This week’s long run

I’ve still been running, but I’ve cut down on my photo stops lately, so there haven’t been as many of these posts. That being said, I couldn’t help myself this week, since yesterday we had a bit of a storm, and all throughout the run I could see its aftermath.

The beach was still partly flooded and the waves made short work of the breakers.

Crows taking advantage of fallen trees.

Gulls and waterfowl really enjoyed the weather – not a lot of people about, and the tide brought quite a bit up with it.

A little over 8k on an enjoyable and interesting run in almost perfect running weather.

Underwear Race

Ran a 5k in a memorial charity “Underwear Race” to raise awareness for colon cancer prevention. It was wonderfully organised, a fun and colourful race in perfect running weather. We all got colourful underwear to wear over our tights (some put it on their head). Two clowns ran around the pre-race crowd, a polyp in rollerblades that cackled and hugged people, and a “doctor” in scrubs that chased after him. There was great music at the starting line, the runners were all amped up, but lovely people (no pushing, a lot of positive interactions with people in the park), and the course was a runner’s dream (flat and wide and beautiful). A “must repeat” race for me in 2018.

This weekend’s runs

Ran a 4K yesterday and a 7k today. Getting back on track after a November of travelling, and feeling pretty good about it.

Last night there was a photo shoot at the deserted beach. It wasn’t particularly cold, but it was windy. Must have made it an interesting time for the photographers, with all that sand blowing about.

Went on an early run this morning, but because of the cloud cover I couldn’t get any good shots of the sunrise.

This evening…

… I didn’t feel like going for my scheduled 5k because it was hot, and I spent most of the day on my feet at a friend’s wedding, so I was tired and pretty sore. But I dragged my ass to the gym, put in my 5k (I hate treadmill runs), and was rewarded with this view on my way back:

There’s never a run that’s not worth it.

The State of Affairs

I’ve been running 25k per week for a few weeks now, with a 10k long run included.
I’ve started doing daily push-ups for the past week (30 per day). I still need to get back to doing strength exercises.
I’ve been reading a lot more and writing a lot more. After a bit of a slump, I decided to give the Streaks app a chance. It’s been helping keeping me on track so far.
My second draft has been going in some ways better than expected, in others worse. I hated rewriting my university papers, and I thought that rewriting a 120K word novel would be a pain, but for some reason it isn’t a hassle at all. The first four chapters were simple fixes, but I hit a giant plot hole that I hadn’t noticed once I reached chapter 5. I trashed chapter 5 and chapter 6 completely, writing them from scratch (on the bright side they’re much shorter and better now), and it looks like chapter 7 is going to have to undergo the same treatment. Writing a novel is a process, and I’ve learned a few things about writing since I started, which means that scenes that I wrote almost two years (!) ago just don’t work right now. At least I’m enjoying the process so far, though it is a rather lonely one.
Gratuitous photo of a gorgeous Tel Aviv summer sunset from yesterday’s 7k:

This Week’s Long Run

Started early today, and once again was rewarded by pretty magnificent sights.

The geese were out in force, entirely fearless, grazing wherever they pleased.

Isn’t that view magnificent?

A man fed a group of stray cats and night herons before sitting down to fish. The cats had the good sense to keep a wary distance from these well-armed birds.

A night heron between the rushes.

A total of 10k run today, 5k run yesterday and 25k run this week. Not bad at all.

Summer sunset

Taken on a humid and crowded 6k run on the Tel Aviv promenade. No better view to be had.

This Week’s Long Run

Woke up at 5AM to go out for a 10k run, leaving at 5:30, while it was still cool and dark.

The sun starting to rise, 3k into the run, lighting up the water in pink and gold. My legs were tired from yesterday’s 5k, but the view made this run worth while.

That is just breathtaking.

The park was very peaceful in the morning, and a friendly walker admired the sunrise with me, cheering me on.

Sunrise peering over the trees — my phone camera is doing it no justice.

I love that the little heron is waiting for the fishermen to fail.

Little herons fishing for themselves for a change.

That’s 10K done, most of it before sunrise. I ran 25k this week, the most ever — super proud of myself, and totally worth the early Saturday wake up.

This Week’s Long Run

Started out extra early (before 6AM), since it was going to be a super hot day.

The sun had just come up, the promenade was practically deserted (early morning on a Saturday will do that for you), and the air was relatively cool, though still humid.

I wasn’t the only one enjoying the early morning breeze — these little guys were taking cover from the sun by the time I ran back.