I know Miri Forrest through one of the social networks. A post by one of my friends on the network caught my eye. She spoke enthusiastically and admiringly about a women-only running group that meets twice a week in the early morning hours, in one of the large Haredi cities near Jerusalem.
Early in the morning, a group of about 10 women meet in the city park, all of them Haredi or religious, and all of them have children at home who still sleep through the night. She describes the difficulty of the first workout, recounts the satisfaction and joy after each additional workout that increased her pace, shares her mood and talks about her anticipation for the next run.
I raise an eyebrow and continue reading eagerly. With the click of a button, I reach Miri Forrest's home page. It turns out that Miri is exactly who I was looking for: Haredi, charismatic, diverse and captivating.
Friday 08:00 In the morning. My children's run ended with great success. I pull out the faded sneakers that had already gathered dust from the closet, look at them in the hope that they will serve me faithfully for the morning run, and wonder to myself how much I have neglected everything related to a healthy body recently, and hope that maybe this time I will be able to indulge in a sport that is not related to housework and climbing 24 steps to the front door. I equip myself with a small bottle of water so that God forbid I will faint in the middle of the run, say a short prayer that I will be able to survive at least 100 meters, and that's it - I'm ready.
8:30 In the morning, Sacer Garden in Jerusalem. We arranged to meet and join the group of Jerusalem women runners. Miri is impossible to miss, I can already recognize the energy from afar, within a few minutes about eight women runners gather. Miri forms a circle and begins to enthusiastically compliment one of the runners who participated in the Shafir race that took place exactly a week earlier, and won a very respectable place (third place).
The girls look at Miri with admiration, and Miri, like Miri, doesn't waste too much time and starts running the girls. Today's goal: 3 km. We start with an easy jog, the runners divide into pairs, and Miri spurs and encourages. It's impossible to stop or get tired when she's out in the field, Miri is full of energy, even though this is already the second group she's coached this morning.
After half a kilometer of half-running, half-walking, I pull over, out of breath, and feel like I've run an entire marathon.
With my last strength, I drag myself back to the car to recover from this wonderful experience.
09.40. We sit down on the grass under a large tree. It doesn't look like Miri just finished a 3km run a few minutes ago. She's still fresh, smiling and energetic. It's impossible not to love the woman sitting across from me.
She is 29+ years old and a Chabad Hasid. She lives in Kiryat Malachi, with Yonatan and three lovely daughters - Yael, Michal and Roni.
In the past, Miri has been involved in activities on Jewish topics in public schools across the country. "Do you know what a feeling of holiness and satisfaction it is that thanks to me, thousands of boys and girls in the Jewish people have been able to recite the verse 'Shema Yisrael'?".
How does someone who has coached hundreds of children become a sports instructor?
""Until a few years ago, I was very fat. My main concern was always around food, whether it was at a family gathering, or outing with the kids, everything revolved around food at all times. Until one day, a neighbor in the building said an innocent sentence to me, without intending to hurt. And it was this sentence that made me go through the change during that year, at the end of which I lost 30 kg.
The process wasn't easy, but I didn't give up on myself. I signed up for Weight Watchers and a supportive group of women formed around me there too. While losing weight, I signed up for the Wingate Institute, and after graduating with honors, I started my first running group.
Today, I already train over 170 women across the country. In addition to running training, I also teach Pilates and body shaping classes for women twice a week in the evenings in Moshav Kommiyot and Talmei Yechiel. Towards the end of the year, with God's help, I will complete a degree in psychology.".
How does psychology fit into running?
""You have no idea how connected it is. It's not for nothing that they say that the body is the mind. Every workout is more mental than physical.".
Miri gives the example of one of her runners who takes anti-anxiety pills regularly, and on the day she runs she simply doesn't need the pill. "She feels just wonderful!""
Why a running group and not a walking group?
Miri took as her motto the words of the Rebbe Rayatz:
""The leadership of a person who has 'success in time' is that, while he is doing something, all the things he did before, and things he was supposed to do in the future - are not in the world. What concerns him here and now, is only what he is doing (now!) at this point in time!"'
And in a simpler explanation, she says: If a person does something, let him make the most of it!
Miri, it sounds like you're addicted to sports...
Miri shifted uncomfortably. "I'm definitely addicted! On Shabbat, before the third meal, I find myself a lot of times, just kind of depressed. I lie on the couch and don't know what to do with myself. Right after Havdalah, I put on my sneakers and go for a few kilometers run. You have no idea how much it improves my mood. I come back like new.".
By the way, Miri notes: "My goal for all the women who participate in the running training is to reach 10 km within 20 weeks.".
How do you combine motherhood and such coolness?
Miri takes a deep breath. "It's really hard. I get up every day at four in the morning, I almost never get to send the girls off in the morning. My greatest miracle is my husband, who supports and helps and is so encouraging. Without him, I wouldn't be able to succeed or leave the house calm. I always make sure to welcome the girls after school with a hot meal, and until the evening it's my quality time with them, without any distractions around.".
In the evening, she puts on her sneakers again and heads out to meet the other group of girls who are eagerly waiting for her.
While talking, she looks at her cell phone and enters a running group she set up on Facebook. Suddenly she jumps up, gets excited, and smiles: "I have to respond to her. She says and asks for my forgiveness. One of my runners is a 40+ year old heart patient. The doctors were discouraged about her and defined her as a medical emergency. That woman is going to run the Givat Shmuel 10km marathon today!""
""There's no greater satisfaction than that," she says excitedly. "To see women fighting against all odds.".
She recalls another moving story about a young woman who suffers from a rare joint disease, one of the severe side effects of which is the inability to hold things in her hands. Everything she holds falls. And running simply changed her life and helped with the rehabilitation process. She was also defined The doctors aboutA walking medical miracle.
These stories encourage Miri and give her a sense of satisfaction and mission toward those girls.
A few months ago, the Jerusalem Marathon took place, and 50 women from Miri's group participated in that race, dedicating the race to mothers of sick children.
Why specifically for mothers?
Miri shares the pain that one of her trainees stopped showing up one day. After a brief investigation, it turned out that she had a sick child at home. At some point, she collapsed and quit running. "Not because she didn't want to," Miri explains, "but because of the difficult nights and days she spent with her sick son.""
11.00
Saturday evening. The clock is already ticking against us, and I ask Miri for one last sentence.
Miri concludes: ""For someone who can run for twenty minutes straight, the sky is the limit.".
Towards the end of the interview, we encounter a group of elderly women standing near us. Several women approach the surrounding trees and begin hugging, talking to them, and standing next to them with their bodies erect. Miri can't hold back. She approaches and begins hugging the trees together with them. After a few minutes, she says goodbye to the women and returns with a laugh: "Do you know why they hug the trees?! According to them, the trees provide good energy until June, and you need to hug the tree and touch it with your whole body to receive the energy from the tree. Trees with needles are trees with negative energies, so you need to be careful with them.
""Do you know what I said when I hugged the tree? Thank you, Lord of the universe, for such a good and beautiful creation!""
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