It’s color-coded blue and in each entry I mapped out my workouts through the Bible Marathon, which is set to take place on September 24, 2021 – barring any COVID-19 surprises.
The Bible Marathon is like the race of races. It is almost all uphill through the winding hills of the Shomron. The sun rises as you take off and burns down on your face by the time you enter the ancient-modern vineyards.
You have to run one-lane through the twisting, rocky mountains, and you finish through an arch built like in Temple times, with men dressed in white robes “shofaring” you through.
I’ve run the 5K, the 10K and the half-marathon. Last year, before the coronavirus hit, I was planning to run the full marathon. But my plans – like the rest of the world’s – were obviously altered.
This year, I decided that I would run the half-marathon again and then run the Jerusalem Marathon in the spring.
I’ve been running since I was in high school. The sport has become an addiction, like writing or Coke Zero or quality red wine.
My morning run is so important to me that I am sometimes willing to endure Tel Aviv traffic jam just to squeeze it in before my commute. Running is like that first cup of coffee – don’t talk to me until I’ve run. My husband has learned not to ask me for anything before the endorphins have kicked in – at least if he wants me to say yes.
But even with the discipline of hitting the road each morning but Shabbat, I still need this training calendar to prepare for the half, because it will keep me accountable.
Did I do a hills workout this week? Fartlek training – Swedish for “speed play” or interval training?
How long does my long run really need to be to ensure my base is strong enough to keep me smiling ‘till the finish line?
And there are always those days when I am just too busy and it’s easier to give up the run than the deadline, or I am so tired and I could easily convince myself that skipping a run won’t really put me in a bad mood and leave me deflated all day (until, of course, it does).
Plus, I love the feeling of opening and closing a task. Of crossing something off my list. Of looking back and remembering how far I’ve come.
Write it down and it’s real.
List art carries into all areas of my life.
At work, I map project plans and complete them.
At home, I make weekly menus and prepare them.
I keep an ongoing to-do list in a Google Doc, too, and I move it around each morning, adding new items and moving the old ones up or down based on priorities.
When I finish a task, I delete it and the list gets shorter.
I used to add things to the list like “shower/dress” – as if I would forget to do that! – just so I could cross it off. I don’t do that anymore and I have never shown up to work naked.
But it keeps me organized and honest. Driven. Determined.
The blue running calendar is built around daily training runs that will allow me slowly to build up again to 21.1 kilometers. But it centers around time.
My days are built based on a pile of puzzle pieces that are called meetings and tasks. I plot them out and then determine how long the day has to be.
Will I get up at 2 a.m. or 3:30 a.m.? Can I wait to run until 5:30 a.m. and still be driving by 6:15 a.m. or is today an hour run, which means I need to be on the road by 5 a.m.?
If I am planning to leave vegetable curry in the crockpot, how long will the preparation take?
Does one of the kids have a school project due? Do I have an article or project deadline I cannot miss?
Sometimes, I even put time-it-will-take plus 10% next to each entry to figure out how I can best maximize my day.
I average an eight- to eight-and-a-half-minute mile on my training runs so I use that to determine distance. And it usually works.
Now that we have a break from COVID-19 here in Israel, it is time to set some new goals.
It’s April, but the year is really just getting started.
My new sky-blue running calendar signifies the vast possibilities that this year holds.
A year that we all hope will become post-corona not just in Israel but worldwide.
A year that will give mankind back all the things that this running calendar is going to give me: health, happiness and something to look forward to.
The writer is head of strategy and coronavirus analyst for The Jerusalem Post.