Ten Mile Run at Hebrew University

Running has been something of a problem here in Jerusalem for a couple of reasons. First, there are not a lot of pedestrian friendly sidewalks--traffic is very busy and people tend to park on the sidewalks. Second, it is rather difficult to get places because of divided neighborhoods, walls, gates and deep ravines alternating with high mountains. What looks like a pleasant 3 mile jog on the map may in reality be a 3 hour ordeal of endurance requiring a bodyguard and a United Nations escort.

Today I decided to try to run around the gated student housing area of Hebrew University. It was a beautiful morning. I rained in the night and the sky was clear with large cumulous clouds. It was cool and windy but exhilerating. I found a large figure eight loop running through the housing area that took me about 7 minutes to run--let's call it 8/10 of a mile. I ran this loop continuously for 90 minutes--let's call that 10 miles.

Interestingly, in 3 weeks of running in Kharkiv, Kyiv and now Jerusalem, I haven't met another single runner.

Breathtaking Run Through 1,500 Years of History

This morning I ran ten complete circuits of a stunningly scenic route that led from my apartment on

Triokhsviatytelska Street, through the Volodymrska Hill Park, outside the monastery walls of St. Michaels of the Golden Domes, and then back down Triokhsviatytelska to the beginning. Total distance is about six to seven miles and took me just over an hour to complete. This run covers nearly 1,500 years of history, from the earliest founding of Kyiv to the present.

The run begins down a long double tree-lined path in the hill park which ends at the Victorian Gazebo and its breathtaking overlook. Along this long sylvan alleyway there are always many walkers, parents or grandparents with baby carriages or young couples. I often see older people feeding the birds out of their hands.

From the gazebo and its lofty prospect, you can see up and down the Dnipro for miles. See also the view of the Pishokhidnyi Footbridge in the background which leads to Trukhaniv Island. To the southeast there is an awesome view of the statute of St. Volodymr, the Baptizer. It was here that Christianity was first brought to eastern Europe and the first baptisms performed in the river below. And it was here in 1991, on the southeast corner of the statue, that a special event occurred which has sacred significance for my faith.

This is the view up the Dnipro from the gazebo, showing the bridges upstream and all of the docks and ships of the river.

The path then heads north from the gazebo past the gates and walls of St. Michaels. Here the golden domes are visible through the winter birch trees in the brilliant sunlight of a snowy morning.

There is a popular playground near the northeast corner of the monastery.

The upper terminus of the Funicular tramway is located next to the rear wall of the monastery near the playground. The lower terminus is adjacent to the Poshtova Ploshcha Metro station.

Next to the monastery on the north are several ministry buildings of the Ukrainian national government, including this flag draped edifice. It was behind this building that I took a picture of the sickle-and-hammer-emblazoned gates a few days ago.

This is the view along the route in front of St. Michaels, with the statue of St. Olga in the foreground and the grand tower of St. Sophia's in the near distance.

The front of St. Michael's is alive with brilliant murals on the outside of the monastery walls. This is me with a "cloud of witnesses" in the background "running the race that is set before me."

Finally, within a hundred steps of my apartment, this is the refectory gate of the monastery with the domes overlooking the walls. These gates front on Triokhsviatytelska Street and are literally across the street from my apartment!

I'll not find a more beautiful run anytime soon.

A Very Cold Monday

I ventured out a few times today, for my morning run, to visit St. Michaels, to shop for groceries, and later to browse along Andriysky Spusk.

It was bitterly cold all day, although the sun did come out now and then. I ran only about three miles, all in the Volodymrska Hill Park district of the city. On laps behind St. Michaels and past the Funicular, I was intrigued to watch an old man feeding the little birds out of his hand. He would stand very still with his palm upturned, and the birds would hover over his hand to eat bread crumbs. There were also many parents or grandparents out with little children in sleds.

I had a nice conversation with a woman in the refectory shop at St. Michaels, and bought a nice book on ikons.

In the afternoon I went to Andriysky Spusk, which is a sort of tourist trap in Kyiv, and browsed in the many outdoor art and souvenir booths. I was bare-headed and a woman came up to me and remonstrated that I needed a hat--actually I think she was trying to sell me one. I looked at a few navy and army caps with either Soviet or Ukrainian insignias, and wondered about their authenticity (or lack thereof). I didn't buy anything but did get a nice picture of some intricately wrought gates with (I'm sure) genuine Soviet insignias. These were behind the ministry building next door to St. Michaels.

St. Andrew's rises dramatically from the street, with dramatic gold trimmed blue domes. I love the dramatic exterior of St. Andrews, but it has a more ostentacious feeling inside than other Orthodox Churches--less worshipful, perhaps, more for show than for worship. I know people like that--they look very impressive, but somehow leave you cold when you take a look inside, as it were.

