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Ramadan Run

May 20, 2019 (Night)

Exercise Type: Run

Comments:
After sitting on a bus for 9 hours due to slow border crossings coming back from Croatia and a horrific traffic accident that blocked the entire (1-lane) highway for 2 hours, I was ready for a good shake-out. Decided I wanted to wait till it was almost sundown and then run up to the Yellow Bastion (Zutija tabjia) where they fire the cannon each evening of Ramadan to announce the end of that day's fast. I charged up the hill thinking I was about to miss it, but then had a lot of time to stand around with that hard-effort taste in my mouth. Sundown, it seems, is based on an almanac or website, since the sun actually disappears behind a hillside a good 15 minutes before the cannon goes off. When it finally did, I nearly/partially missed it because I was distracted by someone's annoying camera drone buzzing overhead. After the booming echoes across the valley and the hundred plus people assembled cheered and starting in on their picnics, I headed up into Vratnik, the walled neighborhood overlooking the old city that had once been an Ottoman fortress. Meandered around exploring different streets as the mosques all over the city sung the call to evening prayer. Then I made my way down the hill to Old Town and back up another hill to my house. The hamstring tendon acted up a little, but for the most part was fine - certainly better than a few weeks ago. Pretty easy run effort-wise except for that initial dash up to the cannon site, which I'm quite proud of.