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Jamel Balhi : "A stranger is a friend
we haven't met yet"
(updated on april, 5th, 2002)

Jamel Balhi was born on April 12, 1963 in Lyon, France. He ran around the world without assistance, linked the different holy cities, was imprisoned in China, crossed over 150 countries, that is to say 250 000 kms in almost 15 years, and all that with no injury ever. While reading this interview, think of the gift Mother Nature gave to him, imagine his voice, calm and smooth, and most of all think of running as a means, not an end.

Interview by Philippe Giovanelli
Photos by Jamel Balhi
English version by Aïcha Bahcelioglu


Find all "English Spoken" stories and interviews in "Nouveautés" part of this site. Just look for this logo :

I was born on April 12, 1963 in Lyon, France. Today I live in Paris. I am a professional photographer. As far as I can remember, I have always run.

UFO - How and why did you start to run ?
Jamel Balhi
- I started to run to escape. To run away from society, things I didn’t like, boredom. I wanted to go to the sun, to meet nice people, just like when you go on holiday. I felt like going away, being on holiday forever! But it was essentially a rejection of society, the consumer society that makes fools of us, with silly fashions. And I wanted to go to Asia.

It was the hippie culture ?
Yes, the hippie culture. It was an ideal of life.

When did you start to run ?
I’ve always run, I never depended on competitions to. I used to run to go to school, to cross the streets, since I was 7 or 8, actually, as far as I can remember… Then came the competitions but I was too independant…

So you decided to go on a trip...
I wanted to meet a friend in Shanghai, he had invited me for a cup of tea…At that time I had already run a little bit. But it all really started with this journey to Shanghai.

In which year was it ?
I had the idea in 1985 and left in 1987. I made many short trips before leaving. In the summer of 1986,  I ran to Istanbul then to Amsterdam to test my shape.

You had no model, but may be a book had a special impact on you ?
I always liked novels about exodus, stories of men in prison, the travelling literature in the 70’s hippie style. But I’m a bit sick of Kerouac, Ginsberg and the Beat Generation. I’m a bit sick of Americans. When you think of it, you realise that Kerouac was a mass craze. In the 50’s, those few guys, Kerouac, Burroughs and Ginsberg, etc, created that movement, but it could have been anything else. People would have followed anyway because those kind of guys are impressive, they can talk, like salesmen. Even if “On the Road” is a hymn to liberty, it’s outdated now. The books are mainly about booze and I don’t think hippies identify with the ‘Beat’.

You say that you’re a bit ‘sick of’ Americans, but you’ve just crossed the United States from north to south...
I’m not an anti-American but I don’t like this expansionism I find really excessive. We have no choice. Anyway, I wanted to know them better.

Your favourite movie is American, isn’t it ?
Yes, it’s Midnight Express.

And by the way, what’s your favourite band ?
Pink Floyd, and musicians like Bob Dylan.

Let’s come back to your first travels, Istanbul, it was the influence of Midnight Express ?
No, not necessarily. Midnight Express was that same kind of 60’s and 70’s hippie thing. It’s not Midnight Express that decided me to run… I just wanted to run in Europe before going to Asia. I looked for a destination whose distance was roughly equivalent to two or three months of running. A long holiday. I was passing my high-school diploma at that time.

What was your state of mind when you left for Amsterdam, and Istanbul ?
I was in good shape and I knew the kind of training I needed consisted in adapting myself to repeated efforts. Actually, the most difficult thing was to deal with the unknown. Running was not a problem. My body’s ok. It’s more about time spent on running… Between 60 km and 80 km, the difference is in the mind, not the body. You just have to be able of doing two more hours on tarmac. That’s all.

What was your first race ?
I was 16, it was Saint-Etienne-Lyon. A great 60 kms classic race that takes place every year in December and gathers several thousand runners. It was in 1979, it was the first time I had run with a number. I finished !

