A great start

Hi all, thank you everybody for so nice week we had, I know we started hard, but remember we have a race competition soon. It is a pleasure to announce the new possible signing up: JABER AL-SABAH. XC is finishing the arrangements and contracts so maybe he will join us next time, insha-Allah.

And here you have the marks you got last Sunday that many of you asked for. The circuit was finally 2,1 Km or 1,3 Mile:

Position	Athlete	Mark	Difference
1	George Steele	08:13	00:00
2	Saleh Abdellateef	08:29	00:16
3	Jonathan Khuri	08:41	00:28
4	Hasan Abu Kharma	08:53	00:40
5	Lawrence Shweifat	09:13	01:00
6	Suhaib Mohaidat	09:28	01:15
7	Reed hGandour	09:55	01:42
8	Farah Atari	10:26	02:13
9	Raed Khouri	11:25	03:12
10	Lana Alkury	11:32	03:19
11	Alia Suleiman	12:23	04:10
12	Maheer Azmat	12:38	04:25
13	Dima Alhourani	13:00	04:47
14	Maheera Hussein	16:26	08:13
15	Yusra AlBitar	16:35	08:22
16	Lubna Faraj	17:10	08:57
16	Zahira Shaban	17:10	08:57

Also a picture from the last training.

Beginning of the year –Try outs

Hi all, ¡Venga Chicos!^TM is on the track again!

Yesterday we were running one LOKA to warm up and wake up the beginning of this year. The track keeps intact with the same dogs, camels and neighbors on the way.

Let me explain quickly the plan for this year:

- Run is the main activity we will do with the objective to enjoy and improve your endurance. I will do my best that the training sessions will develop in real Cross Country circuits: country side on soil tracks; so also we can enjoy the nature. Starting شوي شوي I hope you will be able to run a Demi-Marathon (20 Km. – 12.42 miles) at the end of the season. We will meet every Monday and Wednesday at the regular co-curricular time.

- Last year we introduced all about muscles, tendons, ligaments and bones involved in running with Mr. Khaled Zaidan; and I hope this year we can organize a nice workshop about this subject.

- Parallel we learnt some massage techniques I would like to improve this year with extensive stretching exercises.

- I want the team be involved to run in any, for sure scholarship or external event; and why not to participate actively to create new races.

- In addition, this year I have planned to organize an Orientation Race; basically a race where you have to follow a path never ever done before taking intermediate marks to reach the finish line, if you skip or miss a mark you are disqualified or score less points. How we do it? With the help of a compass and a map. So we will have few sessions to know how to read a map, use a compass, create profiles, organize and participate in this kind of event. For sure in the nature.

Tomorrow, Wednesday 29th we will meet again for the XC tryouts; actually everybody can join the team, and once it is formed we will decided if is necessary to divide it in: very strong students, much more strong students, super-ultra strong students… Show 17:15 or earlier in the Stadium to shake a leg.

Thank you and have run.

Stotan in Flickr

Hi all, just to announce that we open a Stotan Flickr account. We inaugurated it with a set of the 37^th World Cross Country Championships. So, if you want to see the whole picture report click here.

World Cross Country circuit try out!

Our "professional" runners stretching in the start line

Hi all, yesterday we went to run the same circuit as professional runners from all around the world did in the 37th World Cross Country Championships. Thanks to Ms. Julia Bisharat from Bisharat Golf Course to give us this opportunity. Many things changed from last Saturday: no advertisings, no music, no spectators, no TV… but the track keeps on intact, for few days because bulldozers are returning the area as the usual golf field.

