Forecast Highs

Just interviewed Ami Ayalon who is running in the Nike HumanRace 10K in Tel-Aviv with his three sons.

The race is taking place simultaneously in 25 cities around the world. Even though Nike Israel has a site of its own, too bad Tel-Aviv is not even mentioned on Nike’s Human Race site. Wonder why that is.

Thousands of people filled up Rabin Square ahead of the start, most of them wearing red Nike shirts.

Organizers say about 10,000 people signed up to run, some are more serious than others. It feels like there’s more here. I’m sitting here at a coffee shop opposite the Square, and there are a few runners in here looking at the books, sitting in the chairs; some are smoking and others are drinking coffee. A lot of other runners are mulling around in the square, where a huge stage has been set up and a dj is spinning some pretty mainstream upbeat music. Walking amongst the runners in the Square, I can see so many people wearing digital sports watches; many people have phones and music players in pouches on their arms; others are munching energy bars and bananas, and everyone is drinking water, its really hot here tonight and the humidity must be close to 80 percent.

There is a contingent here of 2,000 soldiers from all of the IDF’s corps, including Special Forces, infantry and the Air Force. Also there are dozens of army fitness officers mulling around, these guys and girls are really fit. I remember reserving a special place in hell for these officers during my army service. In any case, lots of the soldiers are running in their units, and there is a lot of camaraderie and competition.

Ami Ayalon, 63, is minister-without-portfolio in the Israeli cabinet. He sits on various committees relating to national security. He is a member of the Labor party and is considered politically dovish, despite spending almost his entire life in the security services, including a stint as head of the Navy, and the Israel Security Agency [ISA - Shabak].

On the culture of keeping healthy and fit in Israel:

“When I started running in the hills 20 years ago near our small farm in the Carmiel Mountains [in the north of the country] people looked at me strangely. A healthy, sporty lifestyle wasn’t so developed then. Now all the bike paths in the hills and mountains are full of riders, many people are running all over the place, and there are walkers everywhere. Now you see a culture of healthy living growing here, even though we’re all consumed by the daily struggle to survive, to make ends meet. We as Israelis still have a long way to go, but there is definitely a development of a healthy lifestyle here.”

Ayalon was a navy seal from the start of his army service and was the commander of the elite Navy Commando unit Shayetet 13 from the age of 31 to “the very advanced age of 35,” which is actually pretty old, when you take into account that most of the members of this unit are in their early twenties.

“I’ve kept very fit all of my life out of necessity, with me it became a way of life. I needed to lead; I needed to go down to the seashore and into the water, and for this I had to stay extremely fit.”

“In my family there is a culture of exercise one hour a day, every day, where you do some sport, whether it’s running, cycling or swimming. Everybody knows that you put aside one hour a day for exercise. It turns into a way of life. My sons absorbed the culture of exercise we had at home. From the day each one was able to decide what he liked to do, they’ve been running, riding bikes and tractors, skiing, you name it.

Ayalon does not actually run that often, he prefers to swim. But to prepare for the Nike race he started running more often, twice or three times a week.

Every year Ami and his sons [aged 27, 30 and 33] do something challenging together, either here in Israel or abroad. Last year they swam the length of the Sea of Galilee. Sometimes they go on ski trips to Europe. Ami and his sons do a lot of things together. “We like to get out into nature and into the field, you know, without the girls.

He is running the Nike race with his three sons.

One was in the Sayeret Matkal [the General Staff Reconnaissance Unit – the most elite unit in the Israel Defense Forces, belonging to the Military Intelligence Corps, conducts special operations behind enemy lines; comparable to the US Army's Delta Force]. His other son was in the elite Shaldag [Israel Air Force special operations unit, the second most elite unit in the IDF, which gathers intelligence for the IAF], and his third son was in the elite Paratroopers reconnaissance unit [which carries out daring and dangerous operations against terrorists in highly dense urban areas, usually at night]. The military censor in Israel does not allow the publication of the names of veterans of the most elite army units, as the men perform reserve duty in those units and are also active in times of war.

“When I look at my three boys I say to myself: I don’t need bodyguards. I’m very proud of them.”

Ayalon, because he is a minister in Israel’s cabinet, is surrounded by secret service bodyguards, several of whom will be running with him in the Nike race.

“Some of my bodyguards decided to use the occasion of the Nike race as an opportunity to meet up with other members of their bodyguard unit. They’ll be running with me and my boys.”

“It’s not a competitive event for us, so it’s a really good feeling to be running with my sons. During their teenage years I realized that it was time I started losing at things that we did together. It took me a little while, but eventually I stopped feeling bad when my sons started beating me [at running, swimming, cycling, skiing]”

“We’re not running to win, we’re taking it easy – it’s a family run. Although if the boys weren’t running with their dad I think that at least two of them would quickly get antsy and want to pull ahead. They’re pretty competitive guys.”