July 28, 2003

The First Bethlehem Road Race

A few days ago, about 150 active and athletic children of Bethlehem enjoyed a real treat -- the First Bethlehem Road Race! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Organized by international marathoner and Olympic-hopeful JZ and Mitri Raheb's International Center, the road race had the flavor of a big-time run -- race banners, sponsorship (including the United Methodist Church), race prizes, official times and places, race numbers, race prizes, blocked-off streets, race prizes, police escorts, cheering fans, and race prizes!

The kids were loving it! There were smiling faces all around. Finish first or finish last, it didn't matter. We were all there to have a good time -- and get prizes. It's hard to get control of 150 kids, but JZ had a way with the megaphone. The kids really like him. The kids really liked me too. They liked to make me the target of their chewing gum. (I always think that things like that are going to change for me at some stage of my life. Maybe after another decent self-help book.)

An early morning race. If I remember correctly, JZ took third in this heat.

The older boys ran four laps through the Madbassa area of downtown Bethlehem.
I found that it's not a good idea to get between a high-speed boy and the finish line.

JZ reminding kids that performance-enhancing drugs are banned from this event.
(This list of unapproved substances does not include Arabic coffee.)