Tel Aviv Half Marathon

Rob, his dad, and I all raced in the Tel Aviv Half Marathon last Friday. It was felt like a great way to connect with this city, and it was fun to have that shared experience. It was especially more fun once it was over. Why are so many things like that?

For Rob, it was his longest distance run ever. He is a great athlete and a talented sprinter. But he's never understood people who run long distances just for the sport of it. He has mostly held to the belief that you should be running after a ball or running because you're being chased or something purposeful like that. Way back in the day when we were dating, I remember thinking I would impress him when I told him I ran 10 miles that day, but he was just like, "why would anybody do that?". So, perhaps the biggest accomplishment was that his dad somehow convinced him to do this and he agreed.

Rob's dad is over 60 and running half marathons. Need I say more? I will. He was still faster than over half of ALL the runners there (there were several thousand!), and also placed very high in his age group. Rob spent half the day with nausea and headaches, and I felt like I was crippled for the following two days. But Mike acted as if he'd done nothing more than a light morning jog.

For myself, I was very happy, too. Pretty simple training can go a long way. Half of my runs are while pushing the kids in the stroller to the park or a house or where ever we need to go. I use my jogging stroller much more often than the car. I lack the motivation and time and energy to go all nuts about training like I did when I was racing bikes and didn't have kids, I just do what works and feels good now. When I signed up, my only goal was to be fit enough to run the whole thing without feeling like I was going to die at mile 13, and to heck with speed - I just wasn't in the mood. Well, I ran the race in reverse of my initial ideals - of course I went for my best speed (a race is a race) and so of course I wanted to die at the end. I ran one other half marathon race over a decade ago when I was in college, and I'm happy to say that I blew that self away. There is no one so fun to beat as yourself. Especially your idealized college self. Current me and my child bearing body put the hammer down on that girl and I'm feeling pretty good about my 30's and my mom-ness right now. Sure, I was basically crippled going down stairs for a couple of days and my life depended on the railings...but it was totally worth it. Hello thirties, I'm finally ready to acknowledge you!
****Rob's edit:  Lorena got 10th place!!!****

Fantastic post race recovery! Soaking in the cool, salty sea water felt awesome on the legs.