The RAK Half Marathon

I took part in the RAK half marathon this year, an event known as the premiere road race in the UAE. My team was participating in the relay which meant that between the four of us we had to cover 21 kms. Since we had registered for this event in November I had a good three months in hand to train, but as always happens with me I started the training enthusiatically and lost interest somewhere along the line. I must have gone running a total of ten times in all and was travelling till the week of the marathon. The marathon took place on Friday, the 19th of February.
We had planned on meeting in office at 5 in the morning and then driving to Ras Al Khaimah. I had the blue bib which meant that I was the second runner, running from 5 kms to 10 kms. About 10 minutes after the start of the marathon we saw a group of runners pass through the 5 km gate. I never thought I would be someone who finds beauty in a marathon but the sight of that group of runners was one of the best I have seen in a long time. They looked like a flock of deer, agile and fit and not distracted by the cheering onlookers. Geoffrey Mutai of Kenya went on to win the marathon. He covered the 21 kms in 59 minutes 41 seconds only.


Coming back to my running, Rakesh, our team's first runner finally made it to where I was. He was completely out of breath and started retching almost as soon as he stopped. There was no time to ask after his well being since I had to take the ankle strapped timer from him and move on. I started well but about 2.5 kms into the run my left leg started cramping badly and all I could manage was some brisk walking. It was only about 8 in the morning but the sun was beating down the left side of my face and at one point I thought my heart was going to burst out of my back and explode into a thousand pieces. I cursed myself for not having taken the training seriously. The thought that Florian, the third member of my team was waiting for me at the 10 km gate made me pull myself together and I managed to run the rest of the way. The last two minutes of the run - when the gate was in sight and all I had to do reach it - seemed the longest two minutes of my life. My team completed the 21 kms in 2 hours, 23 minutes, 55 seconds, which was better than how most teams fared. We really enjoyed receiving our participatory medals and were jubiliant about running the marathon.


If I were to run this next year I will make sure that I train thoroughly for the same, I ran 5 kms in 37 minutes and 59 seconds and I need to aim for 30 minutes next year.

Pinch and a punch for the first of the month

On the first day of each month I am reminded of A pinch and a punch for the new month – something we sisters followed diligently through our childhood years. Infact we were very competitive and serious about it - the one who woke up before the others and pinched and punched more number of people on the first day of the new month was supposed to have a better month than the others. I never bothered to find out how or why we followed the P & P, I guess one of us read about it somewhere. Interestingly my online search on it today showed up the following -

Etymology- Originating from old England times when people thought that witches existed. People thought that salt would make a witch weak, so the pinch part is pinching of the salt, and the punch part was to banish the witch. The witch would be weak from the salt so the punch was to banish her.

As a noun - Said the first day of a new month, accompanied by a pinch and a punch to the victim. With all of us four sisters in different cities we no longer have the P & P, but that’s the first thing that comes to my mind on the first of every month. I have replaced the P & P ritual with Susan Miller. On the first of each month I impatiently visit her astrology site to find out what the month has in store for me :)