Raja and Faisal leading the race

We decided to run the Junior Men or Women Senior race: 8 Km, but this time with more or less 25° C instead of 13° C last Saturday did. The circuit was really hard, very simetric with a long way down (straight) and parallel a very long uphill (with curves), finishing the last lap even higher. And these were the results…

Position	Athlete	Country	Mark	Difference
1	Faisal Al Tell	JOR	39:45	+ 0:00
2	Raja Badr-El-Din	JOR	40:21	+ 0:36
3	Mansour Ghotto	PAK	46:10	+ 6:25
4	Jooho Shin “Michael”	KOR	46:22	+ 6:37
5	Hasan Abu Kharma	JOR	48:23	+ 8:38
—	George Steele	USA	DNF	—
—	Carlos Abellanosa	ESP	DNF	—
—	Mohammad Foda	JOR	DNF	—
—	Noor Masannat	JOR	DNF	—
—	Reed Gantour	USA	DNF	—

We need to mention that Faisal Al Tell did an amazing job! In the World Championship the last junior runner finished the race in 34:02, “only” 5 minutes and 43 seconds less than Faisal! The Raja’s mark was also excellent. More details about official results: here.

George still smiling, Mansoor just behind and Micheal at the background trying to control his iFrog...

…and about team results, of course King’s Academy Team won the prize of 10 minutes lie down on the grass! See you next year in the 38th World Cross Country Championships 2010 in Bydgoszcz, Poland!

(Let’s start training how to pronounce the city…).

Amazing Race!

 

Yesterday Amman celebrated the 37^th World Cross Country Championships, all runners did their best in a very hard circuit. All categories were leading by Ethiopia, Kenya and Eritrea. The organization was excellent, just it was a pity not to see more spectators. For full details about individual and team results click here: IAAF/WXC2009

World Cross Country Championship

The 37th IAAF World Cross Country Championships take place in Jordan on Saturday, March 28th 2009. Fil mish-mish to participate… this is only for immortals; but a good oportunity to see the strongest legs in the world. For more information click on the banner:

You can become a volunteer! And probably see them so closer than you can ask them if they really drink cheetah milk with biscuits every morning! For volunteering click here

Dead-2-Red results

Hi everyone,

congratulations to the two King’s Academy teams for finishing the Dead to Red relay race: Team Al-Wahdah and the King’s Academy student team.

 

The King’s Academy student team completed the 242 km of the race in 18hrs: 20mins, finishing 6th place out of 16 teams and winning the ‘Best School Team’ award.

Team members (from left to right):

1- Noor Masannat
2- Reed Ghandour
3- Sarah Al-Muhtsaseb
4-Faisal Al-Tell
5- George Steele
6- Raja Badr El-Din
7- Hasan Abu- Kharma
8- Carlos Abellanosa (Team Captain)
9- Mohammad Foda
10- Ghaith Sandouka
11- Mansour Ghotto

Team Al-Wahdah which was composed of King’s Academy teachers and junior fellows completed the race in 18hrs: 8mins, finishing 5th place out of the 16 teams that participated.

 

Team members (from left to right):

1- Tifanny Norman (front row)
2- Nancy Ann B Little (front row)
3- Lindsey Mischner (front row)
5- Georgia Jewett
6- Patrick Dean
7- Joe Zych (volunteer driver)
8- Yasser Sakaji (volunteer driver)
9- William Newman-Wise
10- Samuel Walsh
11- Nayab Khan
12- Pamela Paniagua
13- John Aloian

RUNNERS RESULTS D2R 2009
1st       ARAMEX 14h 57′ 32”
2nd     DASHING DUDES 15h 19′ 32”
3rd      HADDADIN 16h 57′ 25”
4th      POTASH PACERS 17h 21′ 56”
5th      AL WAHDAH 18h 08′ 39”
6th      KING’S ACADEMY (School) 18h 20′ 27”
7th     YALLA FOR GAZA (UNRWA) 18h 25′ 28”
8th      WILD CATS 18h 30′ 44”
9th      JET SCOUTS 18h 52′ 10”
10th   THE SKWINCHYZ 18h 54′ 44”
11th   THE INCREDIBLES 19h 03′ 12”
12th   FRENCH DÉTENTE TONIC TEAM 19h 23′ 57”
13th   ICS (School) 19h 41′ 18”
14th   DNA 20h 00′ 30”
15th   FRENCH DÉTENTE COMIC TEAM 20h 40′ 17”
16th   FULBRIGHTEEN 22h 26′ 35”

Related links:

Official D2R site
King’s Academy article

Thanks to everyone who helped make this happen.

