Desert Hash

Matt: And I'm not talking about Bedouin Drug camps.. It's a running club. Basically each week they meet at a selected location, where one of the members has planned a run. You have to run though a series of check point to the end. Sounds pretty straight forward?? Wrong.. you don't know which direction the next check point is, they leave trails marked with orange paint splats or straws or something.. but, some of these trails are false trails and you end up having to run back to the previous check point and hoping someone has found the right trail.. confused yet? Yeah me too. add this to the fact that you are running on sand in the Dubai evening heat and it's pretty tough. But that's not where it ends - that's where it starts. Then there is a ceremony to punish people who cheated and who haven't turned up for a while - etc etc. This generally involves insults, stories, sitting on an ice block and drinking whilst everyone else sings a random song at you. This is all done round a blazing camp fire and then there is food and socializing. A nice bunch of people.