The Years of the Races: I think we need to take a break...

2010 Jerusalem Half Marathon! Woohoo! Let's do it! Are you ready???

I was so pumped and full of energy the day of the race. I had cancelled my registration 2 days before as a precaution so that I couldn't officially run. The day of the race I made sure not to wear the right running shoes nor a sports bra. I was still so pumped. I went to pick up Danielle and I was definitely more pumped than she was, it took her most of the walk to the start of the race to get excited. I made sure that we had everything, or at least that Danielle had everything she needed. I was going to be spending the 2hrs waiting for her to come back studying for my test the next day. The only thing I forgot was sunscreen, it was raining for christ's sake that morning, who would have thought I would get to school looking like a tomatoe! On the way we stopped for coffee, which helped a little to wake Danielle up. We walked part of the race to get to the start, so that helped some more in getting the adrenaline flowing. We got stuck in a downpour but kept on going, getting even more pumped. We got to the stadium where the race was starting and there was a lot going on. Danielle took advantage of the port-a-potties and in the process almost got accosted by some idiot who didn't understand that red meant there was someone inside and that the door was locked for a reason. The funny thing about that was that the same guy took our picture later on with Shneller before the race started, reinforcing my original assessment of his idiocy. I was not the one to ask him to take the picture, that was Shneller.

After Danielle got all the things she needed, I have to say that the schwag was a little on the shvach side, we put on our shirts that I had made the day before. The story behind the shirts is a funny one. Our really good friend, Noa, has been fighting lymphoma for the past 6 months and we are happy to say that she is all better, her hair is growing back, slowly and ever so blonder making her look like a punk (I wasn't going to say the L word) and we were so proud of her making it through this really trying time that we wanted to support her and run the half marathon in her honor. So I took up the idea with Danielle about making the shirts and obviously her answer was "helz yeah!". We just needed the right line for the shirts...The shirt read on the front: "Our friend got cancer and all we did was run a marathon." On the back it said: "Hanley & Koenigson for Buchman" with a running decal beneath: (minus the Hebrew)

The part of the story that can be found amusing is that we didn't tell Noa we were running with the shirts, it was a suprise. Then I got really nervous that she would be mad at us for making the shirts in the first place, its not like we didn't have one for her, but maybe she would be offended by what we chose to write on them... When we were all dressed we got many compliments on our endeavor, people didn't seem to think that it was offensive, or at least they didn't tell us to our faces. We took pictures, obviously, and I will post them as soon as I get them. Then Shneller wanted to get pictures with us, but that made me even more anxious, "she's going to tell Noa before we get a chance to!" so we told her that she had to keep the shirts a secret. So we have everything on file and I was so nervous about letting Noa know that we said we would ask her mom if she thought that we should tell her about the shirts. I don't think it got around to that, since Danielle told Noa that night and Noa just laughed in her face. So, phew. All that pressure and being nervous, for nothing. We will gladly and proudly wear the shirts in each race that we participate in in 2010.

The next race for us will be the Tel Aviv Half Marathon in May. In the meantime, getting to the title of this entry, I think its time for me to cut back on the mileage and let my hip flexor heal. I think I diagnosed what seems to be the problem with my hip. A tight iliopsoas muscle that has caused some sort of tendonitis/bursitis in that area. I do believe that might be the origin of my back problem since the tight muscle in my back is exactly where the psoas muscle originates from. Yes, you can call me a nerd, everyone else does... Anyway, it would be smart to lay off the running until it heals, which will be extremely hard for me, harder than not running on Thursday. I will try, I can't promise I will succeed but I will stop running if it gets worse and just try and ice the area and do lots and lots of stretching and strengthening of the iliopsoas muscle.

Now for some pictures from our trip to Pro:Sport:

Photographer: Noa Buchman