This week’s long run: for the birds
I ran a 5k yesterday, through the late night summer crowds, heat and humidity. It was low tide and a fisherman was out trying his luck at the beach, his footprints crisscrossing the floodlit sand.
Our bright and early for a relatively cool 8k, with some pretty great, no filter opportunities to photograph waterfowl in the sunrise.
Spectacular Sunsets and Landing Planes: 5k Summer Run
Went out for a quick 5k run yesterday, building up my mileage for my September races. Tried a new route, to mix things up a little, and was rewarded with a pretty glorious sunset.
Coffee shops
This page isn’t done yet. I’ll probably add another little sketch to the bottom right.
Waiting…
Stillman and Birn Pocket Alpha, Super5 fountain pen, Rohrer and Klingner Lotte SketchINK and Schmincke watercolours.
Tel Aviv food scene sketches
Three sketches of three different quick food spots in Tel Aviv, before and after applying watercolour. The sketches were done in 5 minutes (for each one), over the past three days. I then took reference photos and applied watercolour at home. The point is to draw more even when I know I have no time to draw.
I used a Stillman and Birn pocket Alpha, a Staedler 0.7 pigment liner (for the first sketch, in the middle of the page), and a Super 5 0.7 fountain pen filled with Rohrer and Kilngner SketchINK Lotte (which is black and permanent). A waterbrush (because I’m going for quick and dirty here, and the Alpha can’t take much water anyway) and my Schmincke watercolours did the rest of the job. The photo came out too dark, but the scans I made of the page were consistently out of focus, so this will have to do for now.
Parakeets in the park
This week’s long run: how to run when you really don’t want to
My mom has some very serious health problems, and that (coupled with some travel) has  made me put my running on a two week haitus. Except for an “angry run” of 4k that turned into 6k, I haven’t been lacing up lately, and that’s not good.
Yesterday I put in a 4k, and as usual after a break, it was pretty rough. Not as rough as I knew this morning’s run would be. It was scheduled to be a 10k, but I dropped it to a 7k, knowing that all things considered even that would be a challenge. I would have to fight my lizard brain all the way through this one, so I would have to use all the tricks I had to get through it:
Trick #1: Remove all obstacles to getting out the door. For me that meant setting an alarm, setting out my workout clothes, and charging my headphones the night before.
Trick #2: Promise yourself something nice once you complete the run. For me it was breakfast at my favourite cafe.
Trick #3: Distraction, distraction, distraction. This is the most important thing, and why I chose a new route, and I saved my favourite podcast (Do By Friday) for this run.
Trick #4: Give yourself a break. I allowed myself to stop for breaks, so long as they were only for a few seconds, and I went right back to running again. I needed to decide this in advance so I wouldn’t feel bad about taking the breaks that I knew that I would need. The point was not to beat myself up for something that couldn’t be helped.
It worked, and I got rewarded with some pretty nifty new views:
Get out there and run. You can crush it, no matter what the little lizard says.
Sleeping cat
At my parents’ house, sketching their cat sleeping.
This week’s long run: clear skies, birds and unbearable heat
Started out earlier than last week, because of the heatwave we’re experiencing now, but still had a hard time running, especially during the last kilometer. Last night’s 5k was also difficult, as it was super humid outside. Breathing water while running is no fun at all.
Started out a little after 6:00 AM, to clear blue skies.
Since I set out earlier than last week, I did get to see some birds out and about. This little egret is a Tel Aviv Port regular, waiting for unlucky fishermen to throw it their little fry.
Near the halfway point I saw a hoopoe, with its unmistakable crown, poking around the grass for insects. It’s our national bird, which is a bit funny, since hoopoes generally migrate to Israel on during the summer.
8 km done and dusted. I had to stop a lot, drink a lot of water, and stop twice to top up my water bottles from water fountains, it was so hot. I’m pleased I got my run in, but I can’t wait for cooler weather. It’s only the beginning of July and the blast furnace that is August still lies ahead… 😅
Writing at Large 