It's 4 am when the alarm goes off. I slept five hours only, if you can call it sleep. I am always nervous the night before a race and can't sleep. No idea why I get nervous, I'm only in for the fun and the bling, I don't care about PB's (personal best), times or records. My goal is to experience and enjoy a race to the fullest and finish it before cut-off time, so I don't have to abandon a race. Slow runners who don't make it within the cut-off time, can either finish at their own risk or are collected by the police and are driven to the finish line. Until now, I have had the honour of being driven by the police to the finish line only once, when I hurt my leg at the Salisbury Trail Marathon in August 2018 and was forced to stop after 26 km.
Races usually start at 9 am, sometimes at 8 am, and if it's ultra or super-duper ultra, like the 80 km Zagori Mountain Race in the mountains of Epirus in western Greece, or the 100 km Ursus Race in a region nearby, start is at 4 am, but here, the organisers decided to have the start at 6:30 am to 'beat the heat' as they say.
Will we really 'beat the heat'? It's going to be the hottest day of the week. Either the official website or one of the emails I received mentioned an expected temperature of around 20 degrees Celsius, this confirms this website, which states more or less the same temperatures. But the forecast for today is 29 degrees!!!
I leave the hotel at 5:20 when it's still pitch black outside. The Wave, or Al Mouj, the area where the event takes place is half an hour drive from my hotel. The roads are empty at this time, but there's heavy traffic as I get closer to Al Mouj. According to the website and an info brochure I was given two days ago, the entire area will be closed to traffic until noon, so I have to park about a mile away, where roads won't be closed. This is something many other people thought of, too and it's hard to find a spot. I manage to park somewhere, but because it's still very dark, I don't see where I park. I will discover later that I parked on soil and that there's deep mud just a few yards away. Lucky that I didn't park in the mud. It would be difficult to get the car out.
I follow some runners across a field, if you can call an area covered with soil and stones that way and we reach the roundabout at the entrance to Al Mouj. It's still a few minutes walk to the race village. Despite the darkness and the early hour, the people are very lively and cheerful. Many talk on their mobiles, others make jokes, laugh, smile, some jog or run to warm up. There's police and volunteers everywhere and when I get closer to the race village I hear loud music and see bright lights. There is a stage and some people are performing a dance, there is a DJ directly opposite the stage, there are many food stalls and it all looks like a gigantic party. Incredible!
I proceed to the start and line up at the end. I prefer to be at the end, because most people want to be in front and they push each other at the gunshot. Being at the end means that nobody pushes, but if you run faster than the others, you have to overtake many, many people and squeeze through them sometimes. If I see it correctly, four different races start at the same time. Marathon, half-marathon, 10k and relay. We are not divided into groups or blocks, so it's a mix of all of us. According to the announcer, people from 50 different countries have registered. I see many locals, but also many westerners, Asians, Africans and of course our friends the Chinese.
While we are waiting for the signal to start we hear the Omani national anthem twice, we hear Paula Radcliffe say some encouraging words while the sun rises in the meantime.
I put on my headphones and browse through my music apps. Today's choice is the legendary Alex Pepper (click to view his website). Radio Galaxy East Yorkshire listeners will know him if they listened to the station 20 years ago. I fire up Mixcloud and decide to listen to an older mix (click to listen to him) from the good old times. The music is pumping energy into my sleepy body and I feel awake.
Perhaps I should listen to Avicii instead? The world famous Swedish DJ died in April 2018 here in Muscat under mysterious circumstances. His official website can be found here.
We start a few minutes late, because some roads were not closed on time. There is no gunshot, only a big shout by the announcer and the masses start moving. It is mesmerising and hypnotising to see a big crowd moving up and down rhythmically. There are many spectators to my surprise, and Paula is standing next to the start line. I thought she would run, but she doesn't. She might take part tomorrow in the charity race. I stop to take a photo, but just before I hit the button, someone calls her and she turns away. Pity, I get her only from the side.
The crowd sticks together for a long time. Usually it's the first 3 - 5 km and then people get apart, but here there's no choice, the streets and paths are narrow and we can't overtake that easily.
The announcer said that this route is perfect for personal bests, but that's not true. I have the feeling that I'll do a personal worst.
First, still not very bright as the sun is slowly rising, we run through some narrow streets and roundabouts in the area. Many residents have come out to cheer, many of them have children who want to 'high five' us. Then the road becomes a dirt track, then it becomes a narrow path between the golf course and the beach, which is quite slippery due to dew and shortly after the first station at km 5, we get to run on the closed motorway. Despite the early hour, it is very humid and warm, not to say hot. There's no breeze until we reach the motorway and the run becomes a sweaty business. On the motorway however, there's a strong breeze from behind, which cools us and pushes us forward. These few kilometres are the best. Rising sun from behind, breeze from behind, wide road and empty space for the masses, in front of us, it's a long flat straight with the airport on the left and Al Mouj on the right.
