Dead Sea Marathon (half marathon race guide & pro advice)

Описание: Early this February I ran the Dead Sea half marathon, part of 4 races around this unmissable, salty wonder of the natural world in Israel. It was a welcome break from the freezing cold UK at that time!

The 10k, Half Marathon, Marathon and Ultra are all flat, out and back courses around the earth’s saltiest, lowest lake at -400m altitude.

This film covers my experience of the race (in a nutshell, it was smashing!) then I chat to some Israeli runners, foreign runners and pros about how they found it, and get some advice from them about how best to train.

Enter here! https://deadsea.run/en/

My race report of the 2019 Dead Sea Half Marathon:
https://wordpress.com/post/wildginger...

A hazey, orange ball of burning sun snuck up behind the dusty-pink mountains across a sea like polished glass. Runners cruised past silhouetted against the ever brightening horizon.

This was the start of the Dead Sea Half Marathon and it was breathtaking in both senses of the word.

As soon as we turned off the road from Ein Bokek and hit the stoney gravel track, we were treated to a salty Dead Sea shoreline that mimicked snow, with white, salt jetties and perfectly circular salt islands as far as you could see.

In this friendly atmosphere we cheered on the winners and faster runners coming back towards us on the left. Mid-way, a DJ and dancer cheered us on, moving wildly to energising, thumping techno.

Once past the turnaround point, we encouraged each other. I tried out my hastily-plane-learned Hebrew on my companions. Coll ha ka vod - well done, and Tam shicho - keep going everyone. Fingers crossed I said it right...

As the end drew closer I became more and more thankful for the early start and frequent water stations. Israel wasn’t Costa Rica hot at this time of the year, but running in the mid-20’s from snowy Britain definitely felt cosy!

The finish was along the Ein Bokek beach front past palm trees, big white hotels & the new Dead Sea Mall. Thumping techno music (they love a good beat here in Israel!) signalled the end of the race, with happy, sweaty runners triumphantly sprinting through the finish banner and collecting well-earned medals.

This was a really lovely race - no hills and no great variety of trail terrain but the beautiful, out-of-this world views of mountain, sea and salt are more than enough. This is a bucket list event if ever there was one. Enter here! https://deadsea.run/en/

Finally, a dip in the Dead Sea at the end is a fantastic way to soothe hot, aching feet MAZEL TOF everyone who ran the Dead Sea 10k, Half, Marathon or Ultra! I loved it!

Thank you to the organisers Ophir and Zoli for inviting me and showing me the fantastic trails nearby (to com in a future film very soon, stay tuned!) Irina for showing me Masada, Jerusalem, the Ein Gedi waterfalls and Tel Aviv, and Alena from Russia Running for her great training advice.

-----

Wild Ginger Running is a YouTube channel dedicated to bringing you the best advice and gear reviews for trail & ultra running, created by me, Claire Maxted, co-founder and former editor of Trail Running magazine UK. Ask me all your running questions!

This month's exclusive Patreon-only competition is £500 worth of running kit & race entries! Find out how to be in with a chance to win here!   / wildgingerrunning  

Follow me on social media!
Twitter @WildGingerRuns
Instagram @WildGingerRunning
  / wildgingerrunning  
Blog www.wildgingerfilms.co.uk
#WildGingerRunning