Cross-Country~Cheering Artist Son on from Afar

Last spring Artist Son informed us that he planned to go out for the men's cross country team at Gordon College, where he is now a first-semester sophomore.  One benefit of attending a small school, where athletics aren't super competitive, is that students with an interest and some aptitude for a sport can give it a try. Spending the summer in hot, dry Mafraq meant rising at 5am or so for his long runs. Now Artist Son is back in cool, green Massachusetts enjoying the running, scenery, team camaraderie, and some scoring success for his school.

Artist Son, #43

Here's the news brief about Saturday's meet from Gordon's site, and the important paragraph from that report.

Wes Nelson (Charlton, Mass.) and Andrew Manning (Amman, Jordan) finished second and third for the Scots, as they have for much of 2013. Nelson finished 21^st overall with a time of 28:31.40, while Manning crossed the line six spots later 26 seconds after Nelson.


We sure wish we could be there to cheer him on. Go Artist Son! Go Scots! All the best as you prepare for regionals.

Dead to Red 2010

God is blessing us with triumphs and challenges, often intermingled, at such a rate that I've scarce had time to chronicle them, never mind, the notable recipe or contemplation. And though the 3rd place trophy, won three weeks ago, now has the lightest layer of dust on it, the stiffness of muscles has subsided, and the victory dinner of steak and home-made ice cream has been enjoyed, I couldn't let pass the chance to to celebrate the Dashing Dudes 3rd place (of 26 teams) win in the annual Dead to Red 250K relay marathon. And this year I have pictures!

Though this is the sixth Dead to Red run my guys have participated in, I'd never gone to the race start (1.5 hours from Amman) or taken any race pictures; I usually sent a camera along with repeated pleas for pictures, though somehow in the heat of the race no one ever thought to take pictures. So, knowing that this would be Active Son's last Dead to Read race before leaving for college, I decided to drive down to the race start to cheer the Dashing Dudes and take some pictures.

The Dashing Dudes 2010 Dead to Red Team

Meet the Dashing Dudes:

Active Son, a six time Dead to Red runner, was handed the Team Captain baton by Dear Husband this year; It was Active Son's last year to run the race before heading off to college next year. Setting the pace for his team by training diligently, he encouraged his teammates to stay on track with their own training plans, he held periodic time trials during the training months, and with imput from others he worked to develop a race strategy which set the Dudes on a winning course.

This would be a good time to mention that, once upon a time, Active Son had no desire to run. That is putting it mildly. He would tell you now, as he has told a few college admissions officers per his college admissions essays, that God has used running and this race, through the vision of his father, to discipline and humble him. Active Son is preparing to run his first full marathon next month.

Dear Husband was a dad with a vision. If his mom had years ago written a blog about her family, I'm certain Dear Husband would have been dubbed with the same or similar moniker as Active Son. About eight years ago, Dear Husband chose running as an activity that he and our boys could do together, and by which he could impart to them a means for staying in good physical shape. Not a "natural" runner himself, his goal is to run the Dead to Red with his boys until they graduate from high school. Just two more years to go! He trained extra hard this year in a gallant effort to keep up with the young bucks on the team, remembering nostalgically that he used to be faster than both our boys. His reward: he ran faster legs this year than he ran two years ago!. Great vision, great dad!


Artist Son ran his first Dead to Red race when he was nine years old--at that time, the youngest runner to enter the race--and he has been running ever since. He is the only runner in our family with a natural runner's gait of ease and is a pleasure to watch. He makes it look so easy. Artist Son plans to run his first 21 K (half marathon) next month.







Brendan, another graduating Dude, competed in his fourth Dead to Red this year, having joined the team his first year living in Amman. Maybe, just maybe, he'll be running at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy next year...









Doug thought he was just going along for the ride. Little did he know that joining the Dashing Dudes team four years ago as a driver when his son, Brendan, got involved, would be a life-changing experience. The second year he drove, one of the runners injured himself and Doug ran part of the race. Last year he was a full-fledged member of the team, leading them to a stunning 2nd place in Dear Husband's out-of-town absence. At 50+, Doug has the honor, and I do mean honor, of being the oldest Dashing Dude. He is training to run his first marathon next month.




