Gubbi of Arabia: Expat Life in Dubai

Options for the 10-miler I want to run tonight in Riyadh:

• Hit the 1970s-era treadmill at the women’s gym near my office, where I will be forced to listen to the tread belt creak incessantly and watch Dr. Phil with Arabic subtitles on the TV above me for an hour and a half (verdict: ouch)
• Go to Expat Compound A, which I have official access to since I used to live there, and do laps around its approx. 400 meter internal perimeter (verdict: suboptimal … if I’m going to do 40 laps I’d rather be on a track)
• Go to Expat Compound B, which I do not have official access to but which I can probably sneak into because I am blond and white and female, and do laps around its approx. 1-mile internal perimeter (verdict: decent)
• Sneak my way into the “DQ” (Diplomatic Quarter, an enclave surrounding the foreign embassies where women can walk around freely outside without abaya) by feigning pretext to be there (i.e. “I have an event at the US embassy… in my running clothes!”) and gallivant as I please throughout its 3-4 square miles o’ wide open spaces (verdict: promising, but risky)

Stay tuned…