The Shifting Sands

Union Station in Washington, great example of a railway architecture but the platforms lacked the grand halls of the European stations. It was a quick trip.  I arrived in the morning off a direct flight from Dubai and spent most of the time in Washington in a windowless room reviewing documents.  On the upside, I caught glimpses of the Washington monument from my previous visit to these parts over 30 years ago.  I was also able to catch up with 3 colleagues from the Denver bid.  Almost 36 hours after I arrived I was a at the spectacular Union Station in Washington boarding a train to NYC.  The experience was interesting as there was a real sense of decay through this part of the journey.  Union station building and retail areas was spectacular, the platform ordinary, the Accela high speed train was primitive, Baltimore was rusted and Penn Station in New York like something from a Scorsese film from the late 70’s. ...

Have I caught the bug?  A few weeks after Wadi Bih 50km run, I noticed that there was a half-marathon in the hills around Hatta, a town in a UAE enclave to the east of Dubai which is surrounded by Oman on three sides. I suddenly keen but would doing this mean that I would be drifting into the darks side of concentrating on running to the exclusion of all else? Did it mean more early morning starts with thousands of others only to pound my way along some mind numbing road/ The run was on the roads through the town with some stiff climbing past two dam walls (25% max garde and about 360m of climbing overall) and some running on trails in the hills behind the town.  I hadn't been to Hatta since we did a visa run for Kate and the girls just after we arrived and it was an area that I was keen to revisit. Paddy, my neighbour and running partner from Wadi Bih, was out of town but Ana was keen to do the half-marathon.  Ana is from Kazakhstan and gave me some great advice befo...

I don’t like organised running events and it had been eight years since my last one, a 100km group run through the hills and forests to the north of Melbourne.   I don’t like the cost, the crowds, the overflowing portable toilets at the start and the T shirt that they give you that you don’t want and you will never wear again. My thoughts are that if you want to go for a run then just put on your shoes, grab a water bottle and go. I surprised myself when I felt some interest in doing the Wadi Bih run in the Musandam Governate in Oman.   In my defence there were a few extenuating circumstances that helped to spark my interest.   The first is that I like Oman and in particular Musandam as result of my sea kayak trip around the north of the peninsula. The second is that this part of Oman is normally difficult to reach as the border at Dibba is closed for foreigners (i.e. not Omanis or Emiraties) which means a long drive via Khasab.   The other alternative to cross a...