I must say that I am really starting to enjoy myself here. It sounds a little crazy with all of the rules and restrictions they have here, but the craziness of it all just adds to the joy factor. As I don my abaya to go outside the compound it really just amuses me to no end. This is not to say that I don’t feel some frustration with having to wear it all the time and being told to cover my head by complete strangers who aren’t even the Mutawa, but those things are so minor in comparison with being given the opportunity to have the experience of living here.
And really, It's not that I am getting out all that much, but it is enough to just get a little thrill from things. Simple things really, but they just seem so different here. Also, I am just loving my new apartment. The old one was off to the side and away from the hubbub, but the new one is right in the middle of things. When I look out my front window, I have a gorgeous view of the pool.
When I look out the back window, I have a view of the tennis courts.
(The people playing tennis are probably a bit unnerved by me watching them at times, but oh well, there are only two courts available on which to play.) I definitely need to get myself a racquet because I am feeling the itch to play. It’s been quite a few years, but since I could still ride a bike last time I checked, I am pretty sure that I can still hit a ball. Although I must say that while I used to be quite good at roller skating and roller blading, the last few times that I tried that I felt so off balance that I resolved to give that up, so perhaps not everything is like riding a bike.
There was another race with the running group that I joined. It was a 5 miler at another compound. It was much nicer than the last compound that we went to. It had a homier feel to it and really quite an incredible pool. There looked to be two pools there.
I am assuming that there was one for families (the fun one) and one for adults. Still, I do like the set up that we have here with bunches of pools all over the place. It really makes for a serene feeling.
Matt has been in Dubai for the past few days so he was not around for the race. This race was at 8AM. The change in temperature made all the difference as it was 86 degrees this time, as opposed to 105 the other time. The sun was still quite hot but it was so much easier. I felt better after finishing 5 miles this time than I did after finishing 5 K last time. I was able to catch a ride with another couple that live here on the compound who have also joined the running club. It was necessary to leave at around 7 AM in order to drive to the compound, check in, and get ready to race. I am not quite sure why it felt so early but it did. We all seemed a bit bleary eyed as we set out.
This compound seemed a bit smaller than the last one, but it was definitely a bit nicer. All of the homes had their own private parking space which was nice. Because of this, we had to park outside as there was no parking inside. This actually made things much easier because we simply had to walk in. There was still a gate that we needed to go through but it went much faster because there was no need to inspect the cars.
Once inside my friend realized that they had forgotten the bag with all of the water inside of it. Since it would have been ridiculous to attempt the run with no water, I went with her back out to the car while her husband checked us all in. We were getting fairly close to the race time so we put our abayas back on and left to go get the water. The car was probably parked less than 800 meters away but we didn’t want to be late, so we jogged a little on the way over. So yes, I did run in my abaya. And I must say, it wasn’t completely horrible, but it did get warm awfully fast. I wish I could have taken a video of it because I am fairly certain we looked a little silly.
But we got back in plenty of time!
I wore my new running tank that I got here at the New Balance store. I basically bought it because of the pocket on the back, but it turns out that the pocket is too small to hold my ipod. No biggie though. The race was 5 laps around the compound, each lap equaling about a mile. Since I run with my Nike+ and it is fairly accurate, I believe that each lap was probably about 75 meters short of a mile, making the course about 400 meters short of five miles. My final official time was 50:18. This would have me running at about a 10 minute mile which is actually really good for me considering when I first started I was running at about a 13 minute mile on a good day. However, since I believe the course was short, I am thinking that I am running more of 10:20 or 10:30. Still good as far as I am concerned. I actually ran an extra 400 meters at the end of the race just to make sure that I got in 5 miles and the time was more like 52 minutes. (I like to be accurate)
When the race was over, the guy who won the race came over to say hello to us and introduce himself. He was very nice and very humble. He said absolutely nothing about winning the race but we recognized him as the super fast guy who lapped us twice. When we asked him if he was the winner, he just said, “I was just trying to finish quickly before it got too hot.” Too funny! All in all it was a very nice day and I was very happy just to be there and be running outside. I miss that. A lot. Evidently there are some runners who do practice runs around the DQ. (No, that’s not the Dairy Queen, it’s the Diplomatic Quarter.) Evidently it is about 10 miles around. I would love to do that but I am fairly certain that Matt isn’t quite up to a 10 miler yet and also, their slowest pace group is at about 10:30 mile. Since this is my race pace.... well, I think I either need a slower pace group or I need to do a bit more training. Quite the conundrum! How can I pick up the pace if I can’t get outside to practice? I may just have to suck it up and just do it.
Oh, and I have also joined a yoga group at yet another compound. They have this humungous yoga room with blocks and blankets and straps and everything. I’ve only seen the yoga room so I can’t really compare the compound but it seems quite nice. Currently we are in the beginner class, but it seems a bit easy so we are going to try a yoga 2 class next week. Should be fun. Very relaxing at least!
Anyway, today I just think that I need to stop and take a moment to just look where I am right now at this moment and just feel gratitude. Sure, this may not be the greatest spot in the world, but how amazing it is to have the opportunity to be here right now.
No comments:
Post a Comment