Jordan Tuesday March 24th - So we're here, in Amman, Jordan. As it happens, Jordan is almost halfway around the world and takes a long time to get to. Who would've thought? For me it was about 25hrs of travel. Really not that bad overall, everything on time and no problems, although I think the Royal Jordanian A320-200 was the oldest plane I've ever been on. And dude, I know Jordan has a young population but this plane trip was ridiculous. The average age on the plane must have been about 5 years old. I might as well have been at a day care center. And full of screamers. I don't know what's going on, what's with all the little kids and babies. I never see that many in the US in one place. Amman, JordanA little report: Jordan's definitely a desert. Nothing grows here and what little does I wonder how, it's just a rock garden. Not that there's no water, so far it's been raining all day.

Went for a short shake out run around town last night when we got in, I won't bore you with details except to say if you ran around here you'd get pretty agile, nothings flat, there's plants and trees and drop offs in the middle of the side walks and cars honking at you in the road. Not exactly runner friendly.

Amman is just like any other city for the most part. Everything here looks exactly the same, white washed limestone buildings are everywhere and I'm sure I'll get lost eventually on a run. I'll get a picture. We're staying at a questionably four star hotel, it's nice though, and the food is great. Mostly typical mid eastern food, hummus, pita, and a lot of fresh veggies (lots of peppers and cucumbers), and some international food like pancakes. But if you're in a foreign country ya gotta try everything otherwise you might as well stay home, right? So we're planning a trip to the Dead Sea tomorrow, a trip downtown on Thursday, and a trip to Petra on Sunday after the race.

One thing that's been a little disappointing is that we aren't at a hotel with any of the other teams except the UK team. Usually we've been able to eat and hang out with the rest of the competitors but I'm guessing there isn't a hotel or venue big enough for everybody. It's always been interesting to be able to eat with everyone from around the world in Edinburgh last year and Japan a few years ago. But so it goes, I'll get a lot of culture just being around the city of Amman. Oh and being next to a mosque has definite disadvantages at 4am and 6am as I am currently listening to the blaring 3pm prayer quite clearly from inside my hotel room with the windows closed...and I've smoked two packs of Marlboro's today already.

Amman, Jordan