I still have Alex Pepper play his tunes, run at a steady pace, close my eyes for a while and enjoy the freedom running gives me. The endorphins are on a roller coaster ride and I feel very happy. The tiredness is gone, I feel good and have a big smile. I have no thoughts whatsoever, no sorrows, no worries. It is very quiet, only the music in my ears and the male voice of my Mi-Fit wristband that tells me some statistics from time to time. Some Arabs see me in my green German football jersey and greet with 'hello brother!' Green is the colour of Islam.
I try to take as many photos as possible. There are some musicians and dancers, I take photos of the marshals and their heavy motorcycles and I take photos of the track and other runners.
Then we reach the roundabout at the entrance to The Wave, we turn right and enter the area. We turn left after a while and cross a car park and a road next to the car park. The concrete surface becomes a dirt track again, at some point it becomes a stony path and then we reach an area with houses and run along the coast. There are many spectators and I want to take photos of them and a huge mosque we pass some miles later, but I can't operate my smartphone with my sweaty fingers and give up. I can't unlock the screen. It is not possible to enter the pin and I can't unlock it with my fingerprint either. Such a pity!
This part of the route is quite demanding, because there's no wind blowing, it's humid, hot and when we reach the turning point and have to run back, we have the low sun against us. Here I wish I had my sunglasses with me. This is how I imagined a desert race. High temperatures, burning sun, sometimes locals watching and thinking: 'look at those madmen', long stretches of emptiness, quietness, suffering, thirst, sweat running down the body, visions, thoughts running wild and some creepy birds circling above the runners hoping they fall dead, so they can have them for lunch.
At km 15 is the third and last station and I fill up my bottle with water. I have this habit of running with a plastic bottle of water in my hand and sip whenever I feel thirsty. This way I don't have to wait until a station and don't have to stop at every single one in case they are frequent. Here, it's only three, usually they are more, four to five in a half-marathon. But I have to say they are unusually well stocked. There's water, some fizzy drinks, energy drinks, coke, biscuits, bananas, oranges, dates, and many other things. In other races you get water at every station and at some stations there's Powerade, fruit, usually bananas and sometimes energy gels and cereal bars. The volunteers are in a good mood, they smile, are very friendly and ask you if you're OK if they read pain in your face, which they do. I must have a very painful look on my face when I reach the third station, because I'm asked by a volunteer and a paramedic if I'm OK or if I need help. All I need is some shadow and a cool breeze.
Then we have to run over that dirt track and stony path again and enter a car park, take a bend and follow a straight and across the line.
The result? The worst ever in my running career! To quote Jeremy Clarkson once again: You did it in a pathetic 3:04:24.
I might come back next year to beat that. Hopefully it won't be that hot.
Here is a short YouTube video about the two marathon days.
I am given my medal and go collect my bag and then walk around for a bit to cool down and relax my legs. As great as it is, I don't have time to stay any longer. I take my car and drive to my hotel. I have a long shower and drive to Qurm to meet a good friend, whom I met in Saudi a few years ago. We were working at the same university and were living in the diplomatic quarter. We both left that university the same year. He is now an assistant professor at the University of Nizwa. For this and a lot more, I admire him a lot. Chapeau my dear friend!
Qurm is an area with villas, beautiful buildings, cafes, restaurants, many shops, a park and a great beach, where families have a picknick under the palm trees and where people have a dip in the sea. There's a long road along the beach and many young people like to cruise there with their flashy and fancy cars.
My friend and I have lunch at a Turkish restaurant and then go for a very long walk. We haven't seen each other for two years (or is it three?), and even though we have regular contact, we have a lot to talk about.
We say goodbye some hours later. He has to go to a birthday party and I go home. We will meet again tomorrow at Birkat al Mouz, the area where he lives and works.
My various apps state that I have made over 39,000 steps today, which translates to a walking and running distance of 32,5 km. Boy, I am tired when I go to bed!
This is the ad I saw in the Runner's World magazine last summer. It drew my attention for some reason and made me register for the race. Perhaps they are right, running is the perfect excuse to experience places.
If you would like to read more by me, type Theodore Goumas into the Amazon search bar and the following two books should appear:
Races usually start at 9 am, sometimes at 8 am, and if it's ultra or super-duper ultra, like the 80 km Zagori Mountain Race in the mountains of Epirus in western Greece, or the 100 km Ursus Race in a region nearby, start is at 4 am, but here, the organisers decided to have the start at 6:30 am to 'beat the heat' as they say.
