unbroken ^_^

insanity! waking up at five, in the middle of good sleep for the first time in ages, was killer. getting ready was a bit rushed - and remembering far too late that i'd forgotten to bring a hat, a small bag, and chap-stick (my lips are now burned) didn't help me de-stress.

the ride was pretty, unfortunately what appeared to be mist turned out to be dust, and it sat on us pretty heavily the entire morning. my lungs burned for most of the first half.
i arrived in time to sign up (*phew* - the website said "registration closed" last night and i wasn't 100% sure), blow off the girl at the registration desk when she inquired as to the location of my helmet (also in tel aviv), and head out to join the first group.

the first wave was way too fast a pace for me, which shows how much i needed to train these past few weeks. unfortunate. after a while i came upon a couple of guys with that girl from the other day (heeblet), and joined her and one of the others until we hit an uphill. she disappeared (pulled ahead of us in a rather embarrassing fashion), and we began the climb.

from that climb until about five kilometres towards the end, we struggled. the roads on awful were average, the heat was searing, i had some difficulty with my pulse and my blood pressure along the way, and towards the end an evil wind came up, blasting us randomly.

that wind came up exactly as we hit a beautiful, steep, and surprisingly smooth downhill. at first it pushed us forward with extraordinarily pleasing power, but as we reached the dip at the bottom it smacked into us from the left, almost sending us both into the air at rather high speed.

that downhill was a serious rush, though, and it made most of the discomfort on the way completely and utterly worth it }:D

most of the morning everyone who passed us commented admiringly and disbelievingly, and there was a great sense of camaraderie throughout. i made a boo-boo, though. i pulled out and didn't see that there was a woman coming up behind me, and i misheard her when she complained and responded to "you think you own the road? that you don't have to beware of people behind you?" with "for sure!". when i discovered afterwards what she'd said, i felt like a heel but it was too late to apologize :(

we also did a good deed today - some girl lost touch with her sister, and we managed to find her to pass along a message. she was so excited!

we finished in a better time than i'd anticipated, 4:11, and after grabbing our medallions and lucky packets (i exaggerate a little) joined the rest of the group. i'm still very glad that although i've been called "foolish brave" for having started with worn wheels (what? i haven't changed them through three of these things!), i left with far less damage than most of the others. from roasties to blisters to solid smacks on the jaw, and i who was complaining about a damaged tendon was all good.

muscle strain, yes, but all good. i was amused to discover that the growth on my tendon is something that a lot of the group has... it's probably because this is my first year taking the group and all its extras seriously. so maybe surgery isn't necessary - two pairs of socks and i had nothing to worry about :)

as for heeblet, it turns out she also suffers from low blood pressure and we sat laughing and exchanging war stories from the road. i was distracted by a sudden, highly aggravated argument with the guy who runs the rollerblade store - the guys disagree vehemently with his attitude towards beginners, and a lot of interesting tidbits were flung around. in short, i can be very glad that my first blades were oxygen x₂'s :) [at least, i think that was the model. you try finding a list of models from the mid-90's. if you succeed: *PLEASE* send it over!!]

my cousin and her daughter came to pick me up, and we drove through to a fantastic hummus place (we were there a few years back, i'm still traumatized from having spilled coffee on the easily traumatized). the food was amazing - they did us a special favour and served us in spite of the fact that they were closed - and a perfect way to end the morning.

we were accompanied the whole way by simon and garfunkle (yay! car sing-along!), and as soon as we arrived i hit the shower and am feeling great! i think i've gotten all the lunchtime caffeine out of my system, which means only one thing - nap time. i think it's well-deserved, today.