The day before a long run in Beirut

I used to long for Saturdays, the best sleep-ins, binge eating, binge shopping, binge everything..

Alas, running ruins your Saturdays, even when the actual act of running is not physically happening.  Somehow this annoyingly addictive sport messes up the day’s order of things to its own benefit.

Let’s make the above more tangible by listing what is currently happening during my Saturday, a day before my scheduled long runs.

1. Hair, nails and weekly gossip

At 11:00 am I was at my hairdresser’s salon. I smiled to Yvon who was eagerly smiling back at me : “ Hi Safa we missseddddd youuu habibtei you look great”, then after a quick glance at the scheduled appointment she stuttered: “ Habibi we have a tiny problem but I am sure it’s a mistake, see I don’t have your name scheduled as usual but I will double check now”. I calmed her down “No worries dear its nobody’s fault. I didn’t book any appointment for today”.

She calmed down and laughed:” Ok I thought it was my fault, so you want me to see who’s available for hair and nails?”

“No need” I replied, “ I have a run tomorrow so my hair won’t last anyway and my nails are fine”

My statement was followed by awkward silence that she bluntly broke by asking :”Why are you here then?”

“Ma ba3ref (I really don’t know)” I answered “M3awwadei (it’s a habit)”..

For the past 8 years I have had nails and hair appointment scheduled on Saturday at 11:00am. I love the girly moments with the lady at the nails bar as we chat about useless subjects and gossip about people and celebrities for an hour, after which I head to my weekly consultation with my hairdresser about life and what I should do about it.

Now since I failed to fill the morning slot with something else, my programmed mind woke me up at 10:00 am and got me to drive for 45 mn for this one useless moment.

“Well Yvon have a great day”

“You too habibi”

Now what???

2. Food

Saturday is very tricky! On Friday one can eat as much as he/she likes because there’s time to binge eat and digest all sort of junk food before Sunday. Saturday is a different story. You need to be extremely comfortable when running (trust me, I know!) and for this to happen you need to exact right amount and type of food and fluid in your system. What is the exact amount, you ask? You can never tell. You need extra listening skills to your body, to be totally in tune with its needs.

Let me put it differently: Imagine you’re in this relationship with a partner who is indecisive, moody and never gives you a straight answer… Ideally you would want out of this relationship the soonest possible for you to get your sanity back, but if you were patient and listened to the unspoken words you could end up being truly happy as this partner might, just might, turn up to be much more fun once you knew him/her better..

That’s how your relationship with your body is..So listen Damn it!

3. The Mouzahara(t)

Just because it’s Lebanon, this important element needs to be added to the list. When a non political, non religious, unbiased protest takes place in Beirut, you just got to answer the call for the sake of the little shred of citizenship you have left. But beware of the timing, you can’t pull an all-nighter as you would ideally want to, and you can’t cheer on the protesters through a lame social media post (especially when you’re  30 mn away from location).

I finally found the best strategy for this, I join the protestors as per the announced time on the event page, and I leave as soon as we get struck by water hoses ( FYI, this is only fun when one is running in the heat and not when standing up for his own rights)

4. The playlist

To me, a playlist can make or break a run. Some runners encourage you to listen to your own breathing and feel the rhythm of your heartbeat and all. Although I respect their opinions but lets just say I tried listening to my breath once and it sounded scary, as if I swallowed a living beaver before the run and the poor thing is desperately squealing and trying to squeeze his way out. so thanks, but no thanks..Music sounds much, much better!

Now bear in mind you can’t just play any song on the run, no sir! You need to customize your playlist according to your kms and your pace. I have now become an expert at it and a reference when a newbie ( with a similar pace to mine) wants to make it through the long runs. All I need to know is his preferred type of music, the type he hates the most, his power song, his ex’s song(s), his teenage years song(s), his graduation song and his family song. The combo will guarantee a beautiful completion of kms needed. The playlist will last 3 weeks and needs regular updates.

5. The rituals

(Ps: Though this photo shows me in the lead, I was on my first lap and the dream team behind me “#teamAlma” was wrapping lap 4 #justsoyouwontthinkiamthenextuseinbolt)

Since I am a newbie and a turtle ( a #happyturtle ), my rituals are mostly inspired from running magazines and runners world facebook posts (not really). I do, however, like to call them rituals because it gives the whole thing more credibility:)

So what are the rituals? ( please make sure to visualize Morgan Freeman narrating the word rituals)

1. Make sure the sunscreen lotion is on the table. It’s easily forgotten, but being 31 ( with happy wrinkles) helps me remember what is now being deemed something super important.
2. Eat everything before 7pm: This might not apply to many but I discovered that I perform much better on an empty stomach and when I don’t eat late night. Don’t worry though, I manage to eat a loooooot before 7pm
3. Lavender: The scent proved to be very soothing and guarantees good sleep especially when I have a lot on my mind which makes me edgy and restless. I make sure my room smells nicely and the pillows are all “lavendery ” when its bed time
4. Don’t sleep in the afternoon: Even if you’re super tired, make sure to stall till the evening comes. Afternoon naps are nasty and mess up your system..Don’t nap! ever..Well at least till Marathon day..Then you can nap:D
5. Sleep in running pants:(optional:)) Just because I need to be up by 4:00am, I found this move to be extremely helpful. It’s less time consuming, gives you the chance to hit the snooze button one time ( one is better than none) and you already fought the good fight to put it on the night before ( damn those tight running pants, but hey! at least they make your legs look super sleek)

There you go, this is what Saturday looks like to me these days. Then again, I wouldn’t want it any other way ( Actually I would but it would have to wait..till November)

Enjoy the weekend,

Safa the #happyturtle