Running on the Roof

May was semi-pleasant, and I was able to run outside in the mornings without feeling like I was going to faint from the heat.

The trick for me was I didn't want to taxi to the park in the morning (this was before we got a car), and running in my neighborhood is not an acceptable thing.  A running track is the only acceptable place to run here, and the travel back and forth would just add to my time.

So, I decided that the roof would be "acceptable."  I ran in a crazy 8 pattern around our swamp coolers.  There's not a lot of space to pick up speed, but I was just jogging slow, so it was fine for me.

When Doug put the canvas up and tied it to the swamp cooler, it took one of the "arms" of my crazy 8 away, but I still managed.

I got a view of the neighborhood in the morning, watched my neighbors go stand in line for their morning bread, and was blessed to pray over this nation.

However, every now and then, I would get a whiff of the chicken/turkey/duck/pigeon mess below.
Wow!  That will wake you up faster than a cup of coffee.

One morning, I saw some workers cleaning it up.  That is bread that you see there.  Leftover, not eaten naan and samoon bread.  It is over a foot thick as they shovel it up.

Whew!  Fresh start!

Everybody has different things on their roofs.  It's just an extension of their house.

Well, Ramadan started, and the late nights stopped my early morning runs.  When we crawled out of Ramadan, the temperatures were climbing quickly.  We had a heat wave where a few days hit 120. 

We're back down to 110-117, but I think I'll wait to start running until I feel a breeze again.

I will say that my running made for some very curious neighbors.  A few asked me about it on the street, and honestly, I don't think any of them have ever considered exercise before, so maybe they'll think about some of this stuff for themselves.

Surgeon General warning:  Don't run in August in the Middle East.