Will we really 'beat the heat'? It's going to be the hottest day of the week. Either the official website or one of the emails I received mentioned an expected temperature of around 20 degrees Celsius, this confirms this website, which states more or less the same temperatures. But the forecast for today is 29 degrees!!!
I leave the hotel at 5:20 when it's still pitch black outside. The Wave, or Al Mouj, the area where the event takes place is half an hour drive from my hotel. The roads are empty at this time, but there's heavy traffic as I get closer to Al Mouj. According to the website and an info brochure I was given two days ago, the entire area will be closed to traffic until noon, so I have to park about a mile away, where roads won't be closed. This is something many other people thought of, too and it's hard to find a spot. I manage to park somewhere, but because it's still very dark, I don't see where I park. I will discover later that I parked on soil and that there's deep mud just a few yards away. Lucky that I didn't park in the mud. It would be difficult to get the car out.
I follow some runners across a field, if you can call an area covered with soil and stones that way and we reach the roundabout at the entrance to Al Mouj. It's still a few minutes walk to the race village. Despite the darkness and the early hour, the people are very lively and cheerful. Many talk on their mobiles, others make jokes, laugh, smile, some jog or run to warm up. There's police and volunteers everywhere and when I get closer to the race village I hear loud music and see bright lights. There is a stage and some people are performing a dance, there is a DJ directly opposite the stage, there are many food stalls and it all looks like a gigantic party. Incredible!
I proceed to the start and line up at the end. I prefer to be at the end, because most people want to be in front and they push each other at the gunshot. Being at the end means that nobody pushes, but if you run faster than the others, you have to overtake many, many people and squeeze through them sometimes. If I see it correctly, four different races start at the same time. Marathon, half-marathon, 10k and relay. We are not divided into groups or blocks, so it's a mix of all of us. According to the announcer, people from 50 different countries have registered. I see many locals, but also many westerners, Asians, Africans and of course our friends the Chinese.
While we are waiting for the signal to start we hear the Omani national anthem twice, we hear Paula Radcliffe say some encouraging words while the sun rises in the meantime.
I put on my headphones and browse through my music apps. Today's choice is the legendary Alex Pepper (click to view his website). Radio Galaxy East Yorkshire listeners will know him if they listened to the station 20 years ago. I fire up Mixcloud and decide to listen to an older mix (click to listen to him) from the good old times. The music is pumping energy into my sleepy body and I feel awake.
Perhaps I should listen to Avicii instead? The world famous Swedish DJ died in April 2018 here in Muscat under mysterious circumstances. His official website can be found here.
We start a few minutes late, because some roads were not closed on time. There is no gunshot, only a big shout by the announcer and the masses start moving. It is mesmerising and hypnotising to see a big crowd moving up and down rhythmically. There are many spectators to my surprise, and Paula is standing next to the start line. I thought she would run, but she doesn't. She might take part tomorrow in the charity race. I stop to take a photo, but just before I hit the button, someone calls her and she turns away. Pity, I get her only from the side.
The crowd sticks together for a long time. Usually it's the first 3 - 5 km and then people get apart, but here there's no choice, the streets and paths are narrow and we can't overtake that easily.
The announcer said that this route is perfect for personal bests, but that's not true. I have the feeling that I'll do a personal worst.
First, still not very bright as the sun is slowly rising, we run through some narrow streets and roundabouts in the area. Many residents have come out to cheer, many of them have children who want to 'high five' us. Then the road becomes a dirt track, then it becomes a narrow path between the golf course and the beach, which is quite slippery due to dew and shortly after the first station at km 5, we get to run on the closed motorway. Despite the early hour, it is very humid and warm, not to say hot. There's no breeze until we reach the motorway and the run becomes a sweaty business. On the motorway however, there's a strong breeze from behind, which cools us and pushes us forward. These few kilometres are the best. Rising sun from behind, breeze from behind, wide road and empty space for the masses, in front of us, it's a long flat straight with the airport on the left and Al Mouj on the right.
I still have Alex Pepper play his tunes, run at a steady pace, close my eyes for a while and enjoy the freedom running gives me. The endorphins are on a roller coaster ride and I feel very happy. The tiredness is gone, I feel good and have a big smile. I have no thoughts whatsoever, no sorrows, no worries. It is very quiet, only the music in my ears and the male voice of my Mi-Fit wristband that tells me some statistics from time to time. Some Arabs see me in my green German football jersey and greet with 'hello brother!' Green is the colour of Islam.
I try to take as many photos as possible. There are some musicians and dancers, I take photos of the marshals and their heavy motorcycles and I take photos of the track and other runners.
