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14 miles is the new "short run"

March 2, 2019 (Morning)

Exercise Type: Run

Comments:
Okay, medium run is more like it. I was originally planning to split today into two runs, but then I decided it would be really cool if I could reach 100 miles for the week solely off of once-a-day runs, a feat I've never done before (I think my record off of once-a-days is 90). I made a point of keeping it slow and avoiding hills, but at times my curiosity got the better of me and found myself going up up up to explore some unfamiliar street or to see if two villages really were connected, as Strava's map claims and google maps denies. Along the way, I witnessed a flood of people at two different Serbian Orthodox cemeteries placing flowers on the graves, burning incense, and eating and drinking in small groups at the grave site. I'd never seen anything quite like it--perhaps its a holiday? I did my best observe from a respectful distance without making obvious. I also managed to peek inside a little Orthodox Church which has a gorgeous mosaic over the door of St. George slaying the dragon and gold icons inside that positively glistened in the dark. It was really impressive. Wish I could have gone in, but I didn't think that would be respectful in my running clothes. I did watch a couple of older Serb women go in and come out, and noted how they bowed, kissed the door, and presumably said some prayers. The priest came down from the cemetery while I was standing in the courtyard and went to wash his boots (or maybe his hands and face) in some sort of ritual-looking fountain or spigot in the yard.

After that I found myself at Yugoslav WWII memorial I jogged around several times, though almost always in the dark. Some friends went there recently and were telling me about, so I thought I'd finally take this opportunity to explore it in depth. There's an impressive statue of a woman with her fist raised at one end of the park. I wish I knew what exactly it was about. Much of the park is covered in graffiti and overgrown, in part because it lies just meters over the border in the Republika Srpska province, and the Serbs are not such big fans of Yugoslavism these days. There were several bouquets placed there yesterday on Bosnia's Independence Day, including one which if the label is to be believed, was placed by Zeilko Komsic, the Croat member of the 3-person Bosnian Presidency and the only one to hail from a multi-ethnic party. The park is terraced and on each level are dark marble or granite panels with names carved into them recounting those who died in WWII in alphabetic order by last name. I immediately noticed that a lot of the first names on one of the lower panels sounded Jewish. The last names were ambiguous since many Sephardi Jews and Muslims alike have Arabic-sounding names, but there were at least two families in the A section for whom all the first names were Jewish. So apparently this memorial included Holocaust victims and not merely partisan fighters. I took some pictures of texts on the pillars that seemed to indicated what it was all about, and hopefully will translate it or get someone to translate it for me in the coming days.

My last unexpected surprise was coming upon a farmer's market in Dolac Malta where the fruit and veggies looked exceptionally healthy and delicious for this time of year. I thought it might make for a memorable experience to run the last 2 miles carrying groceries, I went ahead and bought all the produce I'd need for the week. This turned out to be a bit much and essentially left me unable to swing my arms for the next 20 minutes, but I managed. All in all, a pleasing run!