At end of April, Ryan and I participated in a charity bike ride to raise money for sustainable development programs in Darfur, Sudan. Riding along with fellow Marshall scholar Dan Weeks, the ride went across Scotland from east to west, from Northern Ireland to Dublin, and then from North Wales all the way south to Oxford. Along the way we camped, enjoying both fair weather and torrential downpours! We covered more ground on this trip than Ryan and I had ever done before in one week straight, averaging more than 50 miles per day! Unfortunately, due to problems with my left knee that were making riding very painful, Ryan and I caught a train and returned to London only halfway through the trip, as with the marathon coming up I didn't want to injure myself. Still, we had a fantastic time and enjoyed a lot of beautiful scenery. Dan continued on without us and finally rode into Oxford exhausted and happy 6 days later.
Pausing for a picture in southern Scotland.Last Sunday I ran the Isle of Wight Marathon. Ultimately, this marathon was very different from my first experience in Edinburgh. Aside from the radically different course and weather, it was a very small race with less than a hundred runners. Often I was by myself running along the side of the road out in the country. Because of this I found it to be a very psychological race, where I had to draw deeply on my own will to just keep going and to create from within my own excitement and enthusiasm for what I was undertaking. In many ways it was not as fun as Edinburgh, but in the aftermath I feel that I was a real opportunity not just to test myself physically, but to dig deep mentally and discover more about who I really am. If you want to learn something new about yourself, I highly recommend running a marathon!
As expected, the Isle of Wight was a REALLY tough race, which over the course of 26 miles included more than 1500 feet of hill climbing! However, what really made it difficult was the HEAT. After training all winter in pleasantly cool if not cold weather, it was a huge shock to my system to be running in 80 degree heat under the full sun! As a result, it was a major struggle throughout the race to keep from overheating and likewise because my body was working much harder than usual from trying to keep cool I had to run considerably slower. A second problem was my left foot, which I managed to sprain very badly about half way through. By mile 20 I was in terrible pain and did have to walk a couple miles, but thinking I was just suffering from bad cramps in the sole of my foot, I was determined to finish and in the end ran the last 4 miles pretty solidly. Ultimately, despite all these problems I managed to finish the race in about 5 hours 45 minutes. This was considerably slower that my goal, and much slower than my training times, but in the end, considering how difficult the conditions ended up being, I felt like it was a real victory!!
Crossing the finish line!Now almost a week later I am slowly on the mend. My legs are just fine, though my foot is very much injured and requiring a lot of r & r. Hopefully if I stay off of it, I will be able to go back to running again in a few weeks.
Thanks to everyone who sponsored me for this race! When the going got really tough it made a big difference to know I was running for a good cause. If you haven't yet, you are still welcome to make a donation. Just check out my last post for instructions. Also, I have to send out a major thank you to Ryan and his parents, who are visiting the UK, for taking the time and resources to drive down to the Isle of Wight and act as my support crew!
Aside from the big news of the marathon, there has also been lots of other things going on! As already mentioned, Ryan's family is here staying with us and traveling around the UK. Last week we went to see Stonehenge and this weekend we are up in Edinburgh. It has been more than a year since we last saw his family and so it has been a massive treat to have them with us.
Finally, in the realm of my studies, I have just received the fantastic news that two different essays of mine are going to be published in peer-reviewed academic journals. The first, "Speaking of 'Respect for Women': gender and politics in US foreign policy discourse 2001-2004" will be published in the journal of the Women's Studies Association, and the second "Utilitarianism and Human Rights" will be published in Rerum Causae, the philosophy journal of the LSE. This is a massive thrill for me, for as a student it seems like I am pouring my soul into writing things constantly but never getting any pay off in terms of actually contributing to the world of knowledge in a meaningful way. Having two very different pieces selected for publication in such a short period is more than I could ever ask for. This has been a major boost as I set about working on my dissertation, which this year is going to be on the use of torture in the "war on terror" and the implications this poses for the future of human rights as a basis for a universal moral framework.
As always, Ryan and I hope you all are happy and well wherever in the world you may be.
Peace and love,
Alletta
