Am I ready, you may ask.
I guess, would be my answer.
They have changed the course, so we will be treading on new ground. Tomorrow Danielle and I plan on conquering at least some of the new course. I haven't run since Monday, but that's ok, Monday's run was a long run and my hip wasn't doing so well. This time I will take the Excedrin before the run, not after.
I'm actually kind of excited to have a new course to the marathon. It means that we will be experiencing new parts of this amazing/controversial/interesting/insane city. The original route was a cause for some controversy, since we would have been running through East Jerusalem, in which some Israeli members of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions committee wrote to the sponsors of the race, Adidas, and asked them to withdraw its sponsorship calling the race a "running apartheid". The marathon course was changed to exclude East Jerusalem, in my opinion, its a shame. Who cares that it was out of the "green line"? I am sure that if Israeli Arabs who live in East Jerusalem are running in the marathon would want the privilege to run past their homes. I am sure that the world would not care that its "occupied territory", someone would even make a heartfelt documentary about it.
There are so many things in life that are a lot more important than worrying about where goddamn race courses travel through.
Life is more important.
I just found out that a friend of mine was died in a car accident in California. I think that I will run this race in his memory.
To Ilan Tokayer.
The news of hearing that someone so young died suddenly is always shocking. Its worse when it is someone you know and admire and even worse when it is someone so close to you with such influence on your life. I have know Ilan for many years but have not been so intouch with him in the passed years. We have many mutual friends and I don't think that I know of anyone who was so liked and appreciated by anyone who met him even if it was for just a few minutes. He was my brother's counselor on a 2 month program here in Israel, his brother was my other brother's counselor in camp. You are correct, if you are Jewish you must somehow be connected to the Tokayers. When he was in New Zealand I gave him tips where to go and I really hope that he got the most out of his trip there. I was so jealous that he got to spend so much time in the place that I love the most...
ReplyDeleteHe will be missed by all those that he has touched, with his smile, his sense of humor and his amazing knowledge.