Jerusalem Marathon!!

Talent Show

My job at the JC was to be on the Talent Show committee, so I helped Bethany Greeves (amazing girl, BTW) and a lot of other amazing people put together our Formal Talent Show. Formal in that they were real talents, hehe :) 

I participated in an arrangement of "There is a Green Hill Far Away", which we took from an EFY version. Jane has a beautiful voice, and Matt sang and played the guitar, both wonderfully. David and I played the background string part. It was neat--they changed the words to "There is a green hill near at hand," because Golgotha is a short walk away. It's really an amazing experience to be in the Holy Land, close to all the sites that we read about in the Old and New Testaments. However, we don't have to be in Jerusalem to be near to the Atonement--it is always in our hearts, it is always near at hand :)

I played the cadenza from Fiddler on the Roof!!! WOOOOH, I've always wanted to play that cadenza!! and I PLAYED IT IN JERUSALEM!!! :) It was SWEET! One more thing on my bucket list checked off :) Just a little thought--I absolutely love playing violin, but I am so grateful that I changed my major. I didn't play my best this night, because I was insanely nervous, but I didn't feel too bad about it. There was no pressure for me to be perfect, I was not being graded on my playing, and the amount of hours I practiced it wasn't related to how likely I was to get a job. I think that professional musicians are incredible and dedicated people, but that lifestyle isn't for me. :) I love playing for fun, and I am grateful for the Spirit which conveys the message of music far more than my abilities to play. 

Roommates...

I love my roommates. We have SO MUCH FUN together. It was Thursday night, the day I opened my V-day package from Dan, and we were going to have our tradish movie night. Michelle, Lindee, and Sara were still out doing their homework  and I was sitting in my room like an introvert, waiting and waiting for them to come back...Sara came back and we began setting up for the party!! We put all our mattresses in the middle of the floor and sprinkled the chocolate over everything. Lindee and Michelle came back to the apartment to us jumping on the mattresses and screaming "PARTY! PARTY! PARTY!!" We got a picture to document the moment :)

Look at this. Surrounded by the most amazing girls in Jerusalem, all cuddling, lots of food and treats, Rainbowda in my arms, and the "Emperor's New Groove" about to start. This should be a definition of happiness.

We got a picture of how we fall asleep on Thursday movie nights! I love these girls, they are like my sisters :)

A special tribute to Sara--she is incredible. I think that the man that marries her will be one of the luckiest people in the world. She is smart, spiritual, gorgeous, sassy, fun, sincere, compassionate, considerate, hilarious, and best of all--SHE TAKES NAPS. This picture is a tribute to our naps. We always participate in "team nap time". If I ever want a nap but I feel guilty taking one, Sara will take one with me and help me feel better about it. :) She also loves wearing kipas with me, even though we're not supposed to. There is something strangely comforting about wearing a kipa. I love love this girl. :)

Jerusalem Marathon

Let me tell you a story. 

My family is incredibly athletic. Every member of my family is good at one or more sports. I have some siblings that have run marathons, iron man races, bench pressed small elephants, run with strollers, beat everyone in Crossfit, were captains of sports teams, and exercise every day. I AM NOT ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE. I think I've exercised 5 or 6 times since I've been here, hehehe :) My roommates are the same way (team nap time TRUMPS team exercise time). So, naturally, when we heard that there was a Jerusalem Marathon/Half Marathon/ 10K, we signed up to participate. But not wanting to be wussies and sign up for the 10K, we signed up for the Half Marathon. 

Here is the story behind the race.

We went and picked up our packets and shirts at the Knessent the night before the race. Some people actually trained for this Half, like Camilla, on the left. Some people, like Michelle and I, prepared by eating chocolate. Every day. 

Skylar, Camilla, Lizzy, Michelle, Sierra, Spencer, Kari.

Me. My very very first race. At least, the first race where I actually planned to run most of the time. How epic is this opportunity? Running a race in the streets of Jerusalem!

