It has begun...

Slowly but surely I will succeed. My training officially started on Friday. Today it is Tuesday. I have run 3 times. Each run was 5km more or less. I even went out last night at 10 to run. I will hopefully be writing up a real schedule soon. My runs will most probably take place at 5am, before it gets really really hot out. Here is a link to an article about safe running in the summer time, or in the case here in Israel, running in hot weather whenever it decides to visit us.

Two of my runs have been on the treadmill breaking in my new running shoes bought in the Duty Free at the airport. They live up to all that I expected! Last night was a late night fast run outside to Gan Sacher and back up Azza. It was a good run but made it hard to wake up this morning for my training session and then one on one kick boxing that I decided to take today. As I am writing this, my right hand is still a little shaky, just means that I beat the crap out of the pads and it was awesome! I can't believe I haven't boxed in such a long time, 3 yrs, at least. We're talking about opening a self defense/martial arts group (me and the other trainer, who is the Israel champion in Jujitsu), so I might be boxing a lot more soon. :)

Next mission for this week: 10k run on Friday. Can't wait! Still not fun solo though...

Guess who just got back today...

"...Them wild-eyed boys that'd been away,

Haven't changed, had much to say,

But man, i still think them cats are crazy.

They were askin' if you were around,

How you was, where you could be found.

Told them you were livin' downtown,

Drivin' all the old men crazy..."

So, I'm back from Barcelona. It was a great extended weekend, just what I needed. And, yes, I tried to run Friday morning, it went ok, I'm not going to go into all the details, lets just say I was in a lot of pain and walking worked out better than running. And boy did I walk. All I did was walk, all over the place, at least 6 hours each day. The city is beautiful, great architecture and such a fun and light feeling of summer and vacation. I had no phone, no watch and no one to have to answer to. I was able to do what I wanted, when I wanted and how I wanted. I saw museums, nice parks, sports stadiums, the beach and of course the Port. At the end of every day I sat on the boardwalk by the marina and watched the water and the sailboats and the people passing. I finished the book I was reading, Anthony Keidis's autobiography Scar Tissue, did some shopping, got lost alot. Great vacation.

I was gone for all of 4 days. Never have I had so many messages as I did when I got back. Either people just didn't care that I was away and called anyway or weren't listening when I told them I was out of the Country for the weekend... It was if the world was coming to an end and I was missing it. Anyway, I'm back and everyone is a lot calmer, life can go on now.

I took lots of pictures, if you want to see them I'll email a link, I am not in the mood to upload any to the blog, maybe next week.

Back to training...

The marathon is in 4 months!!!!!! I have to really buckle down now. I have the number of some guy who will help me make a schedule for myself which is easier than copying what's written in the Runner's World magazines since its something that, hopefully, I'll understand. Danielle, where are you???? Who am I going to run with? Now that I got used to running with someone, its hard to go back to running solo.

Today is a treadmill day. 1 hour workout.

Have a great weekend!

(Too bad I'm not in Europe anymore...)

What can I say?

"It's been such a long time, I think I should be goin', yeah

And time doesn't wait for me, it keeps on rollin'

Sail on, on a distant highway, I've got to keep on chasin' a dream

I've gotta be on my way

Wish there was something I could say.

Well I'm takin' my time, I'm just movin' on, You'll forget about me after I've been gone

And I take what I find, I don't want no more, It's just outside of your front door..."

Now I am sure that Boston was referring to something other than running when they wrote this song but I think that it fits in perfectly with my relationship with running. It has been some time since I wrote my last blog entry and I have numerous excuses but the truth of the matter is, I wasn't running as much as I was before the TLV Half Marathon, which is normal but I felt that I needed a break from it all. The running, the writing, the hurting. The longest runs I have done have been around 6km this past month. I have thrown in a bit of speedwork here and there when I didn't have enough time to properly get in a workout. Apparently I am what they call and nerd when it comes to studying, especially when I am studying for a class that I really enjoy and want to do exceptional in, not just good. So, for the past month I have been studying and studying and studying and studying, trying to get in work and workouts and the test is finally over and done with. I am tired. I need a vacation, be it from life, school, work or running on a schedule. So I am flying to Barcelona for 4 days, an extended weekend, and you better believe that I will be travelling with my running shoes. What better way to see a new city than on foot, running? I have seen many a city this way and at a much different perspective than if I was on a tour bus or walking with a friend.

Once I get back from my long weekend away, I will have to buckle down and start my marathon training. Venice is not going anywhere and I have 4 months to get in shape to run the marathon on my 25th birthday and of course the Marathon's 25th anniversary :)

In order to make sure that I do everything correctly, I will be making a calender with all my running workouts preset on it with little flexibility so I will be forced to run even when all I'll want to do is jump into the pool from the heat of the summer.