A Day in Oman

We went to Oman to visit some friends the other day. It's a short drive and you have to cross the border which is not too tough with our UAE residency visas. My brothers good friend has an Oasis- a really green area where things like to grow and water actually runs through the land (that's my definition, you can look up the real one on your own). This is the top of the hill right before you enter the Oasis. It is one of the most beautiful sites you find over here in this desert.

Jessie's parents were here and our friend gave them special honey that you can only buy in the winter here. It was like nothing I have ever tasted before!

The Cunning Falcons

Yesterday I joined Dave Savvas and met 3 other people at the starting line of the Wadi Bih Run- this formed our team, The Cunning Falcons for the 72 kilometer run. (Check out what Dave is doing as he raises money for CURE International)

We left the starting line at 6:30 and ran for the  next 6 hours through the mountains in Oman.

Little did I know until I arrived that I had joined a team of super-fit superstars!

 Each team of runners had a support vehicle that carried the runners who weren't running at that time and we met our team at each leg of the run to switch runners. There were 26 total legs, each of them were different distances and inclines.

We finished the total race in about 6 hours. It was a challenging run for me and inspiring to be around so many people who are in such great shape.

Shiny drove up with me the night before and Dr. Shirley met us the morning of the run. Together they were my cheerleaders! It was fun to have them there as support!

Support My Team

Remember this? That was in October when I ran a half marathon with Lauren and Lisa in Lowell, MA. Lisa tricked me and I ran my fastest time, I think it may be the fastest time I will ever run a long distance run.

When I came back a runner named Dave who is raising money for CURE International (CURE is the parent organization of Oasis Hospital where I am working) asked if I would join him and a team of runners for the "Wadi Bih Run" it's about 75km through the mountains in Northern Oman. I foolishley said yes. As I started training I realized hill training is much more vigorous than regular road running. I have been working hard for about 10 weeks and this weekend I am set to run at leat 15km through the gorgeous mountains of Oman on a 5-man team.

Dave is raising money so that children born with club foot can one day walk, run and play!

Would you support my team by giving money to Dave Savvas, our team captain who is training to ultimatley run the Gobi March in China this June? You can give to CURE by using your credit card here: https://secure.cure.org/give/gobi-march-for-cure-oasis. All money given goes directly to CURE. Dave is supporting himself and has gained sponsorship through local companies and Saucony.

My goal is to get 50 friends and family to give $20 each to raise Dave $1,000! I think we can do it!

P.S. I will update you after this weekend with some team photos!

Facing My Fear

If you know me well at all then you know that I am scared of dogs. It's not a reasonable fear but, it's my fear and no matter how many times you tell me that your dog will not bite me, I will still be nervous to meet your dog. Over the past 5 years I have sort of come to grips with this fear and I can nervously meet your dog and be semi-comfortable when the dog and I are in the same room.

The reason I get nervous is that dogs are unpredictable and could do anything at any time, like bite me.

In the same fashion I am a bit nervous around "birds of prey" and in this case falcons. Falconry is a hobby for men in this region. Our friend buys, trains and sells falcons. This weekend we were at the farm where they train the falcons. While we were there one of our friends noticed that I am always taking photos of others holding the falcons. He called me out and I had to face my fear. He handed me the falconry glove and said "come on, don't be scared"as he showed me the small scratch on his wrist from a falcon talon. I thought no one had noticed, it had been almost 2 years and I still hadn't held a falcon.

Before you judge my fear, let me remind you of this:

Lesson for the day: Face your fears, it's not so bad, even if the person before you made it look pretty scary!