Not everyone is pictured here, but it's most of the people who ran the half. Skylar, Michelle, Camilla, Lindee, Sara, Hannah, McCall, Sierra, Tyler, Lizzy, Spencer. Ragan and Janessa and a couple others are missing from this picture. I have a special bond with these people--those who pain together, stay together.

We also ate a pasta dinner at the Knesset  in preparation for our HUGE energy expenditure the next morning. There were some photographers (getting pics and stuff for future publicity, I assume) that LOVED all the American blonde girls in our group. They interviewed everyone and took TONS of pictures of us doing everything. Ha ha, I hope we're on the cover of the Jeru Marathon pamphlet next year :)

The morning of the Half. We woke up SO EARLY, and none of us got a good night's sleep because we were all TERRIFIED of what the next day would hold. We ate a teeny breakfast and were ready to go by like, 6:15 AM. Bleehhh... :)

My roommates and our adopted roommates all got matching t-shirts for the race. Jerusalem! Just do it! May Nike grace my feet with her wings :) Janessa, Lizzy, Sara, Sierra, Lindee, Michelle, Hannah. We all bought running tights together, too. Look how legit and fancy :)

I don't have pictures to document the next couple hours, so I'll give a brief account of what happened :) We took a bus to the Knesset, which is where the race started, but most of the streets were closed off because of the Marathon, which had started earlier in the morning. So our bus driver, very frustrated, dropped us off in the middle of nowhere to try to make our way to the Knesset. SO. Speaking the little Hebrew that we knew, we asked directions from everybody, and walked an extra 2-3 miles to where the race started. What a way to get warmed up for an already eternally long race, eh? :) Good thing was that I made friends with lots of officials along the way, and when I was running the actual race, they all cheered to help me keep going! It was SO fun to see so many people get pumped up for the race! I don't remember how many people participated, but it was literally tens of thousands. There were SO many people there. The set up of the place was super legit. They had stations for bags and stuff, live bands to play music to pump people up, Zumba classes on trampolines, and lots of porta potties. The race itself started with a 3-2-1 GO, lots of music, balloons being released into the sky, and people dressed up as clowns and animals running around and cheering. It was SO fun to be part of such a cool event!!

The race was both hard and easy for me. Easy in that once I started running, I set a good pace and I kept it the whole time. After my legs knew I wasn't going to stop, they just kept pumping, even when my mind and heart weren't in it. I was SUPER impressed by my body's ability to keep running, even when I didn't train at all. Wow, Heavenly Father is a genius for creating such a thing as a body that has a million separate parts that all work together to make a human being! The hard part was that it was boring :) Also, it was hard because Jerusalem has TONS of hills, and we had to run up them. I ran the entire race except at the very end, when the hills killed me. The last 3 or 4 km were hills, and I had to take breaks and walk up them. My knees, typical of the Van De Graaff genes, started to give out and pain me really bad, so I could barely walk, much less run. It was my own fault, of course, because I just ran 13.1 miles cold turkey. 

But I FINISHED. It was such an amazing feeling to have accomplished something like this! Even though every muscle in my body was sore for 5 days after, I ran a Half Marathon, and in Jerusalem! I've never done something like this before, and it was really scary for me, but I'm so grateful that I did it! I got a medal, too, which made me feel really cool :) A victory over my mind, and definitely a motivating experience for me to become a real runner so I can do it again and be better!

This picture accurately depicts how I really felt when I finished. I was exhausted, and promptly ate tons of food and gummy candies. I love that they provide food at the end of races. Best part of the race :)

We all finished the race! We were all winners! I love these girls!

More victory pictures! Michelle, little trooper, ran till she basically passed out. We got to be her crutches for a while. A true Olympian, she was.

A lot of the other students ran the 10k!! These are a bunch of the BYU kids who competed in the races! We all got cool marathon t-shirts! There were a couple of Israeli/Palestinian kids who wanted to be in the picture with a bunch of Americans ;)

This is how I celebrate my victory. A long shower, lots of chocolate, and a huge nap. :)