0 Days off
6 Days of classes
9M longest run
Katie, Mike and I are damn proud of ourselves. And we should be. We ran every single day this week. During our academic residency. Which is freaking hard. We have class from 8AM - 6PM and then some nights we have additional speakers or forums that run until 9PM. Remember also that this is business school. Part of my role is to network with my classmates, so I can't say no to going out every single time, which the introvert in me wants to do 99% of the time. So I did go out one night and I didn't get to bed until 3AM. I still woke up at 630 to get a run in. So yes, I repeat: I am freaking proud! All those hamstring issues I felt earlier in June? Total thing of the past. Running in Istanbul awakened another part of me. I was having fun again. That week before I took off...I was not having fun.
Part of the fun was also in learning so much about myself and Islam. I never learned a lick about Islam. Not ever in a single class. I even took a religion class at Wake Forest. The only thing I knew about Islam was limited to like three articles I had read...in my entire life. Fortunately, I didn't come in with any extreme stereotypes. Quite frankly, I really didn't know much besides some women wear a hijab or face covering. That's it.
So...I learned a lot.
A professor set up time for us to talk with an Imam at the Blue Mosque. He was brilliant. He told us about the Koran, about what it means and the basic foundations of the religion. He told us that it's a very peaceful religion...and he answered some likely very annoying and ignorant questions from our class about some of the stereotypes that are ingrained by Western media sources. He was a class act and I was grateful for his time.
I was sad to leave the city on Sunday. I loved the food, the weather and the people. I know I'll come back.
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