June 9

When I woke up this morning, I could already tell that it was hot out!  Thank goodness for air conditioning!  I put on my running clothes and didn’t even bother considering whether or not I should wear a shirt.  When I stepped outside, I was overwhelmed by the heat and humidity.  Oh well, a-running I went!  I did the five mile loop and as I passed South I was really hoping to grab a drink of water from the fountain by the tennis courts.  No such luck, the fountain was off, boo.  I ran the mile back down Dudley and thenk the rest of he way home.  When I got back inside, I took of my shoes as quickly as I could and grabbed the first thing filled with water that I could find (it happened to be a plastic bottle!)  I drank who knows how much water, tunred on the air condition in the kitchen, and started stretching.  It took a good long while to cool down!  Good run!

June 8

After a long hiatus from posting, I decided that it was high time that I compose another post.  Not that I think that I have any faithful readers who have missed my scintillating (aka boring and perhaps pointless) daily ramblings rather, I decided I would like to write another post and see how many hits it gets and if I get any comments about it.

Anyhow, this weekend was my five year college reunion so my husband and I flew into Boston and then headed up north to Vermont with a friend.  It was about 55 or 60 degrees and raining when we left Boston but by the time we arrived in Middlebury, although the rain had stopped falling, there was plenty of moisture still in the air, not to mention, it had gone up by about 15 degrees.  It was disgusting!  We took off our sweatshirts and headed over to Coffrin where we were staying.  Once we checked in, we went back to the car, got our stuff, headed up to our rooms to put outr things down, and then walked over to the CFA for dinner.  It was so great to see everyone again!  There was just a feeling that I can’t exactly describe, or even put my finger on, about being back up there, it just felt comfortable, like returning back to a place full of great memories, like home.  We sat outside under those tents at dinner for a good two or three hours just visiting, chatting, and catching up with everyone.  Eventually, it got dark and the dining staff began cleaning up all around us so we threw away or garbage and headed back up to Coffrin.  Some people went into town to get drinks, but we decided just to hang out on campus.  We stood in the entryway to Coffrin for about two hours.  I can’t even begin to express how wonderful it was to have so many familiar faces back in the same place again!  Much to my chagrin, the sleepness night from a cross-country plane ride began catching up with us around 12:30 and we went up to our room and went to sleep.

Saturday brought a relatively early wake-up at 8:20, followed by a quick trip to the dining hall for a piece of toast and peanut butter, and a run out to four corners at 9:30.  It was so much fun (albeit disgustingly hot and sticky) to run around Middlebury again.  Of course, the running route itself was not the absolute highlight of the excursion that designation is reserved for getting to run with the Mikes again (ooooh, and an added bonus, running with Jeffy!).  I hadn’t forgotten how much I enjoy running with those guys but memories can only take you so far.  Getting to actually do it again was awesome!

Since it was about 85 degrees and humid when we left and about 92 degrees and humid when we got back to the dorm (oh, let’s not forget that maybe 400 meters of the entire 8 mile run is in the shade, the rest is exposed to the sun) I downed an entire bottle of water in about three minutes.  Holy cow!  It was HOT!  There was sweat dripping in my eyes, my shorts were soaked and it was so hot and humid that taking off my shirt in the middle of the run did nothing more but allow me to get more of a sports bra sunburn than a t-shirt sunburn!  After a much needed shower (I was actually disgusted by my own stink, it was so bad!) we headed down to lunch behind the CFA.  My husband went up to Burlington to see a friend and I went with the Mikes, Marty, Sandy, Robyn, and Ken to the Falls of Lana.  The path to get down there seemed a bit more treacherous than I recalled, however, that coould also have been due to the fact that I was wearing flip-flops – probably not the best selection of foot attire…Although I was initially hesitant to get in the water (it was absolutely freezing!), I took the plunge and felt incredibly refreshed, nice call to go swimming!  We hung out at the falls for a good two to two and a half hours and then drove back to Middlebury feeling much cooler and much less cranky!

