Victory All Around

Greetings Friends and Foes!

Today is a bit of a celebratory day in the book of Kelsey Schutz as I’ve not only successfully completed my certification exams for work, but I also completed my final long training run my half marathon preparation. Waahoo!

I’m sure most people laugh at the thought of flight attendant training being tough, I mean how hard is it to ask if someone if they would prefer chicken or beef, right? However, the safety and emergency procedure’s training and well as the general medical training we are tested on is very in depth and detailed. Most of my colleagues began studying the exact locations of the fire extinguishers, signs and symptoms of a heart attack, and fire fighting protocols weeks before their recertification exams. Being the procrastinator that I am, I begun studying the day before. Despite by minimal effort, I still managed to skim by, and am happy to announce that I am once again legal to hold people’s lives in my hands at 30,000 feet above the earth. Mwahahaha

To celebrate my flight attendant victory, I woke up at the butt crack of dawn, drank my black coffee, ate my banana and peanut butter pita wrap, read everyone’s facebook rants concerning the Superbowl (no such showings on Arab TV), through on my running clothes, and hailed a cab to the Dubai Marina to run my final pre race 12 miler.

I’ve kept a log of my training runs, and it’s fun to not only look back at how far I’ve come in terms of conditioning, but also where all I have actually run. I’ve ran on treadmills in Milan (Italy), Accra (Africa), and Dallas (Texas). I’ve ran on trails in Zurich (Switzerland), along the ocean in Los Angeles, through parks in Dubai with fellow joggers wearing their abayas, and, one of my personal favorites, down the mean streets of White Hall, Illinois!

Al Barsha Pond Park (Dubai)

While I usually run on a padded track at a park near my apartment, I decided that for today I might die from physically running 12 miles, so why up my chances of death from boredom after running the same 1.5 mile loop for two hours? Running on the roads in Dubai and hoping you won't get hit by a car, is pretty much the equivalent of walking through East St. Louis with a sign on your back reading "I HAVE CASH" and hoping to not get robbed. The drivers here are insane, therefore running along the roads is out!

The Dubai Marina has a great walkway surrounding the water that is filled with cool cafes the entire way around, and is very jogger friendly. It is even complete with a bridge that overlooks the sea. Running with a view of the ocean is always a bonus! The jogging path even had tons of motivational signs (sponsored by Reebok), and kilometer markers, which is great if you understand the Metric System....

Dubai Marina

I started my run a little after 7:00, and 1 hour and 56 minutes later I had completed 12 miles. The entire run actually went really well, but I was also completely ok that it was over! Since the entire run burnt a few calories, or a hundred, I decided I could treat myself, and I devoured a ginormous mushroom omelet and toast, and didn't feel even slightly guilty about it!

 And now for more exciting news, I'm off to the grocery store. I've been alternating between brussel sprouts and frozen pizzas for the last 4 nights of dinner. Unfortunately, I'm not joking.

Have a great week!