Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Back in the Middle East

I flew out of LAX on Sunday arrived back in the United Arab Emirates Monday night. On Tuesday morning, I did a workout with Coach Mark Pringle at the Raha International School. I did a 300, 200, and 100 Time Trials in the 25 meter pool. Did a short 2K workout.

It's time to get serious about training again for my next marathon swim. I'm hoping it can be a human "first". I am still trying to work out whether it will be Strait of Hormuz (30 miles Iran to Oman) or Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb, aka the Gate of Tears (17 miles Yemen to Djibouti). Politics and safety, not the swim, are the biggest challenge. Thorny relations between Iran and the US make the Strait of Hormuz tricky while pirates and Al-Quaeda add another dimension to the Gate of Tears swim. Both locations involve swimming through heavy shipping lanes. I like to think that a quest for athletic achievement will be able to transcend politics.

This morning, I did another 5 mile run from my apartment on the Corniche around the UAE flagpole.

1 comment:

Dane said...

Wow! I bet just the process of trying to arrange either of those swims would be totally fascinating. I hope it works out!