(Dubai) Week in Review

43 miles

24 hours of travel = 1 Day off from running

4 nights in Dubai

3 nights in New Delhi

So with the launch of every term, I always try to see one other country since I'm paying all of this money to fly all the way across the world for school.  This time around, I was fortunate enough to have a trip planned for me and 25 of my classmates to visit Dubai.  Sara and her husband were kind and gracious enough to put together a full itinerary of two days full of fun:  dune bashing and riding a yacht!  I kicked off the trip with a nice run in the morning with Katie and Claire around the marina, where tons of stay-at-home moms from an assortment of countries were walking their babies in really fancy strollers.  Dubai features a diverse mix of people, with some women wearing the traditional hijabs and others wearing European styles.  I was completely fine running in a sports bra and shorts and I don't believe I offended anyone.  Dubai is a place where the East meets the West, and where the Sheikh has made tremendous progress bringing wealth and prosperity to a tiny country.  It was eye-opening to be in a country in the middle east and see so much success.  All of my runs in Dubai were hot and I eventually got a sore throat and cold from the cigarette smoke.  Other than that, I really enjoyed my time there.

The fun eventually had to come to an end, so my classmates and I packed up our things (including our books and laptops) and hopped on another plane to Delhi.  For the first two days, we didn't have as many activities planned just in case some students had difficulty arriving from flight delays.  We participated in a rickshaw tour, attended a welcome party where we got to dance to traditional Indian music and  kicked off our fourth term with new professors.  Overall the food was absolutely amazing and the people were so nice and inclusive!  

Group in Dubai!

Claire, Katie and me after dune bashing in dubai desert

Burj Kalifa - tallest building in the world!

Dubai from the yacht

Pre-reading period on the yacht

jumping off a boat is always better holding hands

ready for the rickshaw tour 

walking through old delhi was the highlight of my trip in Delhi!

the welcome dinner to delhi

Before Kris and I decided to hop off and walk through Old Delhi

(Bachelorette) Week in Review

78 Miles
3 Doubles
3 Runs with Wake Girls
11 Mile Long Run
3 Mile Tempo Fail

So this week started off with a terrible tempo, which seems to be the theme for me the past couple of weeks.  I had a goal of running 5 miles, and I only ran 3 and felt awful.  My left hamstring was still preventing me from getting the full range of motion and I just felt like it wasn't worth it to push it.  It was also exceptionally humid, which didn't help my breathing.  I've also come to the self-diagnosis of having low ferritin because I get this feeling like once a year and I hate running, feel terrible, am tired all the time and take forever to recover and absolute crap workouts.  In a nutshell, that's how I feel.  I know that with a couple of week's time, I'll get over it and feel more confident again, but such is the ebb and flow for running for me right now.  Of course, since the week started off on a mediocre note from the running perspective, I was more than ecstatic for my bachelorette weekend in California, where I would be reunited with Michelle, Selina, Liz and Marley--four of my former teammates at Wake.  Also, my sister, Athena and Anna would be making the trip from California.  By the time I got off the plane in San Fran, the crisp, cold, fresh air greeted me with a great welcome and I immediately knew running would be better here.

Debauchery occurred on Thursday night at the bars in downtown San Fran, and then after that, a much more low key and relaxing trip commenced.  We made family dinner every night, floated the river in our backyard with deflated tubes, hiked in the redwoods, winery-hopped in Sonoma County and relaxed in a hot tub.  I felt like I was back in college because every morning the five of us trekked outside in the 50-degree weather to run together...even if it was only for 45-60 minute runs, they were a blast.  On Sunday, we made our way to Sonoma Coast State Park on the beach, in hopes of running along a trail on the cliff of the ocean.  The first six minutes of the run were up and down a cliff, and we were all huffing and puffing, secretly hoping that this wasn't going to be the entirety of the run. Fortunately, the terrain leveled off and we were left in the dense fog that was blocking our view of the expanse of the ocean only 500 feet from us.

By the time Monday came around, I didn't want to leave our blissful river cabin in Guerneville, California, but I knew that the Democratic National Convention was calling my name back to Charlotte to witness some of the mayhem going on back here.

Week in Review

45 Miles
6 Runs
0 Doubles
5 Days in California
20 hours in an airplane or airport

What a great down week this was! When I received my training plan from Mark in February, I saw this planned down week and immediately looked into booking tickets to visit my sister in Orange County.  After two days in Charlotte, I set off on a direct flight to LAX on Wednesday morning.  Southern California greeted me with a cold breeze and temperatures in the 60s and 70s.  Apparently I missed another hot weekend in Charlotte that featured temps in the upper 90s.  I missed the other really hot weekend when I went to Albany.  My timing has been quite right! 

Ironically, I was a little bummed that my down week was planned in California though because the weather was so ridiculously nice out that I felt great running.  It would have been easy to log over 80 miles here because the temp was so moderate.  In fact, I have seriously contemplating moving out here next summer to work remotely, to live with my sister, and to put in some quality miles.  It really would work out quite great, so stay tuned as I weigh my options!

In my down week, I ate lots of delicious vegan food, took naps during the week, and pampered myself with a facial.  Spending time with my sister and her best friends Athena and Anna was just what I needed. 

My glorious down week came to an immediate halt after I was stranded in an airplane or airport for 20 hours.  I had a red eye flight connecting in Phoenix and then on to Charlotte.  Well, we flew over Phoenix for two hours, re-routed to Las Vegas due to a storm in Phoenix, sat at the gate in the airplane in Vegas, and then took off AGAIN for Phoenix.  I wish they would have let us off the plane because then I could have just stayed with my brother Joey who, ironically, lives in Phoenix but was partying in Vegas.  Alas, my luck was not with me Sunday night.  We arrived in Phoenix at 2:15AM and I was left to either pay for a hotel or sleep in the airport until my 10AM flight the next day.  I opted to buy a hotel room at a "discounted" rate of $90. 

After three hours of sleep, I was up again and on my way BACK to the Phoenix airport.  When we finally departed, I felt like the travel mess was over.  I was wrong.  We circled Charlotte for another hour before landing, so I finally arrived at 615PM, another 90 minute delay added onto my travel saga.  My body felt like I had just gotten off a plane from Europe!  This definitely wasn't the way I was hoping to start my week, but I've got seven days in Charlotte coming up where I can focus on recovery and getting rest.  I can't wait.