Someone to run with
Meet Site Jogging, the new way to get to know the city of Tel Aviv
If you have days when you would rather give up your boring morning run, or are one of those who have developed an intimate relationship with the treadmill at the workout gym and start sweating at the mere thought of running in the street, this article is for you.
Instead of just jogging because your dress won't fit or because your doctor says you should, you can also turn the jog into an enjoyable experience. Meet Site Jogging – the new trend of unprofessional runners.
The jog is joined by a personal guide – not a fitness trainer but a tour guide. Instead of listening to those same old songs, you spend this fatiguing hour listening to stories about the city you thought you knew, but apparently didn’t know so well. And instead of seeing all those well-known landscapes, you can discover places which you may have not even known to exist.
Seeing the city through your feet
"The idea behind Site Jogging is to introduce the city to tourists through their feet, taking them on a guided tour of the main sites, on a running track," explains Natalie Grofman, 38, owner of Run the City, an Israeli company specializing in Site Jogging.
Grofman immigrated to Israel from Vienna 10 years ago, and has lived in Tel Aviv ever since. She is a lawyer in her profession, but as an unprofessional runner and the mother of three children, she looked for something to do that would not feel like work. She receives a lot of support from her partner, who is also a lawyer who runs in marathons.
"The Site Jogging concept already exists in the world – in the US and Italy, for example," explains Grofman. "I wanted to try and develop something similar in Israel, but slightly different. I am trying to develop it as a type of recreation for the locals as well."
The tours for Israelis succeeded beyond her expectations. "Even people living in Tel Aviv, when they see the city while running and connect the neighborhoods – something which usually does not happen – with the guide's stories, it becomes a real recreation."
For people who like to talk while jogging (Photo: Danny Cohen)
At the moment, the tours focus on the Tel Aviv area, but in the future the plan is to expand to Jerusalem. The tour lasts between 60 and 90 minutes, with the length of the track changing according to the area the runner chooses to focus on. But don’t worry, one does not have to be an Olympic runner to take part, even when running as part of a group. Grofman explains that the participants' difficulty levels are matched.
The tours' target audience is not necessarily the young audience we would imagine seeing. "The global trend of jogging shows us that it's actually for more mature people," says Grofman. "So the people who come to us can be in their 40s or even 70 years old."
How does it work?
You and your guide set a meeting point. It will mostly be at the promenade or a hotel if you are a tourist. The guide takes the participant to one of the suggested routes, and while running he shares selected stories and anecdotes about the surrounding sites.
"The guides don’t earn a living out of this," explains Grofman. "These are people who have other professions – lawyers, architects, computer experts – but they also like running. These are people who are very connected to the city. They are also funny and friendly people – people who run and like to talk while they do it."
If you're Israeli, the explanation will naturally be in Hebrew. But for tourists there are jogs in English, French, German, Italian and even Hungarian. All jogs must be pre-booked of course.
What are the advantages of site jogging?
"Such a tour has advantages for a very busy tourist. For instance, a businessman who is in Tel Aviv for several days and wishes to combine business and pleasure, but doesn’t have much time. He doesn’t want to give up the workout, so this is a good way to see the city instead of spending an hour on a treadmill and not even knowing which continent he is in."
Apart from the advantage of time, Grofman says this is a completely different experience than being forced to take public transportation or rent a car.
"I too, as a tourist, when I'm in a foreign city, I like to take comfortable shoes or running shoes with me. I don’t enjoy buses or cars, which disconnect the person from what happens on the street. When walking on the street one makes a connection with people."
And there is an ecological aspect as well. "I believe that anyone who jogs has some kind of connection to their environment and wants to protect it, and it's a shame that there are not more people who are doing this," says Grofman.
"While running, you see all kinds of beautiful and nurtured sites, as well as sites which are not beautiful at all. When you see something that isn't nice, you has more appreciation for the beautiful sites."
