Today was the Alex Half Marathon- which I have heard is a pretty big event. I contemplated running it, but didn't get enough training in beforehand. Apparently people come from all over the place to run it. There were some Boston marathon winners who were competing this year. A few of my friends and I decided to walk down and watch it. Last year the race went from the Citadel to Montazah, but I heard that it was starting from San Stefano (right by our apartments) and going to Montazah and back. We got down to San Stefano around 5:50am, at what we thought would be the beginning of the race, but only saw a few dozen people down there in race bibs. The race was supposed to start at 6am, but we fully acknowledged that this is Egypt and that things start late all the time. Lots of people around us had racing bibs on, but we didn't see any race officials, or even a starting line banner. We figured we must be in the wrong spot, but couldn't figure out where we should be instead. At 6:20 we gave up and decided to walk to Montazah, hoping we might see some runners along the route. We walked the entire 6 miles there without seeing a single runner. Turns out the runners started just down the street from where we were, and they all ran the opposite direction toward the Citadel. The day wasn't a waste though, because this was one of the best walks I've been on since being here. We were along the water the entire way, and the breeze was cool and refreshing. If I decide to run next year, I'll try to be better informed :)
No comments:
Post a Comment