The Guy Fawks 400

Thanks to Kamel I was informed that Guy Fawks day isn’t the Halloween of England but rather a memorium to Guy Fawks….a guy who tried to blow up parliment somewhere.  Now they light a big bonfire and burn scarecrow things of him…..thanks Kamel.

The hash run here is a weekly thing that usually sees 50-100 people but on special occassions like the other night there was somewhere between 300-400 people.  It was quite a site.  They drive out to the middle of nowhere and go for a wicked hike/run into the moon landscape that is Saudi.  It’s mostly ex-pats who are here on work but there is also a small local population that joins in.  We missed the bonfire and fireworks on account of getting back home to watch a movie with Dina and Loay.

Yesterday we did the bi-weekly running race- quite a site- middle of construction type area about 50 odd people show up and run around a 4km loop.  Dina did amazingly well….ran a best time of 35:52.  At the 500m mark I was a bit concerned that she had gone out way too hard but she hung in there.  I think she was excited to go under 36 minutes.

We also went for a decent mountain bike ride into the moon landscape yesterday.  It’s a bizarre mix of folks but bizarre in a good way.  The terrain is a mix of loose rock and sand.  We ended up coming back along the road to stink lake where the sewage trucks take the sewage.  It was a pretty nasty stretch of road with an endless stream of trucks coming to empty their cargo.  You definitely get some funny looks when you are out on your bike…..especially out at stink lake.