Then we reach the roundabout at the entrance to The Wave, we turn right and enter the area. We turn left after a while and cross a car park and a road next to the car park. The concrete surface becomes a dirt track again, at some point it becomes a stony path and then we reach an area with houses and run along the coast. There are many spectators and I want to take photos of them and a huge mosque we pass some miles later, but I can't operate my smartphone with my sweaty fingers and give up. I can't unlock the screen. It is not possible to enter the pin and I can't unlock it with my fingerprint either. Such a pity!
This part of the route is quite demanding, because there's no wind blowing, it's humid, hot and when we reach the turning point and have to run back, we have the low sun against us. Here I wish I had my sunglasses with me. This is how I imagined a desert race. High temperatures, burning sun, sometimes locals watching and thinking: 'look at those madmen', long stretches of emptiness, quietness, suffering, thirst, sweat running down the body, visions, thoughts running wild and some creepy birds circling above the runners hoping they fall dead, so they can have them for lunch.
At km 15 is the third and last station and I fill up my bottle with water. I have this habit of running with a plastic bottle of water in my hand and sip whenever I feel thirsty. This way I don't have to wait until a station and don't have to stop at every single one in case they are frequent. Here, it's only three, usually they are more, four to five in a half-marathon. But I have to say they are unusually well stocked. There's water, some fizzy drinks, energy drinks, coke, biscuits, bananas, oranges, dates, and many other things. In other races you get water at every station and at some stations there's Powerade, fruit, usually bananas and sometimes energy gels and cereal bars. The volunteers are in a good mood, they smile, are very friendly and ask you if you're OK if they read pain in your face, which they do. I must have a very painful look on my face when I reach the third station, because I'm asked by a volunteer and a paramedic if I'm OK or if I need help. All I need is some shadow and a cool breeze.
Then we have to run over that dirt track and stony path again and enter a car park, take a bend and follow a straight and across the line.
The result? The worst ever in my running career! To quote Jeremy Clarkson once again: You did it in a pathetic 3:04:24.
I might come back next year to beat that. Hopefully it won't be that hot.
Here is a short YouTube video about the two marathon days.
I am given my medal and go collect my bag and then walk around for a bit to cool down and relax my legs. As great as it is, I don't have time to stay any longer. I take my car and drive to my hotel. I have a long shower and drive to Qurm to meet a good friend, whom I met in Saudi a few years ago. We were working at the same university and were living in the diplomatic quarter. We both left that university the same year. He is now an assistant professor at the University of Nizwa. For this and a lot more, I admire him a lot. Chapeau my dear friend!
Qurm is an area with villas, beautiful buildings, cafes, restaurants, many shops, a park and a great beach, where families have a picknick under the palm trees and where people have a dip in the sea. There's a long road along the beach and many young people like to cruise there with their flashy and fancy cars.
My friend and I have lunch at a Turkish restaurant and then go for a very long walk. We haven't seen each other for two years (or is it three?), and even though we have regular contact, we have a lot to talk about.
We say goodbye some hours later. He has to go to a birthday party and I go home. We will meet again tomorrow at Birkat al Mouz, the area where he lives and works.
My various apps state that I have made over 39,000 steps today, which translates to a walking and running distance of 32,5 km. Boy, I am tired when I go to bed!
This is the ad I saw in the Runner's World magazine last summer. It drew my attention for some reason and made me register for the race. Perhaps they are right, running is the perfect excuse to experience places.
The half-marathon route
Paula on a poster
Please leave your bags here.
Race village
Looks like a gigantic party early in the morning
Damn, that's early to start a race!
This is the finish line. We have to cross it to get to the start line.
Not the French troublemakers, but volunteers.
This way please!
Some tam-tam in the morning
Go brother! (He finished before me)
The start line is somewhere in the background
Palm tree
Waiting for the race to start.
Paula, cute as ever
Selfie time!
Al Mouj residential area
dirt track or desert
Run sisters, run!
Marshal
The golf course
Slippery when wet (Bon Jovi album title from the 1980s)
Golf course
beach and sea in the background
Golf course
Another marshal
The first station
heavy traffic
Open spaces
Go sister, go!
Dancers and musicians
yeah brother!
Entering Al Mouj
Put your hands up in the air, put your hands up, in the air and say yeah...!!!
Dirt track, which becomes muddy and stony
more bling for my collection
And the winner is ... not me!
The official photographs
8 is in China the lucky number
Approaching the line...
Power!
Is this pain? Is this relieve?
A shy smile
And across the line!!!!!
Blinded by the light... (Manfred Mann's Earth Band song)
Qurm beach and park
The tide is coming in
Park in Qurm
If you would like to read more by me, type Theodore Goumas into the Amazon search bar and the following two books should appear:
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