“Hedefim Türkiye’de yürümek” "My target is to walk in Türkiye" 13
Eylül/September 2012, Istanbul
"Pakistan
doğumlu KKTC vatandaşı 57 yaşındaki Ahmet Abdülaziz, Türkiye’de Adana-Ankara
arasını yürüyerek kat etmek için sponsor arıyor. Lefkoşa’dan Girne’ye üç
saatte, Lefkoşa’dan Güzelyurt’a beş saatte aralıksız yürüyerek ulaşan
Abdülaziz, Karpaz dışında adada birçok yere yürüyerek ve koşarak
ulaşıyor.." Kıbrıs Gazetesi'nde yayınlanan bu yazının devamı için resme
tıklayınız. Mr.Ahmet Abdülaziz says, "A news item about myself
today published in the largest circula ted newspaper of the Turkish Republic of
Northern Cyprus. The news item particularly mentions my plan to jog/walk for a
total distance of about 400km, from the city of Adana to Ankara in Turkiye. I
am looking for some sponsor to finance this..." Click picture to read full
article (in Turkish) of "Kibris Gazetesi"
Crossing Northern Cyprus from east to west had been in my mind for quite sometime. Although i had been through all this area, but in parts, and on varying dates. But this time i decided to do it one go.
The most suitable time from my point was the 26th October, the second day of Bayram (Eid).
Earlier i had spoken to my ex-employers to sponsor my this run/walk. They had agreed, and provided me with two T Shirts, having monogram and message from their company, plus a small amount in cash to meet the expenses. I was too happy because this was going to be my first sponsored walk.
I waited eagerly for the day to come.
On the morning of 26th October , i woke up at about 4am, did my early morning exercises, changed clothes, and got ready to go to Gazimağusa (Famagusta), which is about 65km from my residence, to start my run for the day.
The cousin of my wife was kind enough to take me to Gazimağusa, in his car. We set off at around 5am. It took us more than an hour to reach there.
It was totally dark. I got out of the car. Not a single soul was there. Weather was somewhat cool, but i did know that the day was going to be hot. I took a final control of things that i would be carrying with me....
Two small bottles of water
My camera
My mobile phone
2 small packets of biscuits
3 small pieces of patties that my wife had made a day before
One set of additional socks
My sun glasses
my cap (provided by the sponsors with their monogram on it)
a small amount of money
3 pieces of small adhesive medical bandage ,for bruises
I started off at about 6.30am. The weather was a bit cool, but no breeze. It was all dark, the roadside lamps were lit. I looked at the long long road in front of me. My cousin said goodbye to me, and drove back. I looked at the outgoing red lights of his ongoing car. I had had to take the same course..........65km ... on foot.
I started off running, but instantly realised that my running may attract stray dogs. So i continued walking. Luckily i did not meet any dog on they way. After about quarter an hour, the initial rays of sun started coming up. I started running. I felt my nose running. It was still a bit cold. However, i enjoyed my running. With the water bottles in both the hands, i had inserted my sunglasses, cap and the socks on sides of my shorts. The biscuits etc and the camera , packed in a plastic bag,were again inserted in the back side of my shorts, My shorts was like a small store room.
It was a long long run , with short walking spurts now and then. I enjoyed a lot.The scenery was nice. Some vehicles had started showing up on the road. Yet it was a calm and quite beginning of a holiday.
I reached DORTYOL (about 17km from my starting point) without any difficulty. According to my initial plan, i was supposed to take the first rest there, because it was a small village. However, i did not stop there, and continued running. I had started feeling the heat on my neck, as the sun was rising behind my back. I took out the cap and wore it in reverse, so that i would get some shade on my back. But the road was waving now and then. I had had to change the direction of the front of my cap now and then. Yet it was funny. I was in high spirits. Still a long long way was ahead.
The weather started getting hot. I did know that.
The number of passing vehicles, had started growing a bit more with the passage of time. Some of them slowed down their speed to look and to read the message written on my T Shirt.
As the weather started heating up, i started walking more and running less. I did not want to get tired, because not only i had had to keep on going the whole day, but would have to continue going the next day too.
I took the first rest of about 10 minutes at PIRHAN (about 20km from the starting point). There was a roadside board. I chose to sat under its shade, which was luckily on the pavement. I ate one patties and a took a couple of sips pf water.
