Week 41 – A new run, a new chill

I’ve lived in Jumeirah Village Circle for a little over a year now, and while I’ve been told that there’s a tunnel that connects us to Sports City, I’ve never actually done anything about checking it out (if you’re not a Dubai resident, I apologise for this probably not making any sense right now!)

Anyway, on my run the other night I was scheduled to do a run around JVC, which is approximately 9km’s… until on my drive home from work when I decided that it would be fun to find this tunnel and see if I could incorporate Sports City into my run – definitely something new!

So, that’s exactly what I did 🙂

I got home, changed into my gear and headed out the door in the direction I knew I needed to go to find this darn tunnel! And find it I did 🙂 It involves climbing down a bit of a sand bank from the side of the road, and then you run through this tunnel, which is underneath Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Road (again, non-Dubai residents, sorry for not understanding the magnitude of what that means 😮 )

The arrow points to SMBZR – a 6-lane highway, in each direction!

The tunnel is fairly long – after all, it is the width of SMBZR – and it’s DARK! At first I had a tiny bit of concern in case there were rats or wild cats or something on the loose, but I just kept going, sticking to the middle of the tunnel all the way… and came out on the other side and bam! I was in Sports City 🙂

I then just ran where the wind blew – while I sort of know my way around, it’s different when you’re on foot, and I had entered through an area that I’d never seen before, so it was all a little weird. But I just kept turning right, thinking that at some point I’ll turn around and head back the same way I came in.

I pretty much stuck to that strategy for the whole run and boy was it a good run! I took it easy, not wanting to exert myself too much before the upcoming race this weekend (only a 10km, so nothing too exciting), but also not wanting to be too slow on my feet.

I was well happy with how I felt when I finished the run and even more happy that now I know of a new place that I can run which means keeping things a bit more interesting and not just running around JVC all the time.

My run 🙂

And then I enjoyed a proper chill night on Thursday night – the night before the race (fairly uneventful 10km – finished under an hour, but no post required). I headed off to movies-under-the-stars at West 14th on Palm Jumeirah. Yes, I’ve done movies-under-the-stars before, and even on bean bags, but this was a new venue so why not throw it in here for something new?! 🙂

It’s free entry, and you can buy all sorts of stuff there to keep you happy – popcorn, hot dogs, drinks (alcoholic and non), snack packs etc. And with a view of Dubai Marina’s skyline… well, it’s hard to beat!

The screen with the Marina skyline in the distance…

Where the food and drinks magic happens 🙂