running in the kibbutz

What are those surprised faces? Of course I am running in the kibbutz! 

Admittedly I left Newcastle with the mindset I won't be training or even running for the whole summer. However, I packed my running gear and the will to sneak in some miles whenever it was possible.

It turned out that Giv'at Oz is not a bad place at all to run.

after my first run on Israeli ground

First, the temperature drops enough with sunset (or before sunrise) to run without melting. Secondly, my work is not too exhausting and I still have the energy to run at the end of the day. Last but not less importantly, I have some running buddies (yay)!! For a fortunate stroke of chance, both Sophia and Fia are keen to run and are currently trying to improve their running. At the moment Fia manages between 1 and 2 laps of the perimeter of the kibbutz (around 2.4 km each) and she is increasing slowly as she runs with barefoot Vibrams while Sophia can do 3 quite comfortably. I normally add 1 or 2 laps at each end. 

We are allowed to run only inside as it is considered too dangerous for us to go around by ourselves (especially given the present circumstances). The lap is long enough to not feel like a goldfish in a tank and is made challenging by the presence of 2 hills, a very good training for the Great North Run and the upcoming x-country season.

At the weekend, some of the lone soldiers come running with us. Out of the 3 soldiers who joined us on my first weekend here, only Marc is keeping up running with the girls.

Tonight Sophia managed to run 10 km for the first time. I am very proud of her and her improvement over the past few weeks. On our first run together she kept saying she hated me, tonight she ran the 4 laps and a bit with great ease and a big grin on her face.

sweaty proud faces!

 It was such a great run in the quiet of the young night, spent in comfortable silence with only the noises of the kibbutz and our steps on the gravel path in the background.

I will miss running with Sophia. Her dedication to running and the determination with whom she ran up and down the hills are really inspiring: running at the beginning is very hard and the course here is a tough one but she kept going! It is always amazing to see someone improving their running and slowly falling in love with this sport which means so much to me. And if I feel I had contributed to it even only a little bit, I am happy.

How is your summer running going? Are you training for autumn races or racing all over?