Saturday, April 25, 2009

Red red wine...

Stop the presses!



The smile says it all: I finally, finally won the wine at the Predictor Race. I thought it would never happen. This has been a special, special evening for me.

For those not in the know, here's how the Predictor race works. At the beginning everyone decides whether they want to run one (3.4 km) lap or two on the running track around Safa Park in Dubai. There's also a Juniors race for kids, with a cash prize. I always run two laps, having been schooled by Graham, the organiser of this nuttiness. You predict the time you think you're going to get and then pelt off with your group. Graham and Katrina and some other willing volunteer time the runners and compare actual times with predicted times, and the winners of the one and two lap categories get a bottle of wine.

Participation costs all of 5 dirhams, $1.36, for adults.

I am never anywhere near my predicted time. If I'm within 30 seconds, that's excellent for me, but it won't win with this crowd.

Last night was warm, (it had gotten up to 102 F) but with a breeze, and not humid, which makes a huge difference. A relatively small turn-out. Cathy and I were having as good of a run as any. Which means the running was hard but the company was good. Nearly to the end, Cathy looked at her watch and said, if you sprint now, you might get the wine.

I was outta there, and sure enough, my time was just one second off the predicted, hooray! I got to pick my wine, a lovely South African Merlot Pinotage called (you're going to love this): Footprint.


I owe Cathy BIG for kicking me into high gear.

OK, thanks for indulging me. I'll get back to Tales of Jordan with the next post.

2 comments:

*Paula* said...

Congrats Natalie! Enjoy the wine :)

Julia said...

That's awesome! I know how big running is to you, and this is quite the self-achievement. Well done Nat!

By the way, what was your time anyway?