(Saturday March 17th, 2012)
This morning I woke up feeling as if my legs were made out of flesh and boulder rather than bone. My alarm screamed at me multiple times to wake up but it was to no avail. I felt as if my body had aged 50 years overnight. I guess that's what you get for a sore lack of preparation. As I've previously mentioned, yesterday contained one of the many 'firsts' in my life. Yesterday I participated in the Jerusalem 2012 marathon by running the 10K, and what an experience it was! I woke up yesterday morning, with a tinge of hope that maybe I'd be sick enough to throw up, so that I would have a legitimate excuse not to participate in the race that day. Alas, it didn't happen. As I proceeded to get ready for the race and slogged my way up to breakfast, I repeatedly thought to myself, "Why in the world did I agree to this?" But, even though doubtful thoughts penetrated my mind, my body sort of turned on to auto pilot and before I knew it I was in a van on the way to the 10k. We arrived at the park we were told to meet at for the starting point a few hours before the race actually started, roughly around the time some of our fellow students and one of our teachers were starting the half marathon. Props to those 5! As I was running the course and saw the diverting signs for the 'halfers', I just kept thinking to myself how grateful I was that I did not have to run that course. A few other students and I wandered around in the muddy park and were actually able to see the first 10 or so place finishers of the full marathon. The first place finisher had a time of 2 hours, 19 minutes, and 51 seconds. Are you kidding me? A full marathon in less than two and a half hours? I had no idea that was impossible, but I've got to say, I was pretty impressed! If only I had the ability to do that. Watching all those men run past the finish line got me to thinking, "I wonder how many miles they've ran in their life?" It's certainly got to be a whole lot. Someone doesn't just get that good at running that quick or that easily. There was for sure a lot of training that went into that. Well, eventually it came time for the race to start. I made a stop in the restroom and came out to find that the rest of my group was already down at the starting line. Normally this wouldn't phase me but when you're constantly with at least 2 other people whenever you're outside the center (missionaries would understand the feeling), it's a little unnerving to be alone. I was eventually able to find the tent where I could check my bag in and was on my way down the the starting line. Half-way there I remembered that I forgot the inhaler I borrowed from my roommate (because I lost mine at Petra) in the bag I checked. Tempted to just proceed to the race and just deal with the extra difficulty of not having used an inhaler, I turned back around and retrieved the inhaler (which ended up to be a good choice). I was rushing to the finish line after that and got there just as the runners were passing the starting line. I was in the back of the herd, away from my friends which wasn't terrible but wasn't ideal either. The weather yesterday in Jerusalem was not great either. We ran in rain, hail, and up and down so many hills. At the beginning of the race I honestly contemplated turning back, because I was almost sure that there was no way I could complete this race. The most training I'd done was eating one cup of hot milk instead of two in the Oasis (the cafeteria here in the center) and occasionally taking the stairs instead of the elevator from the 6th to the 8th floor. I was, however, able to push my ill-trained body on and eventually made it to the finish line. I am proud to say that I did not walk one step of that race (although sometimes my jogging was slower than others walking pace). I really did end up having a lot of fun though, and seeing some of my friends from the Jru Center waiting for me at the finish line was totally worth it. However impossible it may sound, I actually was able to learn a lot from the experience. 1: You are capable of more than you know. I did not think that I would be capable of running the whole entire time, I thought for sure that I would have to walk a lot of it, but through perseverance, mind power, and believing in myself, I was able to reach my goal. 2: Preparation is essential. Although I was able to run the whole race, it was not easy. If I would have been conscientious in my preparation and started running a little more and more each day to build up my endurance, I could have run that race without so much difficulty and finished much quicker. 3: There are always going to be storms and trials in life, but the hour is darkest right before the dawn. It was raining on and off throughout the race and at one point it even started hailing. There was one point in the race that I just closed my eyes because of all the rain, and just opened my eyes every now and again to make sure I was staying on the right path. That also taught me that sometimes you just need to put your trust in God, do all you can do, then just close your eyes and let him take control.
The first place finisher!
Cousin Jon helping me out onto the boards
Sunset on the beach at one of our hotels 
The infamous Brother (Doctor) Chapman
Nicaea, where the council of atook place, which was a council made to 
