We Can win the adoration of a few Norwegian senior citizens.

Now, I need to go polish my medal.

Dear readers, please take a moment to sponsor me in the Alyn ride. We’re still short of our goal by $1,000. Please click here to help the children treated at Alyn Hospital. Thanks, Yarden

The esteemed Judge Goldstone.

I spoke with a friend of mine who saw combat in Gaza this past January. He told me about having to kill a seventy year old man.

These are the kind of stories that the media love.

The United Nations Human Rights Commission just published the report of Judge Goldstone accusing Israel of war crimes. The report is five hundred pages long, much of it devoted to tales of Israeli atrocities — based almost entirely on Palestinian accounts.

Now, put yourself in my friend’s position and decide if he is a “war criminal.”

Tell me what you would have done:

His unit was in a Palestinian village near the border that separates Gaza from Israel. They had been ordered to take over a house being used by Hamas to fire rockets into Israel. It was a large house with a commanding view of the area. They got into position in front of the house.

Even though, the Air Force had dropped leaflets in Arabic telling the residents to leave the vicinity of the house, there was still concern that innocent civilians might be inside.

Following standard procedure, the soldiers shouted in Arabic for anyone inside to come out of the house. Just to make sure they were heard, the soldiers repeated the command three times.

No one answered.

Next, the soldiers were given the order to shoot into the ground near the house. They did so to minimize the possibility of a bullet ricocheting off stone. Again, they yelled for anyone inside to come out.

No one answered.

At this point, one of the soldiers saw a person’s shadow in the window of the house. Since intelligence had identified this house as a Hamas base, and since the person inside had ignored repeated warnings to come out, the unit was given permission to open fire. Whomever was inside must be a terrorist.

But the commander was hesitant — what if the person inside was deaf? What if the person inside was handicapped and unable to communicate? Even if there was just a tiny chance that the person inside was innocent, shouldn’t they make sure?

At the risk of their own lives, the soldiers stormed the house and withheld their fire. Inside, they found….

Women and children. The men had fled much earlier because they knew the house would be targeted. They left their wives and children in the IDF’s way. Because of the actions of a nameless Israeli officer, the lives of these women and children were saved.

JUDGE GOLDSTONE, WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE DONE???

Later on, the soldiers were in position in the house when they saw a lone Palestinian male running toward another IDF position. This time, they could not take the risk. They shot and killed him. It turns out, the IDF position he was running toward had been booby-trapped, and he was trying to light the fuse.

In all likelihood, their quick thinking saved the lives of Israeli soldiers. Yet for folks like Goldstone, whose detailed “findings” were dictated by Hamas support organizations, the incident would read that Israeli soldiers randomly shot an elderly civilian who was unarmed.

At the beginning of this story, I asked you to put yourself in my friend’s position. What would you have done? Would you have risked your life to avoid harming a civilian? (A civilian who would be very happy to learn of your death by the way).

Now, do one more thing for me. Don’t imagine it was yourself in the IDF soldier’s position.

Imagine it was your child.

Imagine it was your child who might come home in a bag because he didn’t want to take any chance at hurting a civilian. Imagine your child risked his life to prevent harm to a Palestinian. Now read Judge Goldstone’s report saying that your child should be tried as a war criminal.

I am an Israeli who will one day have kids in the Army, and I would rather have a million Goldstone reports and UN condemnations than a single funeral of an Israeli soldier.

What about you Judge Goldstone? Before you submit your report to the representatives of Angola, Cuba, and Saudi Arabia why don’t you take a good look in the mirror and answer the question:

WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE DONE?

Chaya Bailey Bat Kelev

Last week, my family had a bit of a crisis. Our beloved dog Bailey swallowed something that was never meant to be swallowed, and it tore up her belly and intestines.

She spent a week and a half in the vet clinic in Maale Adumim where she underwent two major operations. At one point, the vet told us that the odds were heavily against her making it home.

Those who are not pet owners are forgiven for not comprehending how torn apart a family can be when a pet is near death’s door. All of us went to bed on Rosh Hashana crying, wondering if we would see our Bailey again.

Yet, despite how this episode has affected me and my family, I know that at the end of the day a dog — no matter how loved — is a dog and not a child. I do not know how on Earth parents get through it when they have a child at death’s door.

But the sad reality is that it happens, it happens far too often. Children are hurt badly in car accidents and terrorist attacks. They may survive but take years to fully heal. A child that goes to bed with a hug and kiss can wake up with cancer. The thought is terrifying, yet we all know people who have seen their world shattered in an instant by something happening to their child.

Team Neve Daniel raised over $10k last year

For the past three years I have participated in a five-day bike ride that raises money for this hospital. Every year, I take a tour of the hospital to remind myself why I do it.

Seeing the children receiving treatment always makes me smile, but seeing the parents anxiously waiting to see if their kids will be all right brings tears to my eyes. As Lance would say, “Sometimes, it’s not about the bike.”

I pray that the only involvement I ever have with a children’s hospital is to raise money for it by riding my bike. But I am glad to know that should G-d forbid I ever receive “the phone call,” there is a place here in Israel that simply does not give up on children — no matter how severe their injuries or disabilities.

Both individually and as a leader of a team of riders, I have been able to raise tens of thousands of dollars for this remarkable institution. And I intend to continue doing so as long as I can stay on my bike.

This is where you come in. Please sponsor my ride this year by clicking on the button in the right top corner of my website or just click straight to the Alyn site. Any donation helps from $1 and up.

Come on, let's ride

I know it seems odd to be planning to ride a five-day ride right after getting a concussion because I can’t stay on my bike. I accept that I am a bit nuts. But at least I’m nuts for a good cause.

May all of us — parents, kids, and even dogs — have a wonderful year.

Yarden

By the way, I brought Bailey home last night.