Seychelles adventure…
Adventure – making life happen – experiencing different countries and cultures are all themes which I hammer over and over in this blog.
Living in Dubai opens up easy direct flight access to many countries, thus making it easy to adventure and experience the world.
Since the new year, Sophie has been training to run a marathon.
After weeks of training, Mario gave her a training test to run a ½ marathon.
Instead of running a half marathon somewhere in Dubai, she suggested we all go to Seychelles to run in the Seychelles marathon.
We have talked about visiting the beautiful Seychelles and now we had a great excuse.
The Seychelles islands are a tropical paradise in the Indian ocean.
Very early on Friday morning, we flew the Emirates 3 ½ hour flight to the Seychelles.
We stayed at a small, boutique hotel called Hotel Bliss, and our room was (literally) directly on the ocean. (I recommend this hotel)
The purpose of our trip was for Sophie to run her first ½ marathon and Marie to run the 10km, but we also wanted to experience a new country together as a family.
A few months ago, Sophie and Marie started training to run a marathon.
Sophie is extremely focused –whatever she puts her mind to do, she will focus and give it 100%.
There is no “half ass” or “half hearted” when it comes to Sophie.
Sophie is my Dagny; my Dominique.
For the past several months, I have watched Sophie learn to run, train to run and finally get herself in shape to easily complete a ½ marathon.
After arriving in Seychelles, we laid around our room, reading and enjoying the sounds of the ocean crashing against the beach.
We relaxed and read …
By chance, the best restaurant on the island was next to our hotel. It was ideal.
In the early evening, we walked 50 meters to a very good, modern creole restaurant.
Saturday, we hired a driver and visited several beaches on the island.
We had lunch at a restaurant on the beach — literally, “on the beach” — we sat in chairs in the sand.
Sophie and the girls enjoyed the food and the island ambiance, but it was a bit too much culture for me…
The Seychelles are beautiful, very green and tropical.
I liked our hotel room and enjoyed several cigars while sitting on the balcony watching the ocean.
Sunday was race day – Sophie’s first ½ marathon, so we were all excited.
I was nervous for her because I saw how steep the course was, and knew she was going to hurt …
The race was scheduled to begin at 7am.
Toby, whom we had hired for the weekend, and I personally took very good care of …. said he would pick us up at 6:15.
I woke at 5:15, made breakfast for Sophie, and we all got ready and waited outside the hotel on the dark streets at 6:15.
At 6:20, Toby still had not arrived so Sophie called him … and woke his ass up!
I was anxious because our hotel was on the other side of the island, and there were no taxi’s, no one was awake in the hotel and the streets were completely black without street lights and very little cars. We relied on Toby.
Finally, around 6:45, Toby picked us up ….
The race was scheduled to start at 7am, but when we arrived at 6:55, it was a total mess.
People, cars, and trucks were in the area of the race start. Chaos.
We sat down to wait for the race to begin … and laughed at the race ambiance.
Finally, about 50 minutes late, Sophie and Marie began their race.
While the Sophie and Marie ran, Giovanna played on the beach and I smoked a cigar and read. I couldnt help, but think about Sophie.
A couple hours later, we waited at the finish for Sophie …
….Ridiculous, but cars were in the middle of the finish area, people were milling about just standing around talking blocking the path the runners had to take to finish … so the finish was a bit chaotic, but Sophie didn’t care.
She ran around the truck, and ran around the people blocking her path and easily completed her first ½ marathon …
I was very proud.
We spent the rest of the day at the beach, just enjoying the island life of Seychelles and relaxing.
Sophie and Marie were not sore at all, so we had a great time at the beach.
We flew back to Dubai the next morning, and I was back in the office after lunch.
The marathon was a mess, but overall a great experience. I recommend the marathon because of the people. The race might not be as organized as your standard marathon, but the friendliness of the local people, and the gorgeous-ness of the island make it all good.
The Seychelles are beautiful, and the people are friendly and laid back.