Happy New Year from Dubai!!! Welcome 2015!!

Happy New Year!

Wow! I don't know where the recent months have come and gone. I was meaning to do an update, buuuut.... well, life catches up. 

Had some work obligations:

Worked a 5km run

And below pics from 7 Emirates Run, a combo of work and play! My work happened to sponsor this run my friends did, running through all the 7 Emirates, something like 512km over 2 weeks! Super crazy, and no, I would never do that!!

And below, random sunset skyline picture as I was driving, couldn't resist!

I've been a wee bit busy with guests! As they say, when it rains it pours and at one time it's been back to back guests. All good and all fun, but just gets busy. One of them was one of my best friends from home, we did an almost Sex and the City theme, so spas, afternoon teas, you name it!!

Spent Xmas day (and Eve) working (that's what happens when you work in a Muslim country!), but had a lovely Xmas run with my running group and then dinner with friends afterwards:

As you can see, the run was more like a jog and just about 10km in the nippy 70F temperature, ha ha. Actually, during the run we stop for mince pies (UK thing)!

Hehe,someone sent this to me and I thought it added some desert Xmas spirit!

Since i had to work, I gave our work logo a little Christmas spirit, he he.

Below, Steph and Jez, they were awesome and hosted. We had a 15kg Turkey! (lots of leftovers though!)

Soo.... with all that, I decided (as of last weekend) to run the Dubai marathon again! As I've mentioned earlier, my age is creeping up to me because it has taken me soo long to get back into shape! Now I'm probably 60% of the shape I was in this time last year and the decision came only because I'm running the long runs with my group that are training for it AND I could use it as a training run for Boston. I am NOTABLY slower and less motivated than last year, VERY MUCH SO, but alas, know that it will be a slower run but just want to keep steady and not race it as I did last year. I don't want to peak too early! Anyhoo, I've become an "all or nothing" kind of person, so with the training (and eating) the last month or so, I've really cracked down. BUT unfortunately, as everyone else, I've gotten a bit sloppy over the holidays, so I REALLY need to get back on track again with my diet. Ugh, it's so hard sometimes! Anyhoo, will get through it. 

For the New Year have a friend here from the States and we got lucky in our "winging" it approach by last minute (literally, almost 10pm) being invited to the same building where I celebrated last year (with the fab view) just a few floors down. It was relaxed, low-key, and we avoided the mayhem traffic and chaos of the downtown Dubai area. Phew!! Here are some snaps:

And....  below is my annual little NY shout out:

Dear family and friends,

I wanted to wish you a healthy and prosperous New Year from Dubai! Now
that 2014 has come to a close, it's nice to take the time to reflect
on the year just passed and also to look ahead to the next year.

2014 marked my 3rd year in Dubai! I can't believe how fast the time as
gone. From the start of the year, I was off up and running, literally
and figuratively, as I not only got my best time at the Dubai marathon
after a 10-year gap in marathon running (which reminded me that age is
just a number. Happy to have achieved a great race result a decade
later!), but also I qualified for the Boston marathon!! So look out
for me April 20, 2015... which will be followed by a visit home to
Chicago (just for a week, the last week in April - very short time!).
I also had for the 3rd year in a row the opportunity to work alongside
ATP players during the Dubai Tennis Open where let's say I really got
friendly with the the pro's including most of the Top 10 players :-)!
Another amazing experience!

As no surprise, this year was also kept busy with some great travels!
I met my family in Serbia and Greece, then did a month long segment
(out of 6!) of an Overland trip through Central Asia, my first
somewhat camping experience. It included Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan,
Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. These were all different and
unique places, and as can be imagined, each country offered it's own
distinct sightseeing and cultural experiences. If you're ever
interested in hearing about it, just let me know and I'd be more than
happy to share, he he. Shortly thereafter, I combined a professional
growth opportunity to get a Certificate in Orthopedic Manual Therapy
(COMT) in my field with travel as it was held in Portugal! So I spent
a month there and managed to spend a long weekend in Paris beforehand
(my first time, believe it or not!), Sevilla, Spain, and weekend trips
along the Argave area in Portugal (where my lovely sister joined me).
Beautiful! So yes, can't complain about the ample holiday time I have
over here!

Living as an Expat makes me appreciate my family and friends all the
more. Sometimes life can sweep us all in varying directions, but
please know that although I may be physically far away (or close!), I
often think of you and appreciate hearing from you and likewise, try
to keep in touch the best I can. So please be in touch!


All the best in 2015!!!

Dubai Life - Random Update

Here it is, another Random Dubai Life update. Not about travel (gasp), but fine, have to write about my next fave topic, diet and exercise.... and other random stuffs.

One thing that has taken me by surprise is for seemingly the first time (although not! The memory tends to forget these things), it has taken me 2 months, no joke, to get into shape. I guess if it took me 6+'ish months to get out, it would be expected it would be some time to get back into it. I had always been grateful, almost to the point of bragging, how quickly I could get back into shape. Not so, my friend! This aging thing is a b**ch! I had predicted it would be tough, but phew, it's not only tough, but taking foooooooooreeeeeeever. Am being smart about it though, have to, both for personal and professional reasons!!!! 

Got back from my travels in early Oct. Kinda worked out, i.e. easy slooow jogging, in Portugal. So I pretty much used the month of October to eaaassssssssseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee back into running and other sport. It actually took me the whole month to get my cardio conditioning back into gear AND more importantly, to lose some weight. That has been interesting as well, because probably less than a week of eating Clean, my cheeks drastically went down and a few weeks later, didn't have to suck my stomach to get into my pants. Haha. It's really amazing once we dedicate ourselves to something, how the body can react. Come November, pants feeling a bit loose and feeling "light" again. Probably ate completely Clean (no dairy, sugar, minimal to no carbs) for a month and then did fairly Clean with a 'cheat' day once a week, which is what I'm doing now with the "cheat" day being not-so-bad of a cheat anyway. So my tentative goals are being accomplished, Step 1 was to lose my added holiday wait, and Step 2 was to gradual increase my running no more than 10% increments, yay injury prevention! That has actually gotten a lot better and am sticking with the slower "social" group and decided would rather go sloooow and get the distance in than start to kill myself keeping up with my previous faster running group.

I don't think Boston Marathon can come soon enough, although if I DIDN'T get in, who knows what kind of state I'd be in as a I really thrive on goals. This one being "don't die during the marathon." Haha. So my plan is to ease into sport and everything until the end of the year, and then come Jan, when I have T-minus 4 months to get Boston ready, to crank it up with speed and everything.

Although I admit I'm not as motivated as I was last year, lost a little zest, am doing something new this time around - personal training! I've never done it before and think it will help... along with my fave, stair climbing to help train and conquer those Boston hills! Phew!!!

Soo... lesson being - listen to your body and be smart. Thank gaaaawwwwdd besides some muscle soreness from losing pretty much ALL my strength, put aside my psychological torment of my back, and am actually feeling painfree! 

In other news, winters in Dubai are like summers in Chicago, EVERYTHING happens! The weather is TOTALLY fab and ... just perfect. Although of course I miss Chicago, definitely don't miss it when it is suffering from Chi-beria and I am still swimming outside, ha ha.

Enjoying some delicious home cooked meals with friends,

And.... another example of some fun stuffs going on, went to Formula 1 (training session) with my Dubai Serbian family to celebrate Dejan's bday.... and ran into Richard Quest from CNN! 

And as you see, Dejan really is happy to be turning a new age! hahaha!

Anyhoo, random update, but that's life for you! As I am in Dubai the next 5ish months, there will be more Dubai Life updates, including an update when my best friends from home is coming out next week!!!