Last week I ran my last race of the season, the Tel Aviv Half Marathon. And as I did in all of races I ran this year (4 half marathons, 1 marathon, 1 10k race and my first 15K race), I set a new personal record: 1:36:06. The race was great and it was a great way to finish a fantastic period of running. My progress has a lot to do with hard work and self-discipline, waking up early most days, eating correctly and living more of an athlete’s lifestyle than I ever have. It also has a lot to do with my coach who made me believe that...

When the alarm went off at 4:45 yesterday morning I wasn’t sure what was happening. It took me a couple of minutes to get myself out of bed. I wake up early most mornings but it’s never easy, and  Wednesdays are always the hardest (being the third consecutive running day of the week – then a break). I got up, made myself a cup of coffee and checked my blood sugar which was a little higher than usual (184). I got dressed and prepared for my run – a 9 mile tempo at my half marathon pace (with a warm up and cool...

Tel Aviv is normally a very hot place. The summer sun is brutal, and it’s humid, however, winters are relatively warm and comfortable with very few rainy days. But this year has been totally different. It is the worst winter we’ve had since 1992 (which was the coldest recorded winter ever). It‘s been cold and rainy for the most part since December. The last week has been consistently stormy, and as Friday’s half marathon approached, what seemed like a great idea a month ago seemed not so great anymore. But the weather...

Yesterday, I had the privilege of running around Seattle’s Fremont neighborhood in some combination of my underwear.  Don’t worry; I was not alone.  In fact, I was joined by at least a couple-few hundred people, all of whom were scantily clad and jumping up and down to keep warm.  The purpose?  Cupid’s Undie Run to benefit the Children’s Tumor Foundation.  While this didn’t quite stop traffic the way I was expecting, it was still a hilarious sight to see hundreds of people–released from the...

Last Thursday I ran the Tiberias Marathon (again). The weather forecast predicted a storm for marathon day. On the drive up to Tiberias the day before the marathon the sky was gray and it looked as if a big storm was coming in. When I arrived at the hotel it was raining hard and it rained the whole night before the marathon. (Nervous, I woke up a few times during the night, checked my blood sugar, and checked the rain.) When I woke up at 6:00 a.m., three hours before the race, it looked like the forecast was right and that instead...

Diabetes Taperitis is not an actual medical condition, but it describes quite well what I’ve been going through during the past few days. The Tiberias marathon is three days away and as it approaches I feel myself getting more and more nervous. It’s been two and a half weeks since my last long run and I have been having doubts about my ability to run a marathon. Saturday after I ran 10 miles at a comfortable pace I got into the elevator in our building and looked at myself in the mirror. All I could think was:  Are you out...

I am four weeks away from the Tiberias Marathon and one week from tapering. This is supposed to be my peak training week in which I run 60+ miles including a 24 mile run (plus a warm up). This morning I was supposed to run 15 miles, 13 of them at my marathon pace. But everything went wrong. Last night Jessica and I ate a relatively light and late dinner last night after spending a few hours in the ER with Adam who has had a very high fever for four days.  Since Adam had pneumonia just three weeks ago the doctor wanted to make sure...

Since going on the pump I’ve been trying to relearn my body and the way it burns sugars while I run. I did an experiment like this once before when I was training for the 2011 Tiberias marathon (a year ago).  At the time I was injecting insulin (MDI). It took a while but within a few months I had it down to a science, well may be not a science, but I was very confident and didn’t feel like I needed to check my blood sugar during races. Now, since going on the pump, I feel as if it is totally random and chaotic. Sometimes my blood...

Whenever I run a race, no matter what the distance, I always want to do better than before.  I want to set a new personal record. It doesn’t matter how much better, as long as I shave off a little time from my previous time. It’s as if the last race is always a bench mark for the next. (Had I started racing when I was in my 20’s this would not be possible.)  Although I know there is a limit on how fast I can be, and that one day I will run my fastest marathon, half or 10K, I think I will always feel this way when I compete. I...

One of my basic running rules is to try to get a good night’s sleep on the night before a race.  But, on Monday night that was pretty much impossible.  A few nights ago, Jessica decided to stop nursing Adam.  To say the least, he’s having a hard time with it.  But, at two-and-a-half, we figure it’s fair enough to wean him.  And in response to this, he is pretty much saying the toddler version of “f-you!”  So since there’s been very little sleeping going on over the last few days and a lot...