When we got back, we quickly got ready for dinner and headed back towards the CFA.  The food was delicious – salad, salmon, corn, bread, and strawberry shortcake for dessert.  I wanted to eat more, but I couldn’t fit anything else into my tummy, that is, of course, until Sandy brought over some candy that she found in another class’ tent, yum!  After dinner we sat around under the tents for a while and then headed back up to the dorm.  Two of the Mikes decided to play a game of beer chess (not a very spectator- or participant-friendly sport, so we went downstairs and outside (where, thank goodness, it had finally cooled off a bit!) to see what other people were doing.  After walking around and talking to some people for a bit my husband and some of my friends picked up a whiffle ball and started swinging it at a four square ball.  The ball was too heavy so it didn’t go anywhere, no fun.  Then someone had the brilliant idea of using an empty water bottle.  We occupied ourselves for a while playing whiffle bottle and then as it got to be 1:30, we decided it was time for bed.

Sunday we woke up (it feels so good to wake up here, to see the sun shining, and to get to start another day at Middlebury.  Again, it’s that feeling of comfort, and happiness, and home that I just can’t seem to do justice to by describing it in words), made another quick trip to the dining hall, this time to Proctor (yahoo for Proctor!), and then it was off for another run.  Today, after learning our lesson from yesterday’s run, we chose a route with a bit more shade a heck of a lot cooler breeze.  The run down Creek Road was great!  Having running buddies who I can just talk with about anything or nothing is so wonderful.  We got back to the dorm, drank a whole bunch of water, stretched, showered, and went over to Atwater for brunch.  Yeah for dining halls!  I love the Middlebury dining halls!  There was cereal, fruit, yogurt, granola, cream of wheat, eggs, french toast, pasta, vegetables, practically anything I could have ever wanted for brunch and it was all prepared and cooked for me and I didn’t even have to do the dishes!  We sat with Cheryl and Jeffy and said bye to a few people as they started to leave.  After brunch, people started packing up and leaving and while it was sad to leave and to see everyone else go, we had spent just the right amount of time there.  I realize that while it’s still my school, it’s really no longer my school.  There’s a whole new group of people there and it’s their turn for the school to be theirs.  It was an excellent weekend, and I’m already excited for reunion 2013!

January 11

Ran after school today.  It was an absolutely beautiful day, I wish I had ridden my bike to school because finally it wasn’t cold and rainy.  But, I did have the chance to go for a great run.  After the run, I stayed up at school and did some homework, then it was off to the library to print out a few pages of additional homework and then finally I was on my way home.  It was so great to get to run in such sunny weather!

January 9

I was a bit nervous about what the track workout tonight would bring.  Having not run much over the past three weeks, the prospect of running a workout, let alone running this workout was a bit daunting.  Somehow though, I think it was the excitement of getting to run on a track, timing myself, and running with a whole bunch of fun people, I managed to get myself to the workout (and on-time, no less!) and actually turn in a pretty good performance.  The workout was a four mile lydiard at half marathon pace, mind you, after this workout, I’m not really all that certain that I could run this pace for 13.1 miles, but I’ll deal with that if that challenge should ever arise!

Anyhow, we started out running in a group of about five or six people who were all aiming to hit the same splits.  We were going for 7:08 miles (1:47 per lap).  Throughout the entire workout we ran incredibly even splits, I was very proud of us!  For the first mile we hit 7:05 coming through each four hundred in 1:46, 1:47, 1:46, 1:45.  The second mile we came through in 7:03 (14:08 for two miles) with four hundred splits of 1:45, 1:46, 1:45, 1:45.  We ran the third mile in 7:03 also, with 400 splits of 1:46, 1:46, 1:45, 1:45 which put us through three miles in 21:11.  At the beginning of the workout I had told myself that I may stop after three miles what with not having trained much recently.  However, at about two and a half miles I decided that I’d probably stick it out and do the full workout.  The pace was fine and I wasn’t really feeling all that taxed as of yet, actually I felt pretty darn good!  I wanted to push myself a bit more, so four miles it was!  I’m really glad I hung around for that last mile too because as I was running I began feeling the tiredness start to slowly creep up on me and it was great to have the opportunity to push myself through that, especially while having the support of so many other people running with me!  We maintained our even splits throughout the entirety of the fourth mile (another reason why I’m glad I decided not to whimp out and to do the whole thing!) running an even 7:00.  Our 400 splits for this last mile were 1:44, 1:46, 1:45, 1:43, still pretty even! for a total time of 28:11.  When all was said and done, I was certainly a bit tired and as I mentioned before, I’m not sure that I could maintain this pace for an entire half-marathon, but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it!

