I listened to Tajik singer Shabnam Surayyo's new song, Diva, which is playing in every single taxi. I can't escape it! The lyrics say, "It's late, too late, there's no more hope of agreement between your heart and mine/That's enough, it's over." Here's a link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xr5DA1MbZXU
At the half-marathon race, I met three people who inspire me. The first was an 86 year-old runner from rural Tajikistan. He finished the race right after me! He told me he only started running when he was 65 years old. The second was Tajikistan's only Olympic gold medalist, Dilshod Nazarov, who won the gold medal in the hammer throw in 2016 and is also an activist against domestic abuse. The third was a female runner from Iran, Hajjar, who trains in her home city of Shiraz even though women are sometimes not allowed to run outdoors in her country.
I'm reading a book by Kurt Vonnegut called "Cat's Cradle."
This week I ran in a half marathon race -- that's 13.1 miles. If you remember, I was in a car accident six weeks ago, and I haven't been able to train for the race. The day of the race it was sunny and blazing hot. I didn't know if I was going to be able to finish -- but I did! I ran the race in 1:49 (one hour and 49 minutes), which is far from my best time. But I was happy to be running at all. Here I am crossing the finish line: https://youtu.be/1phY8MGVy9Q
