I have finally recovered from my operation and participated in my first race in Rotterdam on the 13th of September 2009 where I finished 2nd.

Being proud of my achievement in Rotterdam, particularly after my long inactive period of sickness, I decided to go for Berlin Marathon on the 20th of September.

I have set up on my way to Berlin on Thursday where I met my team and discussed previous including the World Championship that I missed in Bogogno, Italy. I spent the next day training with the team and I was feeling good and full of confidence.

On the day of the race, I got there early, warmed up and started the race at very high speed. I tried to keep up with the competition but it was too hard for me to do so taking into consideration I have been training for just 2 weeks. So after missing the first group of 6, I joined the second group of the peleton. Although I wasn’t in great shape, all I could think of is my place on the winning podium!
I kept pushing my boundaries expecting to perform at my best on the last sprint.

After the 40 km, the group was riding very fast so I took the best place and did my sprint going 20m further than the
others and I finished 7th in general and 2nd in my division.

That was a pretty satisfactory performance and for sure I should work and train more for my upcoming events in New York Marathon and Beirut Marathon. But for sure my next big target will be the World Championship next year in Columbia.

I will keep you posted with all my news.