First of all, Stella is feeling much better. The way it works is like this. Every third Monday she has chemo at the hospital. This makes her “uncomfortable” for about a week. (Note: For those who don’t speak Stella, “uncomfortable” means a state far beyond what any of us could deal with. It’s a bit like when I say the hill we are starting to bike up is “not bad.” Yes, to know the Frankls is to know several unique languages.)

After a week, there is about five days when she is “not 100%.” (Translation: She feels awful.) But then, she gets a bit over a week in which she feels really good. She walks the dog at dawn, cooks, works, and does almost everything she used to do before we were told “the news.”

So right now, in answer to all the questions, she is feeling good and trying to absorb some calories by eating melted Ben and Jerry’s. (Try finding that one in any of the “anti-cancer diet” books.)

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So for the last few days, I have been undecided whether I should run the Jerusalem Marathon. Various things have come up that have made my training almost minimal over the last month. One problem was my toes. Too much running have taken their toll. I have had all sorts of nasty complications. I  had work done on them but since they still didn’t look right, I took a picture today and e-mailed toe shots to my podiatrist and another friend who is a doctor in the Jerusalem area. We had an e-mail discussion and he said that it looked o.k. for me to run. The podiatrist promised to fix them up after the marathon if I damaged them again.

So while I had not decided whether I would in fact run, I figured I should head over the the convention center and pick up my entry materials – just in case I chose to do it.

Then the bomb went off.

Suddenly, my toe problems seem really dumb.

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O.K., so I took a break for a few weeks from writing. After all, nothing ever happens in the Middle East. What did I miss?

Yeah, I know that an angry mob overthrew Mubarak, and others are trying to topple the leadership in Libya, Tunisia, and Neve Daniel. (Can anyone tell me who won the game vote last night, I gotta kinda tired after a few hours. I had this weird dream that some of the most right-wing members of the Yishuv were trying to stop the construction of a new Neve Daniel neighborhood.)

But that’s now why I’m writing now. I figure it would be amiss to just jump in and start writing again without a little personal update. If you are more interested in my ramblings on the insanity of the world, read my rant on the HonestReporting website by clicking  here. I go after the U.N. Human Rights Council, but quite frankly, they’ve become too easy a target.

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A quick update from last week’s post. A representative of the Jerusalem marathon was in Tiveria and told us that they were NOT going to change the route — contrary to media reports. This now seems to be a fight between Meeretz (left-wing Israeli political party) members of the Jerusalem City Council and the Mayor’s office. For the time being, Adidas will stay out. Certainly the publicity does not hurt our cause, so good job to all who sent letters to Adidas.

Now, while that marathon is still 2 months away, let’s talk about Thursday’s Tiveria Marathon. Those who have followed my adventures know that last year, the last half of the marathon was complete hell for me as I misjudged the heat and didn’t drink enough. I ended up dehydrating and almost crawling across the finish line. While I do cherish the fact that I was able to finish, I was quite miserable at my own stupidity. If only I could do it over I thought at the time, I would do it better by being smarter.

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Put Your Foot Down

Adidas, the global sportswear company whose running shoes I have bought for the last time, has decided to join Brazil, Uruguay, and other under-achieving South American countries in a denial of history. Apparently, they demanded that the Jerusalem marathon not pass through any areas of “occupied” Jerusalem. So now, the organizers will make sure that none of us run that close to those “illegal” neighborhoods of the city. (Thanks Israel Matzav.)

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