Hope to see you there next year

16th Dead Sea ultra marathon

Hi everyone,

Dust off your running shorts, our next date is April 10, 2009–The Dead Sea ultra marthon. It will be on the first day of the Spring break, which gives you no excuse to miss this unique event.

“Run To The Lowest Point On Earth & Raise Money For The Society for Care of Neurological Patients”

General info:

“The 16th Dead Sea Ultra Marathon will take place on April 10th 2009, more than 3500 participants are expected to participate.”

Categories:

4.2km junior marathon, 10km fun-run, 21km half marathon, 42km marathon, 48km ultra marathon

Registration fees:

Juniors (8-18 yrs old): 8.0 JD

Adult Jordanians and residents: 13.0 JD from now till March 31st, 2009. 20.0 JD from April 1st to April 8th 2009

The course will open at 6:30 am and will close at 1:30 pm. See the schedule.

For more details, go to the Dead Sea Marathon official website, where you can find all the information you need about the race. You can also register online.

hope to see you there

Item List for D2R

Hi everyone,

 

here is a list of all the items you’ll bring to the race. Feel free to add your comments or suggestions. Good luck to everyone

 

Clothes:

 

Breathable fabric is the best to wear as you will be sweating a lot and moving many times from the warmth of the car to the cold of the desert. 

 

Hat (1)

Scarf (1)

Jacket (1)

Sweater (1)

Windbreaker (1)

Gloves (1)

Running shirts (3)

Running shorts (2)

Running pants/ tights (1)

Running shoes….please keep wearing them from the morning on the day of the race

Socks (4-5 pairs)

Underwear (4)…no time to dry

Pants/ jeans… to wear after the race

Foot wear…to put on after the race (sandals recommended)

Towel (1)

Tissues

Wet wipes

 

 

Other:

 

Blanket (1)

Pillow

Water Bottle (1)

Flash light

IPod (optional)

Book (optional)

Cell phone

Plastic bags (for wet clothes)

Camera (optional)

Ursa Mayor

Yesterday, with the students team we run Ursa Mayor and we found the well full of water! At the well a villager defied us to a 200 m. race, and who won? The good vibes that all we had: shoukran. Once we finished the work out, we were playing wellstone: a rustic basketball style where we proved how useless we would be as shepherds…

Although it was raining the path is dry and this time no dogs showed.

I love running cross country… On a track, I feel like a hamster

Hey Pam, thats not mine its from Robin Williams… Want more? Click here

New route: Mari’s Path-14 Km / 8.7 Miles circuit

(Click on the picture for large view)

Mari’s Path:

Description
Distance:14 Km / 8.7 Miles
Surface: Dirt/Asphalt
Approximate time to run: 60-75 minutes
Other: wild dogs in some parts, but none are dangerous.
For an extended run, instead of cutting across the dirt towards campus in the last 2 kilometers, keep running straight to the Madaba highway, then turn right and follow the road all the way down to King’s Academy.
We reccomend that you run this route with someone who knows the course well (Mr. Patrick Dean, Ms. Lucy Michael, and myself) at least once before running it alone.

Magic Potion*

Trying to find the Asterix’s Potion Magic? Mix this now!

One orange juice
One lemon juice
6 soup-spoons of sugar
A little bit of sea salt (preferentially)
One liter of water

…and to mix it we propose Jump In Line (Shake, Shake Señora) by Harry Belafonte.

Far from be unpleasant, once you drink it: or you don’t go to the toilet (so you needed it) or you go; if it’s transparent: habibi your battery is fully charged!

*It has been scientifically proven that pass all antidoping tests. This post is not intended as a medical reference, consult your pediatrician.

Today Students Test!

Hi all, today we will run 3 LOKAs to test the endurance of the students who signed up for the race. Only 10 will be our heroes out of 24! The final team will be formed by 3 girls and 7 boys.

Good luck!

