Running with the Bulls

Today after my brutal 5 hour marathon of classes I decided that running through the park would wake me up, and help me cope with the copious amounts of hummus, pita and chocolate milk I've been enjoying these past few weeks. I set off while most of my classmates were sitting in The Palestinian-Israeli Conflict course. With Lady Gaga in my ear and my legs enjoying their exposement to the crisp Winter air, a frigid 60 degrees, I walked out of my dorm, crossed the street and began my run. Since it was a Monday afternoon, the park and running trail was virtually empty. With the exception of a scattered amount of 65 year old women with short, curly hair, dressed in brightly-colored velvet or swishy track suits and the occasional runners my age, who, (because of a poorly made schedule last semester, being bed-ridden all of my winter break, orientation, and the week it took me to adjust to life here,) passed me with ease- it was just me and the track.

But back to these people that I speak of. People...Israeli women my age are one year out of the army. This means that the men and women who run beside me at one point in the not so distant past yielded a gun, and could probibly cause a great deal of pain if I ever wanted to be the tool who blocked their path. All the Americans in the program have a certain level of fascination by the effect of conscription in this country. Even running through the park, you can see the effects in, or how conscription is built into daily life. Not only are there young, fit runners at all hours, but in this large park there is always a childrens playground within an eyeshot of any given point, and when we were in Jerusalem, we even saw a slide/playstructure that was 5 stories tall. Most of us climbed up, and the slide down was worth it, but seeing all this play equiptment shows that children here are not preparing themselves to sit at a computer when they graduate high school.

Even adults have their own set of 'play equiptment' in the park, which I tried out this afternoon as I took a break from my run. All people living in Israel have access to these public gyms. I've seen 3 separate sets in the park, all about half a mile apart. they are simple machines, whose resistance is based on the user's weight. At home i'm pretty outgoing in the weightroom. I don't mind standing next to the guys lifting 50+ weights as I struggle with 15 and 20, or waiting my turn for machines where I have to drastically decrease the weights, or even running next to someone who, as their monitor shows, has already spent an hour running 7.0 mph. I've accepted that i'm not the strongest of other people at Cole's gym, and i've been ok with it. Now, however, the person who passes me on the track, or who is using the pullup bar 3 machines over has been to boot camp, and has spent the last 2 or 3 years defending her country, and now I feel inadaquate, even if I seem to be using the machines with ease.

I guess when I look at the whole picture, just about everybody who lives in Israel has served in the army, and there are always hints and references to 'back in the army days.' I didn't realize how close it was until I saw it in the park. And to think...all my newfound insecurities while running may have been because I never grew up with a five-story slide.