Dubai marathon... the details

Morning dawned early..about 4 am for the start of the Dubai International Marathon on Friday, January 27th.  As some of you remember from previous posts, due to work committments, the Marrakech Marathon I was scheduled to run on 1/29 was "kaboshed". Given I was already in Dubai for 2+ weeks on business, I was able to enter that race and still get that January marathon completed.  Check!



The race was flat, well organized, with lots of water and gatorade stops, sadly SUPER low on crowd support, and essentially an out and back course. Mind numbingly boring under normal circumstances, but lucky for me, I had an HP UAE colleague runnning with me. Thanks Ajda!

Here we are moving to the start line for a 7:00 AM start.








The temperature at the start of race was about 64 degrees F, but overhead sun (no cloud cover) and rising temperatures throughout the morning meant that the high during the run was 78 degrees F. OK, I know for you Texas running buddies that does not sound too bad, but when you have not trained in Texas heat for 10+ years, you lose that conditioning.

Suffice to say, by mile 13, dehyrdation and nausea had settled in and kept me company for about 7 miles. At each water stop, I not only drank gatorade and water, but usually poured 2 bottled of water over my head. After 5 or 6 times of this repeated action, I actually began to feel human at mile 20-21.

Here are some "action shots" from along the course.







A final run time of 5:08 was not ideal but I had gone into the race with the mindset that this was just another long run.





What I can say is that I had a FAN-TAS-TIC road crew, led by the Budman, and supported by Faz, G, and Rambo!  Thanks guys...for making the effort!  Your presence warmed my heart.