What: Dead2Red tryout 3 laps outside the Campus.
When: on Monday 9th
Where: meeting in front of the Admin. building
At what time: 3.30 pm sharp
Special needs: a sweater and water

New header

Hi all, I hope you like the new header. Are your trainers identified with the picture after your training?

Thank you Juman Tabbalat to borrow your trainers! I tryed to clean them after the fire and they just smell a little bit of gasoline. Shoukram!

Running GEAR: Trainers

Somebody ask me where to buy trainers. Firstly, if you need to change your trainers please do it ASAP, there is nothing worst than use new trainers to celebrate the event.

City Mall offers a good option, ka-ching! in Foot Locker. Any mall offers good options.

For low budgets your place, but not many options is American Close Out in Swefieh, (this is the waypoint for GoogleEarth 31°57′32.36″N / 35°51′59.04″E). Find it downstairs in the corner.

Also in Swefieh you have Sport Land, but if I don’t remember bad they offer for basketball and rappers. (Waypoint: 31°57′26.93″N / 35°51′55.19″E).

Hi World! First overseas visitor!

Our first overseas visitor from London, UK. Marhaba! come to Jordan to get your champagne!

More details at: STOTAN Visitor Locations (Roll the page down to see the countries)

Another circuit to run Ursa Major: 9.5 Km / 5.9 Miles

Hey! Mohammad and me were running on a straight line during 30′ (so 1 hour go and back). This is the Google Earth map with the circuit, and just to advise you about very scary dogs at the end of the track (a good reason to run by the way…). I call it Ursa Major if you close the KA perimeter, it should be the same distance.

Click on the picture to see it bigger; and here you have the UTM coordinates for the Well Waypoint in GoogleEarth (sorry, but I cannot upload a kmz doc):

Well:  31°47′4.79″N  /   35°50′14.57″E

Training Essentials

Hi all,

Below are some links that will help you enjoy your runs and will make you become a better runner. (For the full list of running tools, click here. We hope this will help.

Running Essentials (please try reading these links, as some of the information here will save you money, effort, and time by preventing you from falling into fatal running mistakes):

1-Foot Diagnostic- Learn your foot type

Running shoe basics

2-Running shoe finder

3-Stretching

4-Running form (watch video here)

5-Running injury diagnosis

6-Understanding the runner’s body

7- Common running mistakes

Other useful links:

Running humor

Staying motivated

Essential foods for runners 1

Essential foods for runners 2

Meal plans

Recipe finder

Free online training log

Smart Coach

Essentials for winter running

Find the right running clothes to wear for the current weather condition

Yoga for runner’s

Music for runner’s:

– Page 1

– Page 2

– Page 3

The pros and cons of running with music

The “Monster Month” plan

Lights and reflective gear for runners

Safety tips for running:

1- running in the cold: Page 1 / Page 2 / Page 3

2- running in the dark

3- general safety tips: Page 1 / Page 2

Training plans:

Since each runner will be running 24.4 kilometers, the best training plan to follow would be the half-marathon plan. However, you can also choose to create your own training plan using the “Smart Coach” tool (see “other tools”).

Runner’s world ultimate half-marathon training plan (with separate plans for beginners, intermediate, and advanced runners).

Ryan Hall’s training plan: Ryan Hall is an American Olympic marathoner. Following this training plan, Ryan became the American half-marathon record holder. In this training plan you can choose between a “short” program or a long program (use this quiz to determine which program will best suit you

Ryan Hall’s training plan

Where to run – LOKA 3.3 Km / 2 Miles

Ok, this page and category ‘WHERE TO RUN’ will help you to find tracks to run. One of the best options is what the Cross Country team called LOKA (Lap Outside King’s Academy). The outside perimeter of the campus starting and finishing at the main entrance is 3.3 Km (2 Miles). It should take between 15 to 20 minutes for one LOKA.

Bonjour! ¡Hola! !مرحبا Hello! Sok Sabaai! !שלום Ciao! Ahoj! байна уу! Kumustas! 你好! Hallo! Olá! γειά σας! こんにちは! Hej! Привет! Dia Dhiabh!…

Hi all, this is just a STOTAN welcome. This blog has been created to organize off campus events.