What was your training ?
None. Thirteen metres and fifty. From the doorstep to the fireplace in the apartment in Lyon. The distance was thirteen metres and fifty. I ran to the fireplace to check if I could enter for the race. When I got to the fireplace I thought “it looks ok”.

Were you in a club ?
I run as it comes. Now I’m in the Tremblay-en-France club because there are good friends of mine there. I don’t need to be labelled as a runner to run. I don’t like to flaunt it.

What are your personal bests ?
On marathon…It’s been more than ten years now…It must be around 2h25 or 2h27… and on 100 kms… 7 hours and… I don’t know. That may be one of my fault, I mean the lack of rage to win. I don’t give a damn at all. I just do my thing, run when I feel like it.

But you probably had a training if you did 2h25 on marathon…
Yes but I had a predisposition too. When I run with my rucksack I am at 12 or 13 km/h and when I come back, I need to make intermittent runnings, to run on tracks and do a series of 400 m and 1000 m. I do my training instinctively most of the time.

How many ultras have you finished ?
I can’t answer that kind of questions for example.

How do you see yourself amongst the other ultra-runners ?
We’re the same family. I made the Sand Marathon three times, in 1992, 1993 and 1995. There’s a 70 kms stage and it’s the main event of the marathon : I finished first in 1995, before the Russian who was the leader of the 100kms races. That day was my day. Besides everybody was waiting for a chance to trip me up. I am known to do my stuff by myself. Another anecdote… It was in 1996, a short time after my departure from Paris to link the holy cities. I was in a youth hostel in Angoulême and we  were not many. A runner stopped by with a whole team, a physio, a dietician, a nutritionist, etc. He was a very famous runner, a good one, with times, titles, medals. He knew who I was, and we met. I remember his doctor was irritated because the shower pommel couldn’t get separated. I was about to leave for almost 20 000 kms of running and I had left Paris for several days. We had a good contact but no more. He knew exactly what I was doing but ask me no question. They didn’t invite me to go to restaurant with them either. I was nothing in their plan. They completely ignored me and though, they perfectly knew what I was doing at that time.

So you’re the same family in spirit, but you feel different in reality…
Yes, we’re the same family because we all use our legs to run.

How do you calculate the distances when you run ?
With maps. At the moment, I run a lot in the Buttes-Chaumont park, in Paris, but never more than 20 kms. Beyond, I’d rather link two cities.

Do people recognise you in the park ?
Yes, most of the time. The joggers do in general. They don’t want to disturb me, some of them just say hello, others say nothing because they’re embarrassed. Well I’m not Yannick Noah anyway… It’s easier for me.

What you like most in your way of life is to be different, isn’t it ? Not to do like everybody else ?
Yes and I still have this desire not to be a follower. When somebody does something, I won’t systematically do the opposite, but I’ll try something different. To choose to do the opposite is already a conditioning.

For the anecdote, how do you manage to change used shoes when you’re in Tibet ?
Nike France has supported me from the beginning. They sent me shoes in general delivery. That’s not really a problem. It happened I ran out of shoes and couldn’t receive some… Well, I take any shoes then. With a pair I can make between 2000 and 2500 kms. At 40°c, the tarmac is burning hot and uses soles faster. Tracks use a lot too, more than ordinary roads.

What’s your favourite surface ?
Roads. Especially main roads. This is my universe. It’s the road that made me choose long distance running. That’s what I like. It links all men. I like the world of the road : trucks, gas stations, smell of gasoline…

You can’t start without a coffee in the morning. Do you take the usual runner precautions : stretching, warm-up, etc. ?
In the morning, I’m a cat. Slowly at the beginning. My muscles wake in the first kilometres. I don’t stretch. I’m stiff like a stick but on the other hand I’m built for running. I can’t raise my leg but it doesn’t matter because I don’t need to. I let things be, naturally. It’s good to do stretching but I would have to do it all the time. In my case it doesn’t make sense to stretch once in a week. So, it’s everyday or no day at all. It’s no day at all.

