Running!

As I have mentioned in previous posts, my compound is really small.  It is difficult to run here because there is just no where to go.  It's possible... but it is really just one main block and a bunch of dead ends that you can run to the end of, but only to turn around and come right back.  I have only tried this once and it was early in the morning at about 7 am.  This is not to say that I have not still been running, I have just been doing it indoors on the treadmill.  Also, I am still using Nike + but the website has been having trouble all month long but they keep sending emails telling us to stick with it as they are working out the kinks!

Anyway, during the month of Ramadan it seems like a lot of the expats go on vacation so things have been pretty dead on the compound.  But of course, the kids all start back to school in September so it seems to be filling up some these days.  I am actually seeing people out at the pool and there are a lot more kids around riding bikes and playing.

When I first got here, I noticed a flyer for a local running group that hold races at various compounds.  (Obviously not mine!)  Anyway, I emailed the group and got the info and I have been waiting for the first race for about 3 weeks now.  Today was the day!  I must say I have been getting a little sick of the treadmill these days.  I listen to music and they have 2 TV's in the gym but it still gets a little boring.  I always prefer to go outside.  Also, I just feel like half the time the treadmill is doing too much of the work for me.  I crank up the incline but it just never feels the way a good hill should.  Besides running on the street, I was also looking forward to seeing another compound because so far, I have only seen my own.

The race today was at a compound over by the IKEA.  It didn't take long to find it but it did take a long time to get in.  I had to send in our information a week ago so that they could put us on a visitor list to enter the compound.  We had to go through about 3 different checkpoints to get in and they inspected our car twice for bombs.  Once when we first got there, and again a second time as we worked our way through a maze of concrete barriers.  These guys were not messing around.  This was what the second checkpoint looked like.

Again... I apologize for the bad picture but they don't exactly let me get out and take better ones!  If you look down at the ground, its kind of like when you go to the Jiffy Lube.  There is a guy down there who is thoroughly inspecting the undercarriage of the car for bombs.  They also checked our id's 3 times.  On the third time, the took my passport and Matt's Iqama card and issued us two visitors passes. When you leave, they give back the id's once the visitors passes are returned.

The whole process took about a half an hour, but there were a lot of people in the line.  In fact, the race ended up starting later because it was taking people so long to get through the entrance.  But on to the race!

I have had a few people ask me what I would be wearing to the run.  What exactly is acceptable?  I wondered this myself.  Luckily, they have a website with pictures posted from previous races so I could check and see what everyone else was wearing.  (I would hate to be inappropriate!)  Everyone in the pictures was just wearing regular running clothes.  Since it was 105 degrees out at the time, I decided to go with shorts and a tank top since it is what I usually wear when running.

I also had on lots of sunscreen and my favorite Fleet Feet hat.  So miss that place!  I froze my water bottle before I left, but by the time we were finished, there were only a couple of swallows left and they were quite warm.  They had water there, it was in these individually sealed cups like the kind that you get with a meal on an airplane.  They had stacks of them at different stations along the route, but the only problem was that they had been sitting out there for at least an hour and were also quite warm.

Well, we got there and we registered and then waited for a bit until they started the race.  While this compound was much bigger than our compound, it definitely had a bit of a military feel to it.  It felt a lot like army barracks.  I kind of like where we live better.  It's just laid out better and has a much homier feel to it.  Even if I am going to end up running myself in circles!

Before this race, the hottest that I ever ran in was 100 degrees.  It was a four mile training run in Sacramento.  (Remember that Rachel?)  It was hot and a bit miserable.  Well... this was hotter.  But much less miserable because I was just so happy to be out!  Also, it was a mile shorter than the previous run and that made a huge difference because my lungs were just burning at the end of the race.

They even had a timer for the event.  Here is a picture of it.  But that was not my time.  I took the picture after I had been in for a while.  I believe my time was 32 minutes and something seconds.  Not sure what the official results were.  I wasn't exactly going for a personal best.  I was just trying to make sure that I didn't pass out at the end because that would have been embarrassing!

At the end of the race, I felt OK.  Definitely not great.  Like I said earlier, my lungs were burning a bit not only from the heat but also because the air quality just isn't that great.  This is what I looked like at the end of the race.  Keep in mind that isn't all sweat.  It was so hot that we started pouring the little warm water cups over our heads to cool off.  It helped some.

At the end of the race there was water that was actually cold, sodas, gatorade, and fake beer.  There was also a small buffet served in the compound restaurant. The restaurant is directly behind me in the picture.  It is way bigger than the restaurant on our compound.

The whole thing was very nice.  I enjoyed myself very much!  The rest of the races are longer and they will be in the morning at 8 am.  Here's hoping that I can get Matt out of bed early on his off day twice a month.  Either that or I need to find another ride!