I returned home in mid afternoon to finish some laundry, to do a little grocery shopping and to pack for my evening train ride to Kharkiv.

Long Run in the Cold

Today I did a long run of about ten to twelve miles, primarily over hills, ending up at the World War II Monument. It was bitterly cold, and halfway through the run the wind kicked up and it started to snow lightly.

I first ran through the Volodymyrska Hill Park, then down to Kreshchatik and up the hill on the other side and through the Friendship Arch and to the base of the Trukhaniv Ostriv Bridge. I then had planned to run south through the heavily wooded section along the Parkovo Doroga, but found a pack of very large stray dogs zealously guarding their sylvan territory so cut back down to Grushevskovo Blvd., and so south parallel to river past Arsenalna, the Park of Eternal Glory, Pecherska Lavra and then further south down the hill to the base of the roadway leading to the World War II Monument. The only obstacle on this route was adjacent to the Presidential Palace, where they have inexplicably closed off the sidewalk, forcing pedestrians into the street. Whatever.

At the World War II Monument I ran around the hill, waved at the sleepy guard manning the security booth, and then onto the museum plaza with its vast array of World War II tanks, planes and artillery pieces, then finally up the grand sequence of stairways to exit. This last section reminded me of the first "Rocky" movie, and I almost wanted to pump my fists as I surmounted the last flight of steps.

The centerpiece of the monument is the 200 foot tall Motherland statue at the top of the cone-shaped hill. At the monument there is a continuous playing of dramatic music, including operatic pieces and patriotic music of the 1940's, as a backdrop to the monumental works of art on the hill. I include a video taken at the monument.

Trukhaniv Island

This morning I ran about six miles to and from Труханів острів (Trukhaniv Island). I first ran a couple of "Baptizer Laps" up in the area of St. Michaels and the Volydymrska Hill Park, then ran down the hill past the Catholic Church and the Museum of Art, through the underground tunnel at the end of Kreshchatik, and down the hill towards the Poshtova Ploshcha. (Are you with me so far?). From there I ran along the path adjacent to the railroad tracks towards the foot bridge leading across the Dnipro River to Trukhaniv Island. I found this, and ran for a mile or two on the island, then returned.

The views from the footbridge are glorious--the attached pictures really don't capture the vividness and excitement of the river with church domes, boats and the sky reflected in the still icy waters. I enclose one picture looking back toward Volodymyr's Hill, showing St. Michael's on one side and the grim statue of the Baptizer in the center.

It was snowing lightly when I began, but amazingly the clouds completely vanished and the blue sky appeared in all its glory as I reascended the hill towards my apartment. I enclose a shot of St. Michaels in all the effulgence of a snowy morning!

Vladimir Counted Laps

This misty and cold morning I ran about five miles through the cobblestone streets of Kharkiv, sticking mainly to the sprawling Ploshchad Svobody (Freedom Square). I also ran through several other main thoroughfares, where there are many statues, including a monumental image of Vladimir Lenin which dominates the center of Freedom Square.

I figure it was about a half mile lap around the huge square, and so my friend Vladimir helped me to count laps.

As far as I can tell, the other statues are of soldiers defending the city from the Nazis in World War II, and an equestrian statue of, I'm guessing, a Cossack founding father.

Kharkiv's Plóshchad' Svobódy

I slept like Lenin in Lenin's tomb last night (there is a monumental statue of Lenin in Площадь Свободы--Ploshchad Svobody--hence the historical reference) and I am up early and ready to go! I was exhausted last night, but am slowly adapting to the jet lag.

I forgot to mention my new best friend--Mamadu--a six foot three African from Senegal who works as a doorman at my hotel, the Hotel Kharkiv. Mamadu is a student at Kharkiv University and has been a delight to visit with. He tells me that early in the morning there are many runners who circle the vast Ploshchad Svobody or Freedom Square. I'll give it a try in a couple of hours (with my orange running vest on, of course--the drivers are crazy--Tetiana told me yesterday that the previous Judge was almost run down by a car last week as they were trying to cross the cobblestoned square). Tetiana also told me that this is reportedly the largest square in Europe.

Not only is the hotel on this square, but also Kharkiv University. Some pictures taken on the square are attached (including this awesome aerial shot, which I obviously didn't take because it is a-from an airplane and b-during the summer). Also shown is my sweet writing desk in my room in the Hotel Kharkiv, a picture of me on the square and one of Tetiana, and finally me on the steps of one of the monumental Soviet-era University campus buildings facing the square, and my friend, the stray dog getting into the pic.

Running on Труханів острів (Trukhaniv Island)

My faithful Ukrainian correspondent, Olga Kupriyevych, writes:

"Dan. You can not only run in the park but also cross the Dnipro using the pedestrian bridge and run on Trukhaniv Island in the middle of the Dnipro River. My husband and I used to ski there in winter with our children."

