112 Marathons A.D...

My recovery from marathon number 111 (unlucky for some) was remarkably swift (for a man of my age, weight, etc.), helped in part by a national holiday the day after the return from Kuwait, which was spent primarily horizontally at the luxurious Summersault Beach Club which sits proudly under the seven star Burj Al Arab Hotel.  As an aside, you know you may be pushing your limits when you spend an afternoon on a sun lounger within five feet of a Premier League footballer (Hector Bellerin of Arsenal) and his mini entourage.  We so fancy…
 

In the shortened working week which followed, I returned to my usual morning regime of a 5:45 am alarm call (sometimes snoozed once, or twice) and 10-ish kilometre run around one of the various routes I have mapped out around my apartment in Downtown Dubai (I pretty much have five variations so can take a different one each morning).  The weather has recently dropped from the searing summer heat to very pleasant mornings, which has made the effort much more bearable, albeit there is something difficult about persuading one’s brain about the wisdom of exercise when it is still dark, wherever in the world you may be.  I assume that our cavemen forefathers had the wisdom to wait for decent sunlight before venturing out of their caves.  As usual, I upped my mileage at the weekend, running near enough a half marathon on the Friday down Dubai Water Canal and along the padded running track at Kite Beach.  It is in these glorious moments of winter sun that I appreciate just how fortunate I am to call Dubai my (temporary) home…
 

The next week followed the same pattern, until Wednesday night, when Gill and I had opted to cut the working week short to head to Thailand for what turned out to be an unforgettable trip to the ultra-luxuriant surrounds of the Six Senses Resort on Yai Noi Island, just a short private speed boat voyage from the somewhat more hit and miss, but nevertheless beautiful, Phuket Island.  After previous minor travails running in Thailand, usually involving wild dogs and occasionally lost trainers, I opted for the resort gym to keep my fitness ticking over.  I’m not generally a huge fan of treadmill running, but when I discovered that the treadmill was positioned by the large window of an elevated gym which looked out at picturesque jungle and the odd eagle soaring overhead, my objections dissipated somewhat and I merrily ran a brisk 5 kilometres on each day of the holiday…
 

After landing back in Dubai from Thailand at 3am on Monday morning, sleep was firmly on the agenda (happily, we had planned our trip over what turned out to be a double national holiday weekend) but I finally managed to rouse myself at around midday for a 12 kilometre tune up which confirmed that everything was just about in working order and I am cautiously optimistic about my condition ahead of the inaugural Abu Dhabi Marathon on Friday...

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