for rebecca

Bmac's been complaining about her google reader piling up on her... i'm just testing to see if she's on top of things, whether or not she cares about the 'friends' who blog, or just the pro bloggers.

this is a test.

we'll see if Becca passes or fails.

don't forget, it's ROLL UP THE RIM!!

completed

Sarah and I finished our half marathon in 2:18:10. a respectable time.

now to recover and start training for the next one.

hahaha

yeah right.

growd-up

I reckon it's time to admit that I just might actually have turned into an adult. I've been in denial for quite awhile, using the excuse that the teenagers at the cinema have no respect for me when I ask them to keep it down. But really, only adults would complain about noisy teens. Today I picked up the keys to my new apartment. This is the first time since University that I've paid rent. I also researched and purchased car insurance for a year, signed a year long lease for an apartment, wore heels to work, and drank a coffee. I'm closer to 30 than to 25. I have sun damaged skin. I like getting a good nights sleep. Undoubtedly, I have become an adult.

How do I quit?

if that were a date, it would've been a record!

Eleven hours later, I'm home. And it's just 4:15pm. And I'm ready for bed. and might smell like a horse.

Should I back up 11 1/2 hours as I crawled out of bed? or two days ago... or even four months back?

... Two days ago I got a phone call telling me that it is time for endurance horse racing and learning to ride.

... Four months ago I sent an sms asking if it was riding season... (delayed response).

...11 1/2 hours ago I crawled out of bed, hoping I had not waken up in vain and would be remembered by S. The phone rang 15 minutes later saying that it was time to go. Where was I going? How long would I be there? What would I see? I didn't have an answer to any of these questions. Who really knows what a desert endurance race is without having been? I sure didn't. Nor was I prepared for the 6'C it was this morning. S meet me near my house and we drove towards Abu Dhabi. An hour later, after a petrol and prayer stop, we arrived at the Endurance Village. We were late, the race had begun. So we tore into the desert looking for our racer. Today's race was a 120km race through the desert. 4 laps, 30km each, with a mandatory half hour rest break and vet check between laps. Not only must your horse be fast, but it must also survive.

The course was pretty phenomenal. 30km of desert track, woven between two lanes designed for 4X4's to follow along. Thus I never had to get out of the vehicle, just clutch the sides of the seat as we swerved between the cars in our Escalade, tracking our favourite horses. Police cars patrolled along with us, protecting the horses from us, and us from ourselves. Every 100 metres, guys would jump out of the trucks and race onto the track to give a 1 1/2 bottle of water to the jockeys to keep the horses cool, with maybe a sip for themselves (I'm not sure about the recycling programme... just a thought).

And thus finished the first lap. The horses are pampered and examined by the vets, the ones who are deemed fit to continue are soaked with water and massaged, while the other ones return to their pens in shame. While we took a coffee break and assessed the damage.

Then someone would realize that the 30 minute wait time was nearly finished and we'd jump up, prep the horse, and then race to the vehicle. I'm not sure when the actual race ended, I may or may not have fallen asleep during one or two of the laps. Our horses were deemed lame after 2/3 laps (we had two horses racing). Hopefully they'll be back racing in 3 weeks times, and I'll be there to cheer them on.

Maybe I'm not meant to be a runner... being a jockey must be easier on the knees!!

half marathon

Hey, my friend Sarah and I are running in the RAK half marathon (www.rakmarathon.org) on February 19th, 2010, here in the United Arab Emirates. That's just three weeks away!! This past weekend we finished the Dubai Marathon 10km race in 1:00:22 as a preparation for the half marathon and we're both all psyched for the 21km race. Sarah and I really wanted to raise some money while we ran.

Both of us LOVE running, the second we finish running. SO to encourage us through our run, we decided to ask YOU to be a part of our run by donating your coffee or movie money to the victims of the Haiti earthquakes. You may have donated in other ways, and I really appreciate that, as do the survivors in Haiti. I was privileged to go to Haiti when working for Royal Caribbean. The cruise line owns a private island called Labadee, where many local Haitians work. Over christmas we were able to go into a village on the mainland and give out gifts for the children. Sarah and I weren't sure where to start when we decided to fundraise for Haiti, but found a way through facebook. Facebook has teamed up with many well known charities and created "causes" where you can go to the site and directly donate to the cause. We chose Oxfam America's Haiti relief fund, here's a blurb from Oxfam:

Earthquake hits Haiti – help urgently needed

Your donation goes to fund this project organized by:
Oxfam America, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit

A major earthquake has struck Haiti near the capital of Port-au-Prince causing catastrophic destruction across the city of two million people in the western hemisphere's most impoverished nation.

