|
I regret that during my 10 weeks in England between Kuwait and Pakistan I only managed to find time to get out with WVR for a couple of evening runs and for one Sunday 10K. I thoroughly enjoyed the Sunday 10K even though my time was a personal worst. It was good to see so many new and old faces and it brought back a spark of enthusiasium. I am now attempting to build up my mileage and hopefully get my 10K time back down to a respectable level of 45 minutes and perhaps even run a half marathon when I am next back in England.
Hyderabad (Pakistan) is not a runners a paradise. For a start it is strongly Islamic which means wearing shorts is unacceptable. The only known sport is cricket and they are fanatical over cricket. On a Friday, the day of prayer, every piece of spare land except the cricket stadium is occupied by a cricket match. In some places two or three games take place on the same wicket at the same time. The cricket stadium is the only sports facility in the whole of Hyderabad but it is never used to avoid damaging the grass. There are no swimming pools, no gyms and certainly no running tracks or athletic facilities. I am the only expatriate living in Hyderabad and probably the only 'white man' within a radius of 150 miles. Running the streets is unsafe and I have therefore found myself a 500m circuit around the outside of the cricket stadium and the adjacent car park. At first the armed guards who sit defending the cricket stadium against any unauthorised cricket match looked upon me with some suspicion but now they are used tome and usually give me a wave as I jog around. Assuming they are awake of course. One insists on stopping me and shaking my hand and explaining in a mixture of sign language, broken English and Urdu that it is too hot for running. He is dead right. At 35 to 40 C it is defiantly too hot for running in baggy track suit bottoms: track pants or any other tight running pants are not acceptable attire. I just wish he wouldn't stop and great me on every lap and he wouldn't wave at me with his musket which looks like a relic from the Raj and is no doubt loaded.
The local youths have also got bored from abandoning their cricket game and running around after me and now ignore me other than to ask me to retrieve their ball when it has been hit for a six in my direction. So if there are any WVR members passing through Sindh who fancy a run I can be found most evenings except Friday jogging around the outside perimeter of the Hyderabad cricket stadium. Friday evening is impossible: there are just too many cricket matches to weave around. I have thought of running in the mornings when the temperatures are lower and the air much clearer and I have actually got out of bed at 5.00am and changed into my running kit before saying sod this and crawling back into bed. The spark on enthusiasm might have rekindled but not sufficiently so as to get me out running at 5.00am.
One good point of Hyderabad is that although it is strongly Islamic beer and alcohol are readily available but only to non Muslims. I am the only official customer. After a jog around the stadium there is nothing better than sitting in the garden with an ice cold pint of the local brew while my cook gets on and prepares dinner.
I can't delay any longer I must get changed and get to the stadium. I look forward to my next visit to UK and getting out on some fast training runs - perhaps I might manage the odd 9 minute mile sprint.
|
