About Tamir
About Tamir means: set a goal, train for the goal, before achieving the goal set a new goal, achieve the first goal, and so on…
It all started when I was living in Manchester bored out of my mind and the only sport I took part in was TaeKwonDo. Practicing for this art did not require much running but yet to warm-up what’s better than 5 minutes on the treadmill.
At the time Raanan was training for his first half marathon and suggested that I try to run 10 min on the treadmill by reducing my pace. And so I achieved running 10 minutes without losing my mind. As time progressed I managed to get 20 minutes of running and only a slight right ITB injury. Can you believe getting injured from running 20 min? Well that was a first of many to come. Later that month Raanan signed up for the half marathon in Miami and he convinced me to do my first ever race… the big 5K family run, a day before the half marathon, on January 26th 2008. And so my heart was set on the race and the next thing I heard was the gun going off and my legs hammering the pavement below me. I run the race with an elastic band holding my left knee in place (see picture below).
Finishing that race felt great. I felt like I owned the world…. Well, my world shattered when I saw all the 15,000 people picking up their race package for the half marathon the very next day. And so my next goal was set….. no not a half, are you crazy? One step at a time, 10K. and so the story goes. From the 10K in Raanana (Anat’s city of origin), to the Greater Manchester 10K run, to Tzahala (Raanan’s city of origin) 15K dirt road run, to Nike Night Run in Tel-Aviv, and on and on… oh wait, after Raanana I know my very next goal… Rio Half Marathon only 6 months after my very first race. Later came some other half marathons and on April 4 of 2009 (a year and 3 months after my first race) I run my first full marathon.
Having my heart set on the stories I heard from Raanan about the NYC Marathon I decided to play the lottery and race in the big apple. I Lost the lottery drawing.
Not losing hope I got in touch with Issta Sport (Michael Gold) and they came through. And that is how I got my ticket to race alongside 42K people in the streets of NYC.
As we already learned, one goal is not enough. Somehow Raanan talked me into trying a triathlon and so 2 weeks before the Sprint Tri in Tel Aviv I bought my first road bike, MASI aluminum frame. Of course a sprint is not enough so we signed up to the Olympic distance in Cesaria (my city of origin).
Oh wait, I am training for the NYC Marathon… what, am I to go there alone? No way man, need to find a friend (female course) and so I did my research and got the list of female runners participating in the NYC event, crossed reference them with Facebook and noticed a picture of this cute blond crossing the finish line of a 70.3 race…. Got to get her attention (new goal)! Emails and email later we finally meet and unlike other blind dates this one was a true relief. Marathon, what marathon, triathlon…that’s what was on my mind… after all I am already a triathlete… she has done all those races and her swimming is perfect, who am I to tell her that my sights are set on the Ironman in Brazil… oh yes, I failed to mention that right before the TLV Marathon Raanan pointed out the wired weak (just my competitive side) looking guy with a tattoo on his leg… the IM tattoo… that got my head thinking for the first 10k of the race (“where do I put that tattoo???”). Sorry for the side note, now back to my story. Fine I will tell her, she must know I am crazy right off the bat. “Hey, Anat, you know we are signed up for the same races… only that I have one more race than you, its in Brazil”. She looked confused but at least did not ask the dumb question everyone asks “oh great, who is your coach?”. Well as I did not want to sound to crazy, remember I am still trying to impress this girl, I used the perfect reasoning why I think I have the IM thing down… “well, I did a marathon,…. That counts for something right?”. …. No more boring love stories…. Back to my triathlon mission…. No way am I riding with alongside Anat on a Masi, I must impress her, here came the Cervelo Soloist Carbon! 3 months after we met on-line Anat and I are running the NYC marathon together (goal achieved). At the start line all I could think is how lucky I am to be standing at the start-line next to the person I could only picture in my dreams. Gun went off and my personal record was achieved 3:57:00.
We got back to Israel and Anat moved in. Our training became more intense and fun. During the week we wake up early and get on the trainer, run, or swim (or all three). Weekends it’s the three of us (R+A+T) ridding or meeting for a post run breakfast at Lala Land, a beach pub in Tel Aviv.
Oh I almost forgot, we talked a lot about IM Brazil but when we went to register the race was sold out… panic almost hit but once again Issta Sport came through.
Two Olympic distances later, a crazy desert challenge (30k run followed by a 74k mountain bike ride), soon a half Israman (70.3) and then its BRAZIL!
Want to talk about achievements?
Running – 5K to Marathon in a year and 3 months
Cycling – non to a full HIM in 7 months
Swimming – 1K with breaks to 3K no breaks
Weight – 74Kg to 63.5Kg in 2 years
Injuries – Left ITB, Right ITB, Shin Splints, Right Ankle, Left Ankle, Extensor Tendinitis on Left Foot, Pes Anserine Bursitis on Right Knee, sure there will be more to come
