The day has arrived and I’m up for the challenge of the Nike 10 km marathon here in Tel Aviv.  I don’t expect to be very fast and in the end I’ll be massively winded and sore, but I’ll finish.  (Yes, Aunt S, please don’t tell me J’s 10 km time until afterwards.)

I’ve heard that other cities who are participating in the Human Race are broadcasting it live via the web but I still haven’t received confirmation that Tel Aviv will do that as well.  Just in case, here’s the website address that it’ll most likely be (if they do it at all):

http://nikerunning.co.il/humanrace/index.asp

I’ll start running at 12:45 pm CST (that’s 8:45 pm Tel Aviv time).  Chicago will be participating at the exact same time so I expect to feel Chi-town vibes all the way across the Atlantic!

Lastly, E’s bringing her camcorder to film the event as we’ve decided to make a clip about the experience.  It’s guaranteed to be an amazing event/experience/challenge.  Just take a look at last years 10k marathon!

In 2007, It was called the Nike Tel Aviv Night Run:

Popularity: 10% [?]

Today, Israel won its first (and most likely, only) 2008 Olympic medal in Beijing. It was a bronze medal…in windsurfing.

I watched it happen live, of course, this morning (approx. 9am Israel time) and was amazed by the response of the announcers. In the last 5 hours since it was televised live, they have replayed the race at least 4 times. And every time they replay it, I’m shocked by the way the announcers are absolutely SCREAMING when the sailor crosses the finish line. (And you might be able to hear my trying not to laugh in the background…)

Of course, I had to get it on film.

Take a look at what REAL Olympic enthusiasm is:

Note: I was completely alone when I filmed this so any noise you’re hearing is from the television.

Popularity: 20% [?]

A few nights ago, I went online and registered on the Nike Human Race 10k Marathon Israel site.  I didn’t do it before now for a few reasons:

1.  I wanted to train for a few weeks to see if it was even humanly possible for me to do it.

2.  I needed help with the registration since it was all in Hebrew.

I could translate where I should type my name and the t-shirt sizes but thought perhaps I should be sure I wasn’t accidently filling in my phone number where my credit card info should be (and vice versa).  Long story short, E helped with all of the translations and it’s official!

[pic] above: The official registration confirmation all in Hebrew. You can understand my confusion? At least I know my name in Hebrew! And I think the bottom part roughly translates to “Good luck you masochistic American”.

P.S. What a snazzy shirt I’ll be running in!

Popularity: 17% [?]