I have never been a runner. Never. I remember in 7th grade PE in San Diego being exhorted by athletic Miss Zinn to "RUN!" and so I did, but she couldn't make me like it. In 11th grade we moved to a small town in rural Oregon where everyone went out for sports--both for something to do, and because bodies were needed to field a team. I have painful memories of those track meets--I had no idea what I was doing, and was the last one to cross the line, every time.
It's not that I wasn't active--I was. As kids we all had bikes and roller skates. As an adult I hiked, walked, and rode my fat tired bike all over the place. A few years ago a friend introduced me to cycling and I was hooked. I put lots of miles on my beautiful, cobalt blue Giant before coming here. (She's the one item in my storage unit that I really miss!) I don't have a bicycle here, and not sure that I'll get one.
When I first arrived, we spent an entire month in a hotel in Abu Dhabi. It had a good gym with plenty of treadmills and I went every day. I started out walking, but with my son's encouragement, started to run. Once we came out here to the Western Region, I asked around and found out that there were only two options--The Liwa Hotel gym or the Tilal Liwa Hotel gym. (Someone would make a killing if they opened a 24 hour Fitness Center here!) The Liwa Hotel is in the town where I teach, and the Tilal Liwa is closer to where I live. We had stayed at the Tilal for a few days, and the road leading to it has many, many speed humps. I knew that I would never, at the end of a long day of teaching, make the drive over all those humps, to get to the gym. So the Liwa Hotel it was.
A couple of months ago I found out that a group of teachers met to walk or run at the local park every Friday morning, so I joined them. One of the guys, who was also not a runner before coming here, told us about an upcoming 10K race. It never occurred to me to sign up--after all, I'm not a runner. Every week we'd meet and talk as we walked the first lap together. They convinced me to sign up and give it a try.
By this time next week I will have my first 10K under my belt. Yikes. I am nervous, but determined to finish, even if I'm still the last one to cross the finish line.
It's not that I wasn't active--I was. As kids we all had bikes and roller skates. As an adult I hiked, walked, and rode my fat tired bike all over the place. A few years ago a friend introduced me to cycling and I was hooked. I put lots of miles on my beautiful, cobalt blue Giant before coming here. (She's the one item in my storage unit that I really miss!) I don't have a bicycle here, and not sure that I'll get one.
When I first arrived, we spent an entire month in a hotel in Abu Dhabi. It had a good gym with plenty of treadmills and I went every day. I started out walking, but with my son's encouragement, started to run. Once we came out here to the Western Region, I asked around and found out that there were only two options--The Liwa Hotel gym or the Tilal Liwa Hotel gym. (Someone would make a killing if they opened a 24 hour Fitness Center here!) The Liwa Hotel is in the town where I teach, and the Tilal Liwa is closer to where I live. We had stayed at the Tilal for a few days, and the road leading to it has many, many speed humps. I knew that I would never, at the end of a long day of teaching, make the drive over all those humps, to get to the gym. So the Liwa Hotel it was.
A couple of months ago I found out that a group of teachers met to walk or run at the local park every Friday morning, so I joined them. One of the guys, who was also not a runner before coming here, told us about an upcoming 10K race. It never occurred to me to sign up--after all, I'm not a runner. Every week we'd meet and talk as we walked the first lap together. They convinced me to sign up and give it a try.
Oh, and there's another meaning for the word "runner" that is used here. A "runner" is someone who, for whatever reason, packs up and heads to the airport in the middle of the night without telling anyone that he or she is leaving. I just might be turning into a runner, but I'm not a "runner."
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