It was definitely great having so many people all around me and running with me for the entirety of that workout.  It would have been a completely different story had I been running that by myself.  I am pretty sure that I would have decided to stop at three miles.  So, yahoo for training buddies and yahoo for good workouts!

January 7

Today was the first day of classes for winter quarter.  It was a bit too cold to ride my bike, so I just ended up driving to campus today.  However, I brought my running stuff, so I was able to run with a classmate after classes were over.  It would have been a really great run, it wasn’t raining, it was cold but not that cold, and the wind was nice and calm…however, about seven or ten minutes into the run, my stomach started to bother me.  To make a long story short, the run ended with me darting back to the school buildings to pay a visit to the bathroom.  Looks like my stomach is not quite back to normal yet!  Hopefully it’ll be better by the time the Wednesday night track workout rolls around.  I’ll have to take some extra precautions to help ensure that these stomach issues are not an issue during the workout!  After I got my stomach under control, I went back into my classroom and stretched while talking with a few classmates.  Aside from feeling kind of yucky, it was a nice run!

January 6

So after months of living in dirt and filth, our house is finally clean!  It was certainly not an easy job, but my husband and I worked together and between the two of us we cleaned two bathrooms, the kitchen, the kitchen floor (multiple times), the dining room, the dining room floor, the living room, the living room floor, the refrigerator, and the space under the sink.  My good ness, it was a full day of cleaning, but now the house looks great, so yeah for that!

Around two or three in the afternoon big, fluffy flakes of snow began to fall.  When I saw these flakes, there was nothing I wanted to do more than to go running!  So, my husband and I suited up, I rolled my leg on the foam roller, and we slapped on our shoes.  Unfortunately, by the time we were heading out the door, the snow had stopped and the sky was becoming clear  Oh well, it was still a fun run, not to mention that I felt much better than I did yesterday!

January 5

After a full day of running errands, my husband and I got home and we decided to go for a run.  We just did our three mile loop, but after not running for a bit and spending nearly 24 hours on an airplane, the run felt kind of hard.  My stomach is still a little bit angry at me from all of the strange food its been having to digest on the airplane, but hopefully after another good night’s sleep that will start to get back to normal (whatever normal is)!

January 4

Well, back to reality…

After just a few complications with flights, we made it back to Seattle safe and sound (and as an added bonus, our bags even made it too!) and are now at home resting and trying to recuperate before we get back into the weekend demands of running errands and cleaning the house, oh fun, fun, fun!  Although the trip was wonderful, there is something nice about coming back to your own house, your own couch, and your own bed.  I think I’ll get a good night’s sleep tonight!

December 31

You know, I learn something new everyday!

So tonight, if I were in the U.S., I would most likely be celebrating New Year’s.  However, since I’m in Israel, instead of celebrating New Year’s, I will happily be celebrating Sylvester.  Yes, that’s correct Sylvester, like the cartoon cat.  Oddly enough more than one country in Europe refers to the evening of December 31st as Sylvester.  Now, I have done some limited (ok, very limited) research on the origins of this name and why it has come to be used to refer to New Year’s and here are my findings (please, anyone who reads this, feel free to correct or add to my not-so-scientific findings if you happen know why of from where this name for New Year’s actually originated).  As far as I can tell, Sylvester was a saint, possibly a German saint, for whom this holiday was named.  Now, in Israel it makes sense to have another name for New Year’s what with there already being a Jewish new year.  However, it is the use of the name “Sylvester” for that purpose that still has me a bit perplexed; especially taking into consideration the fact that this German saint may or may not have been anti-semitic.

