My last blog! Nothing like leaving Dubai and Dubai life with such a remarkable event like Comrades and with my super DCS friends.
Dubai has been starting to do e-gate, which is fab and quick, but I needed an official stamp! Funny enough, well, actually, not-so-funny is before I looooved getting stamps! But then I realized that my double sets of pages added.... may not be enough for my travels! Whoops!
Sooo, what do you have when you have 22 "Cookoo" runners running a 90km run? Total chaos! And also lots of fun! The weekend started off amazing, met Team India at the Emirates business class - Pruthu, Manooj, Deepak and Sujeet, and we went to the Business Class Lounge, which was faaabbbuulloouuusss. Yummy food, fancy Voss water, wine/champagne, free Costa coffee and cookies/muffins, you name it. Then we continued on to meet the rest at the Marhaba Lounge, still nice, but not the same, haha (gosh, I get so spoiled so easily, lol).
Theeeeennn, Pruthu came up to me and asked me where I was sitting, and when I went to get my ticket to show him, he grabbed it and gave me his Business Class seat!! I almost died! He said he wanted me to have it and leave Dubai in style. OMG, sooo sooo sooooooo nice, I was shocked yet not surprised as he is an amazing guy, and soo thoughtful and generous. Also couldn’t think of anything I needed more - peace, quiet, and rest. Those last few days I had been having major anxiety, have had teeth grinding, and felt my heart thumping too much. If I was in economy, wouldn’t get a moment’s rest with all the chit chatting. Instead, enjoyed good food, put the seat down till it was flat, napped, practiced deep breathing to calm down my nervous system, and watched 2 movies, All the Money in the World and The Greatest Showman, only ventured out to the back once. Needless to say, was soo soo thankful to Pruthu and for what will likely be the 1st and last time in Emirates business!!
Pruthu, Deepak, Sujeet, Majooj and I
Theeeeennn, Pruthu came up to me and asked me where I was sitting, and when I went to get my ticket to show him, he grabbed it and gave me his Business Class seat!! I almost died! He said he wanted me to have it and leave Dubai in style. OMG, sooo sooo sooooooo nice, I was shocked yet not surprised as he is an amazing guy, and soo thoughtful and generous. Also couldn’t think of anything I needed more - peace, quiet, and rest. Those last few days I had been having major anxiety, have had teeth grinding, and felt my heart thumping too much. If I was in economy, wouldn’t get a moment’s rest with all the chit chatting. Instead, enjoyed good food, put the seat down till it was flat, napped, practiced deep breathing to calm down my nervous system, and watched 2 movies, All the Money in the World and The Greatest Showman, only ventured out to the back once. Needless to say, was soo soo thankful to Pruthu and for what will likely be the 1st and last time in Emirates business!!
Nic and Tim rented these big o vans and we made it to good ‘ol Riverside Hotel. Did the usual Hops pub for dinner, and off it was to a good nights sleep.
Deepak, Manish, Purthu, Nic, Tim and lovely wife Linda
Lol, I was quite hungry!
Laura, Nikki, Louise, Ying, Mel, Shabri, Liz, and I
The ... male Cooloos! Manooj, Deepak, Manish, Sujeet, Pruthu, Bhard, Nic, Tim, and Ram
The lady Cookoos! Laura, Louise, Ying, and Vicki
Cheers!
Nikki and Louise with yummy looking pizza!
Friday opted to sleep in vs run as hadn’t slept at all the night before we left from stress and needed it. Was the right decision and Liz and I both took that opportunity to sleep. Then later we got all the pics of 'what we missed' - a true fun run!
We had a nice breaky
And ... then off it was to the Expo. Fortunately and unfortunately, the selection was almost gone and/or no sizes available. It was fortunate because am really trying to downsize and don’t want to overspend now that I am unemployed. Unfortunate for the newbees and also for me because I was supposed to pow wow shop gifts for Nic, Tim and Ram and was left with nothing and spent the whole time at the Expo trying to stalk them without looking like I am stalking. It was tough! Somehow managed a few bits and bobs (socks and shorts!). As you see, we had to do some 'managing' for the transport, i.e. stuffing as many as we can in the car!
Wow! This pooped us and exhausted we went to The Oyster Box again (as we did last year) and had a super lunch and then nap time and hang out time.
Have I mentioned the AWESOME prep by Tim and Nic for all of us??/ Soo awesome!
We had a nice breaky
And ... then off it was to the Expo. Fortunately and unfortunately, the selection was almost gone and/or no sizes available. It was fortunate because am really trying to downsize and don’t want to overspend now that I am unemployed. Unfortunate for the newbees and also for me because I was supposed to pow wow shop gifts for Nic, Tim and Ram and was left with nothing and spent the whole time at the Expo trying to stalk them without looking like I am stalking. It was tough! Somehow managed a few bits and bobs (socks and shorts!). As you see, we had to do some 'managing' for the transport, i.e. stuffing as many as we can in the car!
And even back seat! Poor Mel!
Pruthu and Deepark with the South African legend, Coach Perry
Wow! This pooped us and exhausted we went to The Oyster Box again (as we did last year) and had a super lunch and then nap time and hang out time.
I'm pretty sure I wasn't saying anything THAT interesting, haha
Saturday did sleep well and did a nice easy breezy 4k run with Liz and Ram,
Breakfast, then went to grocery store for random items
before we headed to ... you got it, expo again to take a few more pics (more pics!) and also last minute shopping. Was actually good as managed to find thank you pressies (they are the BEST organizers!) for Nic and Tim that wasn't available earlier. Phew!
Then we did our usual lunch by the beach at this place called Circus, yum yum, carbo loading (hard to eat so much! lol)
Came back, rested and got prepped, and then ate again at the hotel (more pasta!) . As you see a common theme for ultra runners - lots of eating!
