Dubai Creek Striders Half Marathon

Today we ran the Dubai Creek Striders Half Marathon. It was an absolutely glorious race with a fantastic route all along both sides of the Creek (including running through the textile souq, which was awesome and not something we will ever have another opportunity to do, given that it's always mobbed -- we were passing through at about 7:45am though). It was a perfect temperature too -- probably about 65-70 degrees. We hadn't been able to train as much as I would have liked (for a 13.1 mile run, it's hard to find places to go for long runs in a city that has very few sidewalks and is by no stretch of the imagination a 'walking' city), but we were both able to finish it in good times. Jared felt really good about halfway through and took off, so finished 8 minutes ahead of me in 1:47, and I finished in 1:55. The last half marathon I ran was in 2007 (the Boston BAA Half Marathon), and I finished that in 1:51, feeling like I was in much better shape than I am now. My goal was to finish in under two hours, so I was pleased. Then after the race, we had a free breakfast buffet with a full English breakfast (including pork!), that was included with the race. Just delightful! And by 9:45am we were on our way home. What a lovely way to start a Friday!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Our little Dubai Christmas tree... Quite similar to last year, but cute and we love it... Jared is getting so good at stringing popcorn and cranberries too!

More so than last year, everywhere you look in Dubai it is completely Christmas (with Christmas music even playing in stores...)! Not what you'd expect in a Muslim country.. They even had the most expensive Christmas tree in the world at the Emirates Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi (decorated with gold, diamond, and rubies... however, it was soon after removed due to extreme criticism for being in poor taste. Go figure.). Below are some of the decorations seen at the Dubai Mall.

Giant Gingerbread House at Brunetti Italian Patisserie. Quite cool actually.

The Dubai Mall Tree: 4 Floors of glowing fiber optic effervescence.

Life-size gingerbread house next to the tree, which was coincidentally also a stand where children could make their own gingerbread houses. For some reason I couldn't convince Jared to make one with me.

While some of the displays are completely tacky, the abundance of Christmas decorations in Dubai really did make it feel a little bit more like home... Even if it is still 75 degrees everyday... Oh well, you can't have it all.

Qatar 2022!

Congratulations to Qatar for winning the FIFA World Cup bid for 2022! We were delighted to hear the news this morning, despite how unpatriotic it might seem (sorry USA, you know how much we love you...). It will be tremendous for the World Cup to come to the Middle East for the first time, and may just be a good excuse to plan a return visit to Doha. They have a lot of work to do, but they have the money and infrastructure, so I'm sure they can do it and the 2022 World Cup will be a smashing success! Yea Qatar!

Happy 39th Birthday UAE!

December 2nd is National Day in the UAE (think the 4th of July, UAE-style). For us it is a day off work (woo!) and an excuse to BBQ in the middle of the day. For Emirati's, it is a day to display more national pride than I have ever seen shown by all other nationalities combined. And usually the method of expressing said extreme amounts of UAE pride is by decorating their vehicles in an over-the-top manner (because you know, it wouldn't be Emirati if it wasn't over-the-top) and then drag-racing down Beach Road for all the world to see... Oh, there is no where else quite like Dubai.

Nothing says "I love my country" like spray painting your car with your country's flag...


This display is a bit more tame, as it doesn't involve vandalizing your own car.

Hail, Father Zayed.

And, not unlike the 4th of July back home, there are, of course, fireworks. However, unlike fireworks displays (and safety regulations) back home, in Dubai, they show their pride by strapping fireworks to the world's tallest building. We were lucky enough to catch the show from our garden.

Pretty awesome, but not as grandiose as when the Burj opened (Jared tells me)...




Oh Dubai, you never cease to amaze.