The good and point of my fitness is that i usually sweat very less. Due to this i do not need to drink more water , while running. But i do sweat a lot, when i sit, after finishing the run/walk. Perhaps one of the reasons is that i do start walking as soon as i start feeling a bit heated up by running.
My stock of two small waters remained almost intact. But i did have to carry that weight while running, because i never wanted to take any risk at all.
My next stop came at ASLANKOY (about 35km from my starting point). This time i rested for over 20 minutes. I ate the remaining 2 patties, and finished my first bottle of water. Throwing the empty water bottle reduced 50% of the weight that i was carrying in my hand. But that disbalanced my hands. So i took my camera and mobile phone in one hand and the second water bottle 'n the other/
My long long walk. restarted. The weather was quite too hot, yet i had not felt much tiredness.
Most of the passebys were either waving me hands or blowing their horns. It was quite a heavy traffic heading for Magusa from Lefkosa. It was the second day of the Bayram (Eid) , so every one was going to visit their relatives.
It was going to be a nice walk, although at times i was running also, because in my mind i was calculating the distance left to be finished by end of the day. I did not want to reach Lefkosa at night. According to my rough calculation i was supposed to reach Lefkosa at around 5pm.
The next milestone on the road was the overhead bridgecrossings one of which was turning towards the Ercan airport. Around 20 kilometres were yet to be finished. But i was hungry. The ERulku supermarket was just a few kilometres away from that point. I stopped there and treated myself with a nice food and soft drink. I found a suitable place to lie down, under the shade of the two huge water tanks parked by the side of the market. It was all small stones, but i decided to take a nap there. I slept, instantly. A nice sleep of around half an hour, recharged me for the last leg of the day`s run.
Almost fresh , i wanted to pick up the speed, but the open place by the side of the road, where i was running previouslty, was no more paved one. It was all filled with small stones, which were hurting my feet. The evening traffic was increasing, so there was no chance for me to run on the road.
But that was not all, my shoe had started hurting my small fingers. It was my relatively new shoe, and it was my mistake that i had not used it much. There was no chance for me but to continue walking on the path, that was hurting my feet too much. Suddenly a long thorn, pierced through my right feet. It hurt me badly. I stopped and took my shoe off. My feet was bleeding. I rested till the bleeding stopped. The small fingers of both of my fingers were badly bruised. I put the emergency bandages on them. Lefkosa was still about 15kilometres away. I had had to walk. No way out.
I reached the outskirts of the city at around 5pm. The office of the SUNDAYTIMES is on the main road. The reporter ANNE CANALP had already asked me a day earlier to call her when i reach there. She met me there, took some photographs. It was a short hurriedly taken interview, particularly because the camera man of GENCTV was waiting for me on the other side of the road. I went to them too, to be interviewed.
I reached home around a quarter to 6pm.
I had had to take rest, to be ready for the next day 40km run/walk, from Lefkosa to Guzelyurt.
I woke up a bit late, the next morning. I was due to finish the east to west crossing of the island today. 40 more kilometres westward, were going to finish it.
Instead of starting off at the planned time of 6am, i took the road at quarter to 7. The weather was fine. I had bandaged my three feet fingers. Off i went, with my usual jogging speed.
The day started becoming hot as the time passed, but i was in high spirits. I was going to reach a milestone of my running life. As per my technique the previous day, i ran a lot, before it became too hot. Swiftly i passed Alaykoy and then Zet Engineering. It was about 16km from Lefkosa.
I continued my walk/run , without much difficulty. The road was smooth. I always enjoyed on this road. Long long road, waving past the small hills. I liked the scenery. I took some photographs.
I took the first break after crossing about 20km mark. I sat on a large stone, by the side of the road. But there were no shady tree around. I used my cap to shade my face, drank a little water.
The orange gardens came in view a little later. That was the best part of my run. Although the new crop still need more than a month to be ready, but i managed to find two oranges, that could be eaten. That was a big treat for me. I ate both of them while walking.
I took another rest of about 15 minutes just about 10km before my final destination. I had found an another orange on a tree, and decided to sit and eat. There was a nice plain downwards. I sat on the ground and ate the orange. I decided ti lie down and take a ten minutes rest, with closed eyes.
The next ten kilometres were just an easy walk.
I reached my final destination , Guzelyurt city, at around 1300 (1 pm).
It was a big day in my life.
For the first time i had crossed the island from east to west. The total distance was 105km and i took 17 hours of walk/run. I enjoyed that.
www.maratonturk.com 