And and behold, the day passed, and eek, next thing you know, it was time for early sleep for eaaarrrrrrllllllllyyyyyyyyyy wake up!!! 2am!!! We had to leave at 2:30am to take our little mini vans to Pietermaritzburg for a 5:30am start (but had to be there 45 min early to get situated and do all our toileting and other prep, hah). Soooo, was really became a looong day!!
Comrades run itself, the previous blog!!! Spoiler alert - had a FAB downhill run, and got my back-to-back with THE EXACT SAME TIME I GOT LAST YEAR (not down to the second, but the minute) with the uphill! Sooo funny!
Breakfast, then went to grocery store for random items
before we headed to ... you got it, expo again to take a few more pics (more pics!) and also last minute shopping. Was actually good as managed to find thank you pressies (they are the BEST organizers!) for Nic and Tim that wasn't available earlier. Phew!
Then we did our usual lunch by the beach at this place called Circus, yum yum, carbo loading (hard to eat so much! lol)
Came back, rested and got prepped, and then ate again at the hotel (more pasta!) . As you see a common theme for ultra runners - lots of eating!
And and behold, the day passed, and eek, next thing you know, it was time for early sleep for eaaarrrrrrllllllllyyyyyyyyyy wake up!!! 2am!!! We had to leave at 2:30am to take our little mini vans to Pietermaritzburg for a 5:30am start (but had to be there 45 min early to get situated and do all our toileting and other prep, hah). Soooo, was really became a looong day!!
Comrades run itself, the previous blog!!! Spoiler alert - had a FAB downhill run, and got my back-to-back with THE EXACT SAME TIME I GOT LAST YEAR (not down to the second, but the minute) with the uphill! Sooo funny!
Post comrades fun - Welllll, June 10th happened to be Ram's 45th birthday, and unlike last year when Liz and I ordered room service and didn't move, I think everyone was soo spirited that most of us met down at the bar and had some drinks and we got a bday cake for Ram and had some good laughs and celebrations.
The day after Comrades, MORE celebrations and fun! Again, soo nice that everyone finished and we all were in super good spirits and just in celebrating mode! We took a good 203942034832 pictures while checking out the hotel, packing up the cars, etc etc (lots of effort to organize 20+ people!)
Off it was then to Mundo Vida (as last year) to have our celebratory lunch, yay!
Soo.. besides all the craziness that had been happening these last months, I wanted to do something special from ME to the club as they had been so great to me, so I had arranged a Comrades Cake with all of our names on it (but daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamn it, realized when he pointed it out, I forgot Manooj, ooooooops! Felt sooo bad about this!) AND cupcakes for all of us with hallmark bdays this year - me, Nic and Laura turning 40, Liz and Manooj turning 50, Mel turning 30, and Ram had his bday that weekend. Glad all was a success (although darn it, was a bit costly as somehow my bank transfer got lost in cyberspace, wah wah. Ahh well, double payment, double the deliciousness!) and everyone seemed to be touched, which is nice.
It was a BEAUTIFUL day and lots and lots of laughs and ... just happiness for having such a BIG event done with, 6 months of training, and poof! ALL OF US FINISHED, which was just too happy and magical!
We all went to the airport and Nic's mom and dad, Stella and Glen, were there as I was to head to their place to stay for a few days while the gang was catching a flight back to Dubai and I was staying onwards.
I think from all the events and emotions and things that had been happening, I was really expecting I was going to have a breakdown, but somehow was A-okay and composed. Thing almost was too overwhelmed with everything to get emotional and had some earlier times when I was, so the "see you later" was actually better than I thought.
If I dare say I have an ultimate FAVORITE picture, it is THIS ONE ABOVE! I love it soo soo much!!!! Love the color coordination, the happy victorious celebrations, and... just love all of these Comrade Cookoos!
Off it was then to Mundo Vida (as last year) to have our celebratory lunch, yay!
Soo.. besides all the craziness that had been happening these last months, I wanted to do something special from ME to the club as they had been so great to me, so I had arranged a Comrades Cake with all of our names on it (but daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamn it, realized when he pointed it out, I forgot Manooj, ooooooops! Felt sooo bad about this!) AND cupcakes for all of us with hallmark bdays this year - me, Nic and Laura turning 40, Liz and Manooj turning 50, Mel turning 30, and Ram had his bday that weekend. Glad all was a success (although darn it, was a bit costly as somehow my bank transfer got lost in cyberspace, wah wah. Ahh well, double payment, double the deliciousness!) and everyone seemed to be touched, which is nice.
It was a BEAUTIFUL day and lots and lots of laughs and ... just happiness for having such a BIG event done with, 6 months of training, and poof! ALL OF US FINISHED, which was just too happy and magical!
Here we are, all the back to back Comrade finishers!
Our whole Cookoo gang minus Pruthu who had to leave for the airport, sniff sniff
Homemade bunny chow!
I think from all the events and emotions and things that had been happening, I was really expecting I was going to have a breakdown, but somehow was A-okay and composed. Thing almost was too overwhelmed with everything to get emotional and had some earlier times when I was, so the "see you later" was actually better than I thought.
Am sooooooooooooo thankful for the weekend and everything, I had such a great run and weekend and it was just the icing on the cake of my Dubai life!!!
Funny enough, there was soo much hype and excitement in the sports community about our BIG group with ALL successful runners, that we were featured in our local Dubai paper!!
Funny enough, there was soo much hype and excitement in the sports community about our BIG group with ALL successful runners, that we were featured in our local Dubai paper!!
Next up.... well, now am already in Travel Sabbatical 2018, June to... well, we'll see! Is it time for Where In the World is Ellen, Part 2? Hmm.... am already behind, but will update if so!
Bye bye blog!
Bye bye blog!