Studying my map, I now see the pedestrian bridge, which is only about 500 feet or so down the hill and across the Vladimyrskyi Descent from the statute of the Baptizer. (In fact, here's a nice picture of the foot bridge behind the Baptizer, which I took in 2007). I read that the bridge was built in 1957 and connects the historic Podil neighborhood of Kyiv with Trukhaniv Island. The Island contains about 4 square miles of forest, meadows and footpaths.

Thanks, Olga! I've got my running shoes all packed.

My Daily Running in Kyiv

As I prepare to return to Ukraine in ten days or so, one subject of my meditations has been how to approach my daily running. Over the past eighteen months I have rarely missed a day of running, in all weather, and typically put in between forty and sixty miles per week. During my 2007 visit I frequently commented on the dangerous traffic conditions in Kyiv and the lack of safe above ground pedestrian walkways. (See, for example, my posts entitled "Where Will the Children Play," "Travails of a Pedestrian," "Passing By Gridlock on a Snowy Evening," and "Travels with Yuri.") So, the news that the new Kyiv apartment is located in Triokhsviatytelska Street directly across the street from the Volodymyrska Hirka Park is some of the best news I have heard. I cannot think of a better (and safer) place to run than on the network of walkways and paths in the Park, stretching from the statue of the Baptizer and up behind St. Michael's of the Golden Domes overlooking the Dnipro. The weather (even in snow) need not bother me, as I am accustomed to running in rain and snow, and the plowing crews appeared to be especially diligent in clearing the park during my many visits in 2007, including during and after two large snowstorms. I plan to take changeable and easily washable running clothes and one pair of running shoes with me. My plan is to run in the early mornings Wednesdays through Sunday. Mondays and Tuesdays will be problematic, as I will be commuting to and from Kharkiv on those days.

My Life-Changing Experience in Ukraine

I have told many of my colleagues that my previous teaching experience in Ukraine was, without a doubt, the highlight of my professional career. No other experience in my law school, law practice and time on the bench has compared with the joyous experience of teaching fundamental legal principles to eager and bright young minds in Ukraine. To assist in the fostering of free institutions in that ancient and beautiful land is a high privilege.

Beyond these professional highlights, however, my time in Ukraine has also had a profound personal affect upon me. Specifically, as a result of what I saw and experienced in Kyiv in 2007 I have made some vast changes in my personal habits which has revolutionized my life.

One of the things I immediately took note of in Ukraine was the physical appearance of the people on the street. Over more than two weeks I rarely saw any individual, man or woman, old or young, who was dramatically overweight. This was something of a shock to me, coming from the United States of America where obesity is something of an epidemic--an epidemic which over the years had personally affected me. I noted that the physical and eating habits of Ukrainians was vastly different from that of Americans. For one thing, most Ukrainians spend a significant part of their time on their feet, walking to and from work or recreation. While the number of personal vehicles is increasing in Ukraine, most people still walk or ride public

transportation and Ukrainians are obviously more physically active than Americans. They also appear to eat more healthy food in smaller quantities than Americans.

At five foot ten and weighing over 250 pounds, I felt like I stuck out like a sore thumb in Ukraine during my trip there in 2007. I returned in late November with a resolve to do something about it. In the Spring of 2008 I decided that I was going to start emulating my Ukrainian friends, and started walking to and from work each day, a distance of eight miles round trip. Walking seemed like a sensible exercise for me, as my local government has provided a private exercise room, showers and locker room at my courthouse. So, I parked my car and moved forward with my daily walking. While difficult at first, my two hours of walking each day became very precious to me, allowing me time to think, to meditate, to listen to music on my iPod, to listen to dozens of audio books (mostly histories and biographies), and to memorize a vast amount of poetry in English, German and Russian. From the spring of 2008 until the present, I have driven myself to work only once or twice.

I lost weight very rapidly due to my daily walking, assisted with a sensible diet. By about November of 2008, one year after my first trip to Ukraine, I had lost a total of some 85 pounds. In addition to walking, I also lifted weights four or five days a week. By January of 2009 I felt as if I were in the best physical shape of my life--including my teenage years and my twenties. I not only felt physically alive and vigorous, but the positive affects upon my mind and my inner peace was amazing. In January I began running to and from work instead of walking, and since

then have averaged between 50 and 60 miles (80 to 100 kilometers) each week. In April of 2009 I finished the Salt Lake City Marathon in a time of 4 hours and 11 minutes, and yesterday, July 24, 2009 I finished the Deseret News Marathon in 4 hours and 8 minutes. (In the pictures above I am approaching the finish line in Salt Lake City at mile 26.2)

I am so grateful for the personal impact my time in Ukraine has worked in my life, and I return this Fall with a unique connection to the land and people.