Sunday, September 30, 2007

Running, Dubai style...

Right before I moved to Dubai, I was talking about how I really felt like I could live just about anywhere, as long as it was: a. walking distance to coffee shops and restaurants, b. no yard work and c. walk right out my door to go for a run. Apparently I should have been more specific. There are coffee shops and restaurants at the mall, but the weather just doesn't allow for walking. No yard work, well that's a given, but I didn't exactly mean that I wanted to be surrounded by construction sites. Here's the latest excerpt from an e-mail from a friend discussing how he had finally cleaned his apartment...

"At least we can now sit in relative cleanliness as we watch workers plummet from the surrounding rooftops, warn Jess, an evening of `farcical building and safety practices’ viewing is upon us, so stay glued to your phones just in case the text – `Get down here quick, you have to see this……..’ graces your screens."

Next issue, run right out my door... for the last month I've been running around the track at school at 5:00 in the morning. It's been great fun, I've started to add in loops around the building to make it even more exciting. The other day I thought it felt "cool" so when I got to work, I thought I would check the weather. Right, apparently cool = 87 degrees. Unbelievable! I wanted to do a long run this weekend, so I thought it was about time I ventured out and about, so I went to the, well, let's call it a "lake". Here in Dubai, lake means, a concrete pond, filled with smelly water and surrounded by a make shift dump. Somehow, that is better than the track. The upside is, that the distance is 3/4 of a mile as opposed to the 1/4 mile track. Lovely. It went so well on Friday morning, that I decided I would do it again this morning. What I'm having trouble figuring out is what my favorite part of this mornings run was. Was it running alone in the dark? The foggy conditions? The workers sleeping on the benches? Finishing up my run just in time to run by three of the "guest worker" buses as the men were pouring out and then into the half finished buildings? Really, it's hard to choose. At least it's flat...

2 comments:

Dana said...

Hey, you're running even in pretty tough circumstances. Go Lisa! I ran the Portland Marathon on Sunday. It was a great experience, and I want to do another. Fiona said she missed you the other day.

Dana

Chris Creasy said...

Hey just remember that we had to run through some really tough stuff at the scramble up on Mt Hood...... Just becareful out there running!! Miss you!