So, now onto other topics…let’s start with running.  I am ashamed to say that since the last time I have posted an update, I have not done any running.  Today however, after I practically drove my husband (and myself) crazy with my urge to go running, the two of us headed out for a run along a 3k running/walking path in the city of Holon.  In the midst of downtown, by the mall and the library, is a well-maintained, paved path where you can find people exercising from 5:30 in the morning until midnight.  We left the house at around 6:30 and since we were supposed to leave to go to a cousin’s house for a Sylvester party, we were not able to run for all that long, however it was enough to satiate my urge to run and tide me over until the next opportunity.  We left the house, navigated our way to the path, took one loop around (during which we were passed by a very little dog with very little, short legs who was running very fast, it was a pretty funny sight) and then headed back to the house.  At the very end of the run my knee started bothering me a bit, so I got home, stretched out really well and then rolled my leg on the foam roller (yes, I brought a foam roller all the way to Israel, but don’t worry, it was one of the small sized ones).  Hopefully, it was just stiff and out of practice from taking some time off and it will be better the next time I run.  It was great to get outside and get moving.  Yeah for running!

December 29

This morning was an early morning (especially for a Saturday!).  We woke up around 7:30 and got ready to go on a biking trip with my husband’s uncle and a bunch of his friends.  By eight o’clock we were out the door and on our way to Bet She’an, a small town in northeastern Israel (just southeast of Afula), where we met up with a few friends of my husband’s uncle in a parking area, had a quick breakfast, got on our bikes, and started our ride.

Apparently, Bet She’an is one of the warmest places in Israel with temperatures in the summer reaching well over 110 degrees.  So while I would not have wanted to do this ride in the summer, the late December weather provided an ideal temperature for today’s outing.  After all was said and done, we rode about 45 kilometers.  It was great to ride with so many people and in such a beautiful location.  Unfortunately, we did not bring our camera for fear that the trail would be as muddy as last week’s and we could easily ruin the camera.  Although we did have to bike through a few puddles and cross a medium-sized stream, it was not anything compared to the mud of last week, so I suppose we could have actually brought the camera, but better safe than sorry!  So, I’ll make it up to you readers by posting a few pictures from the other places that we visited between today and my previous post.

In between our two bike trips, my mom, my husband, and I rented a car and drove, first down south to Matzada and the Dead Sea (Yam Hamelech) and then over to Jerusalem.  The views from the drive were gorgeous!  Here’s one of the Dead Sea evaporation pools where they cultivate all the minerals and treatments that the Dead Sea is famous for producing:

Here is a picture of some of the desert mountains that we drove by:

Here’s a picture of the moon rising over Jordan:

Taking a breather during the climb up the snake path at Matzada:

Here we go again!  

The views were simply breathtaking:  

Matzada from the ground (pretty imposing!):

After a full morning walking up to and around the top of Matzada, we headed over to the Dead Sea for some first rate floating.  It was certainly not nearly as hot as it was the list time I was there (that could have to do with the fact that the last time I was there it was the middle of the summer!) but it was still quite enjoyable.  Getting myself into the water was a bit of a challenge (it is incredibly rocky and not only that, but the rocks are coated with dried, crystalized salt so sharp that one mis-step and you are left with a lovely, bloody souvenir by which you can remember your visit to the Dead Sea.  Fortunately, I was smart enough to wear my sandals in the water and therefore managed to leave the Dead Sea with only a small scrape on the back of my heel.  My mom and my husband, however, were not that fortunate and ended up leaving the Dead Sea with some battle wounds of their very own.  Despite the few minor injuries, the Dead Sea was awesome.  It’s really interesting, because of all the salt and other minerals floating around in that place, the water doesn’t actually feel wet.  It feels more oily, slippery, and slimy.  Needless to say, it was very cool!

Two bathers just floating around!:

Next, we showered up and headed over to Jerusalem where we had two very packed days.  Here are just a few pictures to give you an idea of the things we saw.

View of the old city of Jerusalem from the Mount of the Olives:

The inside of one of the beautiful Four Sephardic synagogues:

Even now they are still digging to try and uncover the ruins of ancient civilizations that lived in the region.  It is absolutely amazing to consider how far back these findings will date.  There is just so much ancient history in this area of the world, it’s incredible.

Part of a model of the old city of Jerusalem before the second Temple was destroyed.  This model was so well-constructed and so detailed that it felt as though the old city of Jerusalem was alive and bustling right in front of me, unbelievable.  This model is at the Israel Museum which is also the home of the Dead Sea Scrolls.  I highly recommend a visit to this museum!  Well, that’s enough for now!