The following article is from the Chicago Tribune:
Runners gearing up for the Bank of America Chicago Marathon usually like to “carb up” in the days before a race, eating carbohydrate-laden foods to prepare their bodies for the brutal 26.2-mile run.
But the timing of the 2011 marathon could prove difficult for some runners.
Bank officials said they’ve recently received calls and e-mails from Jewish runners concerned that the marathon, scheduled for Oct. 9, will conflict with Yom Kippur, which will occur the day before.
The Jewish Day of Atonement, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar, requires worshippers to fast, abstaining from food and drink for a 25-hour period, and observant runners will only be able to break the fast the night before the marathon.
“To Jewish runners, you’re forcing a choice,” said mortgage broker Barry Stoltze, who has run in four Chicago marathons. “Either sacrifice your running and don’t do the marathon this year, or sacrifice your religion and cheat on the fast.”
Marathon organizers did not directly address whether they considered the holiday in their planning but said the scheduling process was years in the making. The marathon, generally held on Columbus Day weekend, is planned with city officials so as not to conflict with other events and to ensure that area venues, such as hotels, can handle the thousands of out-of-town visitors.
“It’s not a simple date change,” marathon spokesman Jeremy Borling said. “It’s really wheels that are in motion several years in advance pointing to that one date.”
Michael Kotzin, executive vice president of the Jewish United Fund/Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago, said there would surely be some annoyed runners but steered clear of calling this a controversy. The JUF was asked by organizers to provide outreach for Jewish runners who could be affected by the fast, he said.
“There will be some people who will be made unhappy by this reality, but I can’t predict more than that,” he said.
Dr. Sara Brown, a sports physician in Lincoln Park, said fasting runners should sit out the marathon, adding that long runs after fasting can be dangerous.
“That’s what I would recommend to anybody that would be observing the holiday,” Brown said. “I wouldn’t recommend running 26 miles the next day.”
However, Chicago marathon Race Director Dr. George Chiampas said some runners who fast can run the next day and that a 24-hour fast would not harm the body enough to be dangerous if a runner has the proper nutrients.
“If they’ve done it in the past, and they feel they can get back to baseline, that should suffice,” Chiampas said. “It’s not a generalization for every runner.”
(Source: Chicago Tribune)
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17 Responses
Chicago? Well then, it must be Obama’s fault!
Marathons were invented by Greek “body worshipers.” There’s no need for marathons in the Jewish community. Jews should be building their succahs the day after Yom Kippur, not wasting their time in Greek style festivities. Please remember what Chanukah is all about.
#2, that is such a weak an nonsense thing to say. And we hear it all too much by those, like you, who are holier than the rest of us.
Dont drive a car as it is the subsquent extension of the Roman chariot.
Dont wear a suit and tie as it is a sign of the goyish rulership during the Feudal Era. If you are not wearing a white robe, then you are dressing in a fashion influenced by idolators.
Dont wear a nice designer shirt as it is from the company of a man who is not normal.
Watch what kind of appliances you buy. They may very well have supported the ymach sh’mos.
Dont play a musical instrument. It was used to entertain pagan Kings back in the day.
Things have evolved to where it is wrong to insinuate a Jewish athlete is in any way shape or form closer to the evil Greek values than you are.
Yom Kippur or running – Jewish runners face a choice. What choice?? Did I miss something?
Part 2.
Nonetheless, the runners will just have to miss out on this race.
MoshiachNow01, if you truly want Moshiach now, you and others who are emulating the goyish ideas of sports and other “cultural” pursuits must return to true Jewish ideals.
We are here to be a “Nation that dwells alone.” As long as we strive to be athletes and other such useless persona, we will never achieve our purpose of mastering Torah and Chesed. Everything else is nothing more than distractions of the yetzer hora.
We must once and for all abandon so called “fun and excitement” which is temporal and fleeting. That is not our lot and goal and only prolongs golus.
I don’t understand what the problem is. This is a chicago story which means there will be cheating involved.
In truth, CSR1 is correct, in a perfect society. But the reality is that every Jew is faced with his own tests and nisyonos. B’H, many of us are above a test such as this. But for others, that is not the case. Someone who struggles with Yom Kippur, this is a real test. And for that person to overcome this and sit out the race, it would be a tremendous accomplishment.
Who knows the nachas ruach that would bring HKB”H?
So don’t be so fast to judge
Lets Daven for these people’s yeter hara to be strengthen
Stop whining. Deal with it. Save this religious special request for the important things. Sorry you only gat sympathy from me not empathy.
Jews used to fast before they went to war. Yehoshua performed a brit milah on the Jewish soldiers before they fought to go into EY.
The fast might be the best thing that happened to the Jewish marathoners. FAST and then run FASTER.
Yom Kippur – cancelled due to lack of interest.
How dare the holy day of Yom Kippur interfere with Jews running the marathon! What could it have been thinking? I hope that those poor Jews’ lives aren’t ruined forever!
Hakeem Olajuwon, a Muslim, played in the NBA while fasting throughout Ramadan. He never uttered a single word of complaint.
Would that we had such good midot.
Hakeem Olajuwon, a Muslim, played in the NBA while fasting throughout Ramadan. He never uttered a single word of complaint
fasts end at nightfall nba games are played at night can eat before a game,
sorry charlie
I go with #11. I’m no longer a marathoner (alas), and I was never a top runner, but out of 14 marathons, my all-time best run and best for time was in Toronto the day after Yom Kippur.
#6, csr1, please dont question if I “really” want Moshiach to come. You know that is a primary foundation of our beliefs. That being said:
Show me a proof where activities of physical fitness and pursuits for those talented enough to enjoy some competence at it is fundamentally not Jewish, or, in fact, anti-Jewish.
Also, when you point a finger at a person, there are three more pointing back at you. I dont want to get into Yidden sitting in the library computers looking at the stock market or real estate pages for hours or get-rich-quick schemes or scratch off tickets, or stopping by to schmooze at a friends business or even going to museums and other normally “goyish” places during Chol Hamoed.
Where do we draw the line? If you have worked yourself up to learning 22 hours a day, nonstop, barely stopping to eat, then I sincerely want to thank you, but you should then also understand it is not right to smear the people in the story, none of whom are known to you. Can they not be good Yidden??? Are you better than then all of them??