Today I ran and ran, till my courageous heart couldn’t beat any harder; till my legs-of-lead wouldn’t propel me any further; till my swollen knees hadn’t any more suspension left to offer. This early Dubai morning I ran my very first Half Marathon: the Saucony Hills Half Marathon, all the way around the stunning Emirates Hills Golf Course: a whole proverbial nine yards: 21.0975 kilometres or 13.1094 miles.
Emirates Golf Course, Dubai: KODAK DX6490 ZOOM f/5.6; Exposure 1/500sec
So my race (and it was a purely personal race I ran) got me over the line under two hours. That’s two hours of steady trotting, cantering, galloping and sprinting. My muscles got the benefit of a banana at 5AM plus what Sports Nutritionists world wide these days prescribe elite athletes to ready them for competition: beetroot juice. Unable to face pure beet juice before the sun had a chance to rise, some tasty carrots and ginger made the extracts palatable.
Emirates Golf Course, Dubai: KODAK DX6490 ZOOM f/4.5; Exposure 1/500sec
Half Marathons are a blessing to those of us who love a run, who’s chosen sport is jogging, but who are too daunted by a full 42km race (at least right now). However, its a serious race for many, and months of preparation is set before the actual contest. Lets put my (admirable, if I may say so myself) sub-2 hours finish into perspective: The official world record for men is 58:23, set by Eritrean Zersenay Tadese on 21st March 2010, in Lisbon. And Mary Keitany of Kenya ran her race in a speedy 1:05:50 last year in our neighbouring Emirate Ras Al Khaimah. I wonder if she drank beet juice…
Emirates Golf Course, Dubai: KODAK DX6490 ZOOM f/4; Exposure 1/750sec
The name Marathon comes from the legend of Pheidippides, a Greek messenger. The legend states that he was sent from the battlefield of Marathon to Athens to announce that the Persians had been defeated in the Battle of Marathon (in which he had just fought),which took place in August-September, 490 BC. He ran the entire distance without stopping and burst into the assembly, exclaiming “Νενικήκαμεν” ( ‘We have won!’) before collapsing and dying. Plutarch the historian gave the very first account of the run from Marathon to Athens in his work On the Glory of Athens written in the 1st century AD.
2012 years later, I find myself yelling “I DID IT!” while crossing the line, collapsing and being handed my medal. The battle was most definitely in my head, played out around this glorious golf course, and thanks to my zesty beetroot juice-banana breakfast mix, I can now modestly boast that I am a Marathon Runner!…Well, just the half!
1 Response to Marathon. Well…Just the Half.