Oxfam has an emergency team based in the capital responding with public health, water and sanitation services to prevent the spread of waterborne disease. As soon as our assessment teams have a fuller understanding of the emergency needs Haitians across the region face, Oxfam will work urgently to meet them.

The people of Port-au-Prince need your support.

To join our Facebook Cause, please cut and paste the following link into your browser and "join cause". If you're not an active Facebook Member, I'm not sure if it will let you donate on the site, Sarah and I are also collecting donations and will be directly donating to the fund.

Thank you for your support as we run!

Hannah (and Sarah)

http://apps.facebook.com/causes/436875/21479996?m=1a240be5

a lion, gazelle, teradactle and a flying dunebuggy

Right now I wish I were Joben, who could take an SAT story and turn it into a blockbuster. . . or Jason, who could take a few phrases and make them into a depressing love poem, or Josh, who could weave together make belief and reality and create a masterpiece. because last week was amazing, and there is no way I can articulate to you the meshings of a gazelle, teradactle dinosaur, and potentially a flying dunebuggy?

It started when I rang my friend N and asked him when I could play with his pet lion. Yup, he lives a few villas away from me and has a lion in his compound (he decided one day that he needed a pet lion so he purchased one). I haven't seen it since it was just a few months old, so I thought I'd play with the cat. N wasn't home, he was out in the desert, and since his farm was on my drive home from Dubai, I stopped by for another exciting Emirate evening. Good thing there was a fire, as I was pretty cold. I perched by the fire for about an hour, chatting with the cousins and agreeing to marry one 21 year old (helping him get a Canadian passport) - and then phewsh... there went a ... gazelle? Yup, a pet gazelle went prancing by. Good thing the lion was back in Al Ain or we'd be having gazelle for dinner.

Maybe it would have been nice to have gazelle... I tried to leave around 9:45pm, but was informed that it was almost dinner time and that I 'should' stay (meaning, you are staying). Forty-five minutes later, dinner arrived. I'm sure it was a taradactle. It looked like it had a beak, but there were definitely teeth inside. And if there were wings, they were tiny. In reality, it might have been a baby goat, but as I crouched around the platter of rice and meat, surrounded by 7 Emirate men, all I could think was, "I'm eating an arabic dinosaur... with my hands". Cutlery was optional, and I optioned out. It's much better to eat with the right hand, using the yogurt to help hold the pieces of food together! I think I finally got myself out of there around 11pm and raced home to my warm shower and bed.

So the flying dunebuggy, how does that fit in? Since you asked... the farm that I was at belonged to M. He's half brother to N. And he's into extreme sports, most recently a flying dunebuggy. This is an odd contraption where two people sit (one in front of the other) and have a huge fan-like thing-um-a-bob strapped to the back. Rising above them (Inshallah) is a giant parachute. M had tried to describe this contraption to me around the campfire to no avail and realized the only way I could begin to understand would be if I were to see it for myself. Two days later, as the sun was setting over the gargantous sand dunes, I found myself strapped into the contraption, hoping it would fly. We taxied down the sand, hit a tree stump or two, and were off! M even let me guide the parachute around the desert, though he ensured that we stayed well above the power lines.

What's the moral of the story? Maybe giving up on a latte for a few days can create a wickedly amazing unique adventure...

I've been scheming to discover ways to cut down my commute, and finally it's paid off!! Today I got my computer formated with some sortof VPN allowing me to access work's database and emails from a remote location. And that remote location is... drumroll (not my bedroom)... the local office!! I'm still going to make the drive into the far office twice a week for meetings and motivational speeches from the team leaders... but my quality of life is going to improve as I'm not commuting forever through dubai! And my poor lil' racecar is going to appreciate a break.