Israel Lebanon Fence Run

Apologies for not writing for while but I have been tied up on the Northern Israel Lebanon border covering the war. Check out my separate blog on that at

www.unholylandnews.blogspot.com

Not training can get to you after a while for so long I have been convincing my self that having a month off before I start training in earnest for the New York Marathon is a good thing to do, but since Gaza it just gets harder to find the time to run.

But for the last two morning I have gotten up at 6 am and donned the running gear in the village of Metula. This is the most Northern Town in Israel, in fact it the border fence is at the end of the road, I could throw a baseball from my balcony into Lebanon.

So what is it like to run in a war zone.

Well first up the morning air is quiet, that is apart from the explosive bangs as Israeli Artillery fires into Lebanon, you cannot see them on the run but you hear the echo in the valley, it is a crashing sound so off I set with a fellow worker, Chicago Correspondent Jeff Goldblatt.

Out the hotel and down to the border fence, it is either turn right or try to climb over ribbon wire and into Lebanon. The air is still booms as we pass deserted IDF lookout posts and I explain to Jeff the difference in out and impacts and we listen so that he can get a better understanding.

We follow the fence around and come to the air raid siren tower and turn right following the village road and overhead two drones can be heard as they start there morning circuits up and down the border looking for Hezbollah targets. The trail here is fairly undulating and we move along at 5:00 min/km pace which makes me happy.

Then turning out and down from the village we pass Israeli soldiers sleeping on the path down to the gate, here is the hard part the run UP the hill, we call this the Good Fence Hill and it is a ball breaker.

All along the road up are Merkovah 4 tanks and D9 Bulldozers. Soldiers laugh and wave and a Stills Photograher from a Newspaper jumps out of his car to take a photo of two runners , tanks and soldiers.

This is one bitch of a hill and I am not going to loss face as my HR peaks at 160, I am not stopping or walking in front of the soldiers the road to the down and home straight comes into view and I keep going ... good hill workout.

Turning the corner I am absolutely buggered and the funny thing is that this is a quiet village road in the Kibbutz with no outward signs of war around on this street

Feels good to be running

Stats
Distance 3.6 km
Time 20.16
HR Average 149
HR Max 169
Time 20.16
Kcal 249
Ascent 55m al in one hill swore it felt like more , watch must be wrong
Temp 25 degrees C
Alt Average 536 m
Speed 10.9 km/h
Pace average 5:36 - see that hill is a bastard