Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
Phew! My first guest column … not worried at all!
Thanks for last week’s introduction as a ‘keen’ runner, I find this quote very apt to my running: “I’m slower than a herd of turtles stampeding through peanut butter ... but I run!”
What has been a wonderful discovery on my couch to 5km journey is meeting fabulous people and getting to know all the local organisations putting together superb events.
The Bahrain Road Runners Facebook page has been my oracle and since January. Whereas once running continuously for more than three minutes filled me with dread, I have now completed a few 5km races and charity runs.
A lovely and very fit personal trainer called Ber Carton managed to get a few of us pounding the pavements and motivated. Initially, I found motivation in numbers and then once I had overcome my fear of running (without collapsing into a heap) I started to enjoy running alone with just my poodle, Giggles, resting below right, for company.
We have loved our mornings at the Nurana Island beach, which is a large piece of reclaimed land behind the Country Club.
The beach is getting more attraction recently as one of the many destinations for worthy clean-up communities, including Bahrain Beachcombers who rely solely on volunteers to try and keep beaches from debris, dumped by visitors. And, this stretch of beach is worth keeping clean.
On a windless morning the sea is clear as glass, stretching one way to a hazy line of towered Seef’s horizon and to the other, dotted with fisherman’s boats and vehicles.
We (dog and I) run in the morning and I am greeted by friendly fisherman, fellow runners and dog walkers and often by a flamboyance of flamingos and many wading birds, whom I have no idea of their names!
But all good things must come to an end and with the temperature dial on the up, our beach day runs are over for a few months. After being in Bahrain for 11 years you expect to be better equipped each year to deal with the extreme heat … but it always comes as a hot shock!
So its gym treadmill, minus the dog, or a very early start at 5am for us. If only I could stop watching Netflix until late this may be achievable.
Our household is normally up by our 5.45am alarm, but giving up an extra 45 minute sleep time may prove to be my downfall.
I could attempt to run in the evening but that’s the delightful joy of dinner time and homework!
End-of-year exams for my two eldest children loom next week and having two very different siblings brings different revision styles. From Picasso-style colour-coded charts to crumpled lost timetables and hoping that the words: ‘shouldn’t you be revising?’ doesn’t cause an emotional volcanic eruption, it is most definitely a testing time of year for youngsters and parents.
For any parents with children studying for exams, may the force be with you!
As for our household … we will all be heaving a huge sigh of relief next week.
