running – Jen Maan in Amman

Growing up, my sister and I hated going ‘to the boat.’ We liked inviting our friends down to swim on the dock, sailing in the Snark (a smaller version of a Laser and much more kid-friendly), going out in the dinghy (with the motor), and I loved fishing, but sailing, not so much. Once we were old enough, my parents would take the sailboat out, leaving us happily behind to hang out on the dock, go to the candy store (in Oceanside Harbor), and tool around with our friends (whose parents were probably on the boat with ours).

Years have gone by and age has a way of softening the memories of seasickness and claustrophobia, which used to haunt me on our sails and overnight trips. Since Raj and I have been together, I’ve reminisced about the fun times we had growing up on the boat, going to Catalina, and spending time just hanging out on the water with my family. Raj bought into the fantasy and has been telling my parents for years now that once we got back Stateside, we would be up for a sail to Catalina on the boat.

We originally were going to sail first to Avalon, as we’ve done in the past, but in the interest of avoiding the crowded and kitschy scene, we chose to go straight to Two Harbors, the less crowded harbor about two hours further of a sail than Avalon.

We left very early in the AM and immediately faced gail force winds and six to eight foot swells–so much for forgetting about seasickness. Luckily, my mom was prepared with wrist bands and some type of non-drowsy, motion sickness pill, which did the trick. My strategy, since being a child, has always been to sleep it off, so in the interest of everyone, I nodded off for as much of the eight-hour trip over there, as evidenced by my horrendous sunburn.

We arrived to great weather and immediately got to work doing nothing, which was the plan. We spent two nights and three days reading, soaking up the sun, running along the coast, walking, eating at the one restaurant on shore, checking out the Banning House (the one B & B located on shore), watching ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm, and sleeping. It was a great time followed by an easy and pleasant sail home.

View of the second harbor from the Banning House

This is the type of trip whose memories get sweeter over time.

Running in Amman is a challenge. Prior to moving here, I ran outside almost everyday, along a beautifully maintained path that paralleled the Potomac River. Here, I can’t really run outside. Sure, I could run with a group that runs on Friday mornings, but then I’m not a social runner (it takes ALL of my concentration and focus just to run, so conversations are out of the question). For me, running in Amman is limited to running on a treadmill. It’s not that bad, but training on a treadmill is difficult, to say the least.

I ran a half marathon (only my second) last Friday down at the Dead Sea. Raj dropped me off at Sport City at 5:00 AM. I boarded a bus at 6:00, and the race began at 7:40. The organization of the race was fabulous, the route was beautiful, and the weather couldn’t have been better! Where else but Jordan will you be able to run alongside camels and donkeys or see goats and sheep across the road?

The plan was to meet Raj at the finish line and then go to one of the hotels to spend the day away floating in the Dead Sea, but that didn’t happen. I ended up telling Raj not to meet me, afraid that the hotels would be booked to capacity thus making my Dead Sea soak a bit too crowded. We’ll be making up for the lost soak in an upcoming weekend when it’s less crowded and when my muscles aren’t as exhausted as they were at the run’s completion. All in all it was a great run (even though the race results aren’t up yet), well worth the hours of monotonous training on the treadmill!