Friday, June 23, 2006

Four Legs good - Two legs faster

I decided that it would be ok to run again this morning down here in Gaza , there are things that you have to do to keep yourself sane in zones like this and running truly is my way to relieve the stress.
It was dark when I woke up and I decided that the best time to run would be a first light, that way the only people up are the Hamas Militia guarding the Fish Market and the traders on their donkey carts going to the fish market. Now the fish market is not a standard warehouse , but a roadside sit with fish kept definetely not in the cleanest standards that would pass many health and safety inspectors.

I had decided to do the same run as the other morning, but with a morning off in between in case anyone was watching me with bad intentions, in fact there was only one old beaten up car this morning with a few men that made me quicken my step, but they turned up and into Gaza City.

I still keep the no eye contact rule with anyone, like a racehorse with blinkers as I see anyone or hear anything my eyes focus on the road ahead and nothing else

So back to the training schedule - I wanted to push a little harder and make this more of a tempo run - so mile splits were as follows -
#1 8:38
#2 8:22
#3 8:12
#4 7:57 - now very happy with that split for a mile , not sure how this translates to km/min pace - a sub 8:00 min/mile

The reason I went under 8 is definetely my pacing partner for the last 500m , I turned at the roundabout at the same time as a horse (yes a horse not a donkey) was on its way to the fish market and moving along at a fair clip pulling its cart with owner and friend and thus the race was on back to the gate , the only eye contact I had was to glance into the eyes of the horse as I finished , the winner no photo finished required was yours truly.

Now that is a running story you do not hear every day

Mal
Gaza City

1 comment:

21st Century Mom said...

Excellent splits! 3 cheers for horsing around in Gaza!! (ba-dum-bum... I'll be here all week!)

As hey guy on Hill Street Blues used to say - "Be careful out there"