K'Kros Ha'Gever

This morning's group Long Distance run was scheduled to be 17.2km. Yes, that is what I ran last week, but that was a mistake because we got lost. We were meant to run 15km last week. Today's route was the same trail as last weeks trail, just with the end point 2.5km further down the road.

We ran the trails behind the various Moshavim of Tzafririn, Roglit, Neveh Michael, Adulam and Aderet. The trail itself is called Churvat Midrasim - the Midrasim Ruins, and we pass on the trail something called Churvat Itri - the Itri Ruins.

The run was very good. Because we already were familiar with the route I paid much more attention to the area around. It is really a beautiful area, with the fields and vineyards. The temperature was a bit warmer today, but the sky was cloudy so the sunrise was less spectacular.

As we began our run past a moshav, we could hear the roosters start the cackling. As the gemara talks about daybreak being k'kros ha'gever - when the rooster begins calling. You generally don't hear that anymore, now that we generally live in cities instead of in an agronomical society. But running behind the moshavim provides that opportunity to hear the calls of nature.

We were a small group today - only 6 of us showed up for the novice run. The advanced runners group had a larger crowd (we passed each other in the middle). So we kind of split up into two groups - the faster group and the slower group. I felt like I could run a bit faster much of the way, but I did not want to separate too much from our group.

This time we did not get lost. We made the turn in the right place. It was very interesting running past the sattelite dishes from the backside rather than from the highway side, as I am used to passing them.

We came out of the trails at the entrance to Aderet, and ran the last 3 or so km on the highway back to where the cars were parked.

One more thing - I carried a small bottle of water, but I really wanted to see if I could do the 17km without needing it. I do not like running while carrying the bottle, but I did it hoping that I would realize next week I do not need it. I ended up carrying it the whole way and not drinking from it at all.

The final numbers were 17.68km at an average pace of 6.27/km.