Running in Dubai

My good 'ol running group back at home, Oak Park Runners Club, asked me to contribute to their monthly newsletter about my experiences running in Dubai. Below is my excerpt!

"When I first moved to Dubai about 9 months ago, pretty much every aspect of my life had changed. Several months had gone by and I still had not felt adjusted. What was missing? I had my own car, my own apartment, a job I was pretty satisfied with, yet didn't feel settled. Fortunately, as a physical therapist, I get a lot of time to chat with people and being a new-bee expat in Dubai, plenty of my patients wanted to offer advice. Although most advice revolved around eating and more eating (that is a big part of the life here), one bit of advice that particularly stood out was, "try to incorporate as much of your 'old' life into this 'new' life." Ah ha! The first thing that came to mind was all the exercise groups I had participated in - OPRC of course, UIC Masters Swim Group, random bike groups here and there. I've met some great people through these groups and it makes training fun! I had been doing my own workouts, but that is of course very individual and... not so much fun. I finally joined up with the Dubai Creek Striders, recommended by a patient. There were actually a lot more running groups out there than I had thought, and my decision was mostly based on convenience of location and time, and also intensity because some are pretty hard core. The group meets at 6am on Friday mornings (our weekends here are Friday and Saturday) and they run about 15K, just like the Saturday morning OPRC run. There are no fees to join, but basically at the beginning of the run everyone chips in a couple of bucks and after the group is divided by pace, someone is in charge of buying drinks for everyone in that group when we do stops along the way. Many people have been curious to the make-up of the group, and I have to say it ALL expats. Dubai is about 80% expats anyway, and exercise groups are about 99% expats.There are no water fountains around here because the water is highly chlorinated and bad. Once the groups are divided by pace, which can be between 20-40 people, we set off in any direction the leader takes us. Although it is interesting to go a different route each time, about half the times I've run with them we've gotten lost - no fun when it gets up to 15 miles in the heat! I especially miss the Saturday morning OPRC "The Big Ugly" route the most during those times! I started and am continuing with the "social" group, aka. slower group, and thankfully I have stuck with them because I have to admit, it took me several runs to get used to the heat. I know Chicago has had somewhat of a heatwave lately, but imagine consistent 100+ degree heat EVERYDAY for several months AND humidity, ranging from 20-60%. Sometimes you don't even start the run yet and you are dripping with sweat. During the +/- 15K, there are about 4 stops at gas stations for water, and this initially was a bit annoying to me because they were lengthy stops as you had to wait for everyone and it is very stop and go. But by the tail end of the runs, I usually can't wait for the stops.

As most people are aware, Dubai is a Muslim country and I was a bit concerned with attire. Would I need to wear leggings and a long sleeve shirt in this extreme heat? Fortunately, not. However, as of the 20th of July for a month, the holy month of Ramadan begins. This is the time when Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset, it is a period of self-discipline and self-control as well as a time to empathize with the poor and do charitable acts. In the gulf countries, they are particularly strict about the "do's and don'ts." We, everyone including Westerners, are not allowed to eat or drink in public from sunrise to sunset. You can get arrested and/or fined $300 if you are caught, and this includes drinking water in your car. I actually got scolded by a Muslim because I was still chewing a sticky date (this is the food of choice to break the fast, it is easy on the stomach. Although I wasn't fasting, I like them!) when I went by the elevators by my work. Oops. It is also stressed to wear 'conservative' clothing. Although I am excited about the shortened work hours from 50 hours a week to 30 hours a week (woo hoo!), the question arose again about what to wear when running? I came to the 1st run of Ramadan and saw that everyone was still in shorts and tank tops. Phew! I asked one of the group leaders about it and he said they never had any problem about attire, BUT, as most people bring their own water because sometimes we can go along while without it (example being the times we get lost), we can't do that. Also, when we do our infamous gas stations stops for drinks, we all have to hide and crouch down so that we are not seen to the public eye.  Overall, it's not as bad as I thought and... my exercise life continues with just a few little blips along the way. I have also joined a Masters Swim Group and this is in an enclosed school area so this hasn't skipped a beat for Ramadan. All and all, everyone living here should and needs to respect the culture here, even if it means awkwardly trying to run again after hiding and being crouched for awhile drinking water!

Ramadan Kareem! (or "Ramadan is generous")

6:00am... ready to run!

Our pre-race meeting: welcoming new runners, talking about recent achievements (racing), events coming up, etc. 

One of the water stops.... since there are no fountains, we buy liters of water and cups and disperse and share!

Running during Ramadan - we are all crouched behind a gas station to avoid being seen in public drinking water (i.e. to avoid getting arrested and fined!).

Nice break in the 100+ degree heat!

Our route varies, but this one is nice - along the Creek

Part of the Creek route is taking an "abra" across the Creek. 

The group of runners on the Abra crossing the Creek

It was Murphy, the guy in the middle with the headband, birthday today and he founded the club and he has a "Murphy's" plaque on the bench they are sitting on. This is actually probably 1/3 of the group, it is quite large!