This lovely mountain resort town is perched above the eastern end of
the beautiful Kadisha Gorge and at the foothills of the Cedars of Lebanon.
It is the brith place of Lebanon's most famous author
Khalil Gibran. It has a small museum which pays tribute to him.
Beiteddine palace was built over a period of thirty years by Emir Bechir Chehab II.
It's architecture reflects the typical oriental architecture of the 19th century Ottoman Era.
It is remarkable for its glamorous
arcades, multicolored mosaic floors, reception rooms, harems, hammams
and even by its guest house "Diyafa" where passing guests were lodged
(French poet Lamartine stayed once there).
Detail of the Sarcophagus of Ahiram, king of Byblos, seated
on a cherub throne, before an offering table, 13th century B.C (National Museum of Beirut).
Around 1200 B.C. the scribes of Byblos developed an alphabetic phonetic script, the precursor of our modern
alphabet. By 800 B.C., it had traveled to Greece, changing forever the way man communicated.
Located in the Beqaa Valley of Lebanon, Baalbek is an ancient city
that has been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site. Originally
Canaanite (3rd century BC), the Assyrians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines,
and Arabs successively occupied Ba'albek and left their imprints on the
place, often modifying what existed previously.
www.kaftoun.com
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Friday Morning Run - Sept 23, 2011
After last week's Friday morning run I started feeling some shin splints pain in my right leg. The interval training on Sunday intensified the pain a great deal which made me consider not participating in the Tuesday 4K XC race. However, since I did not complete the last one, I felt obliged to participate. I ended up racing and shaving off 45 seconds from my personal best. I warmed up for the race with a slow jog from the Hills Track steps to the venue with a fair bit of stretching of calf muscles before the race. Oddly enough during the race my shin splints did not hurt.
On Wednesday I really felt the pain, so I did not run in the evening. Thursday morning I went to the pool on my own at 5:00 am and did half an hour of 1 minute at cadence of 80 and 30 sec sprints at cadence of 100 with 30 seconds of rest in between. After that I went to the steam room and stretched, which made my leg feel much better.
This morning I thought I will go to the pool at 5:00 in the morning and warm up with 30 minutes of aqua jogging prior to joining the group for the Friday morning run at 6:00 am. However, after completing the 30 minutes, I felt that my shin splints were still hurting, so I decided to do my Friday morning run entirely in the pool. I did an additional 30 minutes of continuous running at cadence of 80 with some sprints at the end followed by 5 minutes of kick boarding. By the end of the exercise my arms, hands and fingers were getting numb and tired, but my legs were still going. Thanks for all the track and trail running the couch puts us through, I think my legs could have gone for another hour without tiring.
I think my shin splints are aggravated because of something wrong with my running mechanics. Since I was a child I have always heard people tell me that I turn my foot out when walking. Now that I am running, I am stepping with my foot more in line with movement direction which is making the shin splint connective tissues pay the price. I am thinking of doing varied types of exercises to strengthen the leg muscles in general, such as kick boarding, cycling and calf raises. Any ideas?
While I was going out to have a hair cut this morning, at about 7:55 am, some runners were still returning from their run – almost two hours after the starting time – you guys are such an inspiration!
Sorry I missed the Friday Morning Run this morning. Hopefully, I will be joining you next week.
Happy Running....