Do you have a ritual before running ?
One, two or three coffees. I hardly eat before 11 or noon. After 20 kms, I start to eat. Even for a marathon or any competition I don’t eat in the morning.

You told me that you didn’t really need moments of recovery. You could feel drained, though seldom, because of malnutrition or drops of energy. Have you ever thought during your travels that you had to stop before it went wrong ?
No, it’s not about the physical condition, it’s more about weariness, sometimes it’s mental. Countryside too. I mean it’s hard to live in countryside. It’s repetitive. Most of all in countries with one political regime, one religion, one cooking speciality, one language… you eventually meet people who all look the same.

From this point of view, which country was the most difficult ?
China. People were not easy. They all look the same. Not physically but they were all hostile, not hospitable. You are the stranger in their country, them on one side, you on the other one. They always make you feel it. I spent a year in China and I hardly had any good experience. You don’t meet people at home in countries like that, at night you just go back to your hotel.

Hotels… by the way, how do you manage with expenses ? There’s no sponsor on your pictures…
I make a lot of conferences, I show my slides. At the moment I’m always in some place. I travel by train, with my slides and books. People know me thanks to word by mouth. I speak of my travels with my pictures to children of every age who are very attentive. I think teachers understand their interest. It’s often the same people I see after each travel. We keep in touch.

Are they fans ? How do you explain their admiration ?
I have no fan club. But I’m very happy because I can pass on positive things. What they probably find extraordinary is ordinary to me. Besides, we live in times when things can’t be simple anymore, and people accept it that way . Everything goes fast, everything’s planned to make money which is not my point. I don’t run after money and if you look twice you see that nowadays all that works in society, all the positive things, all we’re conditioned to like are actually for making money.

It’s something that bothers you ?
It’s something I want to run away from. I’d rather go to simple and free things. The problem is about people having dreams. I have no dream so I’m not living any of them, I’m living, period. I don’t dream except when I sleep. I have ambitions, concrete plans but they’re not made of dreams.

Another mystery is about your rucksack. What do you put in it ?
My photography kit, a pair of pants, a sweat-shirt and a raincoat.

But don’t you have to deal with extreme weather conditions sometimes ?
No, it’s ok because I choose the right seasons. In my last journey I crossed the usa from north to south and I left from Anchorage, Alaska. It was during spring and the temperatures were between 10 and 15°c. But on the other hand it can be very hot. The highest I  experienced was 58°c in the Taklamakan desert in western China, on the Silk Road. I walked a lot.

Did you feel in danger in those moments ?
No I didn’t, I run on main roads and there’s always a truck to stop. I just need to show my flask. In Tibet they give barley alcohol, in China it’s mostly some beer. The drivers give you what they drink on road.

Not very good for being hydrated…and it’s diuretic…
There’s still a little water though…

Did you ever meet people or tribes during your travels who considered running as quite natural ?
No I didn’t. I seldom left roads so I didn’t go off tracks, or into the depths of countries, or isolated places. My point of view is from the road, which means “traffic” and “civilisation”.

Do you think about the day when you have to stop ?
No, one day for me is today. I was asked the same question ten years ago. I don’t push beyond my limits, I’m not reckless.

What’s your next project ?
The state highway 7, I’ll leave in early April. I’ll finish the book I’m writing in the meantime.

Do you have a credo or a motto ?
“A stranger is a friend we haven't met yet.” I was in a bar in Danemark and it was raining. I just arrived after a day of running and didn’t really know where to sleep. I was talking with people. It was a small village. I asked a beer and started a conversation with someone next to me. He offered to give me shelter and I asked him why. He told me that for him a stranger was a friend he hasn't met yet. I’ve kept that sentence in mind. I need to hear that kind of things from people when I’m on the road. It makes me feel good.

In your books, you talk a lot about people and little about running. It’s a bit frustrating sometimes…
And yet, it’s running that brought me everywhere I went.

 
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