Singapore – Dubai – Cairo ✈️
Hurry hurry, rush rush. Luggage carousel. Does everyone have a Visa? Customs queue. Long line, bag inspection. Wait outside the door, count for 6. Busy, dusty, hot. Post-midnite transport. Big city on the Nile. 45-minute drive south to Maadi. 3 hour sleeps – race ready, tote packed/downstairs 5am. Continent #4.
Surprisingly not the legs, body adjusts. Lack of sleep. Brain turns off. You get strangely emotional, teary. Luckily, Triple 8 travels in a pack. Follow the leader. Dark streets and stray dogs. Scary, dirty on the outside. Today’s race however… its people-support & energy, would make it FAN FAVOURITE of all 8 ⭐
No bike path, no loops. 26 miles of actual road. Traditional marathon. Pace groups, race announcements. Thin guys lined-afront pushing to WIN. Pre-race Triple 8 pic, then a day-run with brand-new players – the 5 hour pace group. Whatta gift! Fresh energy, conversation, upbeat enthusiasm. FAAAANNTASTIC!
Four miles of city lights & runner head lamps. Maadi Runners – whatta conscientious group. Pot hole on your left. Outside-crowded us from cars. Volunteers held traffic as we crossed intersections, up/over bridges. ‘Ash’ [Go!] Shouts back-n-forth in Arabic. Encouragement, SMILES. ASH!
Same tight pack first 12 miles, ‘til the Halfers peeled off. New runners added. 4-hour marathoners who’ll try again next time. Great energy! ASH! ASH!
Tall city skyscrapers, crazy car traffic & exhaust. Windy, dusty. Folks riding donkeys, camels on the median – everything & more, I’d ever dreamt of Egypt (and 25 degrees cooler than Singapore). Traditional water stations. Maadi Group vans filled with FRESH FRUIT. Strawberries, dates, oranges, almonds, bananas. Whatta treat!
And… a long stretch along the Nile. YES!
Walked the last bridge incline at mile 23. Walk/jogged last 3 miles; gas left in the tank. Four more to go! Whatta life experience, literally running the streets of Cairo.
To my pacer Peggy, the Maadi Runners – and all Egypt – THANK YOU! ❤️
Fast shower & a quick walkabout Giza. The mighty PYRAMIDS. Trip complete.
First class/business, rest of my journey. Next up: Amsterdam 🇳🇱 Winter is coming.
-
- Royal Maadi Hotel
-
- Day 4 Start
-
- Maadi Runners
-
- Pharaoh & the Nile
-
- BEST pacer EVER!
-
- Day 4: Africa
-
- FAN FAVE ⭐
-
- pyramids of Giza
-
- trip COMPLETE ❤️
-
- the Sphinx
-
- 4 medals, 4 to GO!
Marathon Cairo
Ewings of Dallas
Every memory wasn’t pineapple upside-down cake & Little House.
Friday nites… there was drama.
8pm on CBS.
DALLAS. Never missed (VCR recorded). First of a long line of prime-time soaps my family always watched. Dynasty, Knots Landing, Falcon Crest, Flamingo Road. TV drama of the ‘80s.
Morning touchdown at Dallas Love. Saturday drive to Southfork Ranch – HOME of the Ewings. Gotta/hafta/must GO. Miss Ellie, Jock. JR, Sue Ellen. Bobby & Pam. Who shot J.R.? Doubled-over in the dark of his oil baron tower. Season 2 cliff-hanger. Nothing on TV like it before.
JR survived & wasn’t rival Cliff Barnes who fired the shot. Sister-in-law Kristen… Bing Crosby’s daughter. True to the South, this family had its share of secrets. Babies, secret trysts, murder.
Bobby died; season later it was all a dream. Huh? Miss Ellie replaced by Donna Reed… & back again. Jock disappeared in the Amazon. Sadly, never returned (actor Jim Davis died).
Well well worth the $16 tour price – the Ewings of Dallas, an American original.
Sunday morning marathon, sleeps @ the Omni. Last road run of the decade. Indiana trail in 2 weeks; Christmas sandwiched in-between. Holidays with my own bunch of Ewings ❤️
-
- Big Things Happen Here
-
- America’s family
-
- first couple of Dallas
-
- Fridays on CBS
-
- TV’s biggest villain
-
- longest summer EVER
-
- babies, trysts & murder
-
- gift store memorabilia
-
- cowboy hats & longhorn
-
- R.I.P. J.R. Ewing
-
- Welcome to Southfork
-
- lotta staircase drama
-
- patriarch Jock
-
- J.R. & Sue Ellen’s bedroom
-
- if windows could talk 😉
-
- smaller in-person reality
-
- goodbye Miss Ellie
Southfork Ranch
Schönbrunn Palace
3 sleeps at Hotel Urania, first day exploring Europe’s glam capital.
7:30 Start, shoes laced. Run day w Sis’ Fleet-Feet posse. Zip-zag tour of early-morning city. 4 easy shake-out miles. Riesenrad, giant Ferris Wheel on the Danube. Gotta/hafta/must. Bratwurst/cheese/boiled egg breakfast – it’s VIENNA day!
State Opera House, City Centre statues, Albertinaplatz. Landed at the Hofburg (former Palace, now doubles as Austria’s Presidential residence). Half-of-us watched the Spanish Riding School (Lipizzaner horses). Other-half toured Habsburg Castle.
Downton Abbey-snooze of cupboards & silverware. Winter-residence walk-thru of everything Sisi, one of the Empire’s last Duchess greats. Headset facts in stereo, self-guided block-n-tackle tour. So many tourists, so much to see. French en masse, sea of Chinese, slow-moving Germans. push, PUSH, push. Gift shop exit. SUCCESS!
City Centre eats & my second St. Stephen’s Dome this week. No climb-to-the-top today, just a brief architectural stroll (while Sis, Swarovski-shopped). Metro transfer, afternoon @ Schönbrunn Palace. More Kaisers, ‘nother tour &… STRUDEL 😊
Train travel west, wiedersehen Vienna. Vineyards & pre-race pasta await.
Krems an-der-Donau. Saturday EXPO, fancy hotel digs. Getting my YODEL on — AUSTRIA!
-
- CARNIVAL run
-
- The Hofburg
-
- City Centre
-
- St. Stephen’s Cathedral
-
- Schönbrunn Palace
-
- checklist COMPLETE 🙂
Vienna, Austria