Andrew also completes his Dashing Dude career with four good runs. Though he doesn't have the the longest legs on the team, I'm sure he has the longest stride--his legs can really reach! And the Dudes are ever grateful to Andrew's dad, Fawzy, for faithfully driving their green van, the official van of the Dashing Dude team, for all four of those years. If I remember correctly, their van shuttled Dashing Dudes to Aqaba even on the year that Andrew and Fawzy were in the States, with someone else doing the driving.





Zack, a two time Dashing Dude, is a valued team member known for his enthusiasm and determination. I observed him run his first 1K, which he began in an all-out sprint. This guy runs like a rabbit. Another graduating senior, Zack heads off to college in Southern California this fall.








Though the Dashing Dude victory was nothing less than a team effort, Jon's contribution, no doubt played a big part in helping the Dashing Dudes to shave nearly 40 minutes off last year's race time. Now teaching elementary school in Amman, Jon ran on Calvin’'s National Championship cross country and track teams in college. Jon started the race for the Dashing Dudes and his 2K leg was the only time during the race that the Dashing Dudes enjoyed first place status. And, though he is a more seasoned runner than any of the other Dudes, I think he would say that he's never run a race quite like the Dead to Red.




Training and perseverance earned Matt a coveted spot on the Dashing Dude team this year. This is his third Dead to Red run; he ran on the Boy Scout team two times, once as their team captain. Noting that the Dashing Dudes will be losing half their members next year, he is already scouting new runners for the team. Rumor has it that Matt put away the most steaks at the Dashing Dudes victory celebration.







This is Jonathan's second Dead to Red run, and his first as a Dashing Dude. I didn't see Jonathan at the end of the race, but at the beginning, at least, he ran through the desert with a really big smile.









This year 26 teams competed in the Dead to Red relay marathon on Thursday afternoon, the first teams finishing around 4 a.m. Friday morning. As you can see from the pictures, the race is run along the highway-which I found out as I drove along the first 15K or so taking pictures, can be dangerous--a mom's point of view.

Map of Jordan~Lonely Planet

Over the years the Dashing Dudes have come to be known as a team with a plan. Race strategy is serious business and this years' race plan was about three pages long. Not to mention the pre-race emails flying back in forth between the teams' top strategists. I'm convinced that it is the Dudes' strategy of running shorter legs that has enabled them to compete with teams which include professional runners, such as the perennial first place Aramex team.

The Dashing Dudes start strong with Jon running the first leg

Active Son flying through the desert

Dear Husband hands off to Artist Son

The Dashing Dudes Chorus Line
stretching out at about 4am in the morning, just outside of Aqaba

The Dashing Dudes just after finishing the race
wearing the mandatory reflective vests. (Active Son wanted me to tell you that they were mandatory)

Congratulations, once again, to the Dashing Dudes. This year they ran the race in 14 hours, 38 minutes and 55 seconds, just six minutes behind the second place team and 20 minutes behind Aramex, the first place team. Not only did they cut about 40 minutes off their previous best rest time, but the also bested the race record which Aramex set in 2009. They currently have the third best race time in the history of the race.

Amman International Marathon/10K

Approximately 12,000 participants from 71 countries, unseasonably hot temperatures of about 35 degrees C--over 90 degrees F, and a race route that took runners and walkers through downtown Amman streets lined with traditional old-city dwellers and shop keepers all combined to make the first Amman International Marathon/10K Run an event rather than a race. Why, His Majesty King Abdallah even sent his regards by way of four special planes to swoop down over the start of the race, twice, in perfect formation.

Dear Husband, Active Son, Artist Son, and I ran the 10K along with a couple of friends. Tayta ran the was-supposed-t0-be-4K-but-was-really-only-about-2K Run with a couple of her friends.


In the far right of our after-the-races group picture is our new friend, Jon. We are pleased to stand with him in this picture because besides being a really great guy, he is a really great runner--the kind that runs at the front of the pack. It was a pleasure to cheer him on as he ran--fast--with the best of them. He placed sixth, or ninth, in the Men's 10K Run. Way ahead of the rest of us. We finished, though all of us with slower times than we had hoped for due to the heat. And I'm thinking the distinct intermingling wasit il-balad (city center) odors of garbage, coffee, spices, and oily asphalt had something to do with it too. My excuse only.

Good effort by the race organizers, but runners in Jordan are still waiting for a race run well, with accurate mileage markers, cups of water (instead of hard to drink from environmentally unsound plastic bottles which have to be dodged by runners because they are thrown on the ground--this was downright hazardous when the water met the oily asphalt.), and more participants who are committed to running a fair race--cheaters abounded whenever the opportunity presented itself and many remained in the race until the end. Another suggestion: have the many, many walkers begin the race after the runners; when I wasn't dodging water bottles I was weaving through groups of walkers, at least at the start of the race. And then there were the walkers who were playing soccer with the water bottles...

Running in Jordan

This weekend our family traveled four hours south to the Red Sea port city of Aqaba where we participated in the now annual Red Sea-Aqaba Marathon--no,no, I didn't run a marathon: Dear Husband, Artist Son, and I ran the 10K a Active Son ran his first 21K (half marathon). Though I've never participated in such a run in the States, I'm sure that our race experience had a distinctly Jordanian twist to it; and as I reflected on the experience I've concluded that it represented a microcosm of Jordanian culture.

Fun Runs and marathon competitions are fairly recent events in Jordan but are growing in popularity. When we reached the start line of the 10K we found an interesting juxtaposition of cultures and world citizens ready to participate. I met a British man, working in Amman temporarily, and a 60 year old German woman who trains in the Syrian forest along the Mediterranean coast. Active Son, wearing his Boise State Broncos hat, met a Boisean, a college student studying in Jordan. The race organizers must have entered a lot of local youth for free as there were many Aqaba teens with shirts and race numbers. And, I was humbled to run with some Jordanian women wearing full sweat suits and head coverings; though I wore 3/4 length running pants it was t-shirt and shorts weather in Aqaba.

As we gathered behind the start ribbon a bunch of the local youth burst out under it and the start official had to herd them all back with his megaphone. Everyone was warned against cheating with the threat that, if caught, they would be disqualified. Let's just say it really.didn't.matter. As we headed into our first intersection at which we would turn left, the local youth took one look at the open field shortcut on their left and made a dash for it. The foreigners and a few locals dutifully ran to the end of the concrete median before turning left. It struck me that for the westerners (and yes, I am going to make some generalizations) the process of getting from the start to the finish was what was important. That process was primarily individual and included rules and disciplines to be submitted to. For the locals, the social aspect was more important than the rules to be followed. One runner took a short-cut and all his friends followed suit. And while finishing was important it didn't seem too important how one arrived at the finish line, even it if meant traveling part of the distance in someone's car.

I ended up running alongside some of the local youth. As I am a foreign novelty they tried to start conversations with me. They were acting silly but if I answered in Arabic and told them that my name was Um Active Son, (Mother of Active Son) they behaved repectfully toward me. They sprinted ahead of me and when I, slow and steady, caught up with them, they'd run with me awhile and sprint another 100 meters. It was one way to finish the race.

Kilometer markers were another problem. Within about 1 kilometer of the finish the posted sign read:4 km. Yikes! I was feeling pretty fatigued so slowed down considerably, believing I had miscalculated and still had 4 km to run. I should have been begining my kick as I soon rounded a bend and was faced with the finish line. I poured it on for the remaining 50 meters. Oh well.

Active Son had his own complaint: the race route was poorly marked and he strayed off course for a few minutes before realizing his error. His error was minor; apparently some of the top contenders, mostly Jordanians, in the marathon and 21K race strayed way off course, causing them to miss their opportunity to place in the race. Active Son reported they were very upset when they arrived at the finish line.

Though we're all a bit sore, we're already planning our events for the Dead Sea Marathon in April. Artist Son thinks he may train to run the 21K with Active Son. I'm pretty sure I'll be sticking with the 10K. Oh, and this was my first time to run with an ipod. Very cool. My soundtrack for the race included a few violin concertos which Oldest Daughter has played. Most inspirational: the 3rd movement of Bruch.