Come Run Dubai With Me!

This year, I ran the Dubai Marathon. It had been on my bucket list of marathons to do for a while given the high profile of the runners that attend (they used to offer $1,000,000 for the runner who broke the world record at their marathon). I thought it would be cool to participate in such a elite-packed marathon. My schedule had freed up for that weekend just about one month before the race so I started putting plans in place to go.

This could be you running towards this finish line!

You can read all about the different parts of my journey by clicking any of the links below, but I will just say – it was an awesome experience! If you have not been to Dubai, then you have not seen the biggest ______, the brightest ______, the tallest _______, the most expensive _______ (you fill in the blanks with almost anything and that will be true about Dubai). The city is great to see and to be able to enjoy it all while running 26.2 miles around is just fantastic.

However, my race did not go to well. The whole race for me was more of a blog review than an actual marathon with goals (since I really had not trained that well). It became just a fight to finish when I broke something in my foot half-way through. That caused me to really hobble the rest of the way. I left the race feeling like I had unfinished business, so – I am going back for the 2014 edition!

Race Details

• Marathon: Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon
• Date: January 24, 2014
• Time: 7:00AM (marathon), 7:15AM (10K)
• Place: Dubai, United Arab Emirates
• Races: Marathon, 10K, and 3K fun run
• Cost: $120(Marathon), $60 (10K), $15 (3K)
• Website: website

It is a great event, the city is great, and there are some fabulous hotels in the area. In the coming weeks, I will have some posts showing the different ways to go there on awards (all three alliances have airlines that fly there so there are many options) as well as some of the hotels that will work. It would be a blast to see some of you there and be able to run with you! This time, I will not be running it for review but as a serious attempt to lower my marathon PR (which currently sits at 3:35). After my last half-marathon, I am feeling pretty good about it and already in deep training and speedwork to prepare. So, how about it? Do you want to run in an exotic-type marathon? It will be a great race to talk about with your running buddies! Keep reading for information on the travel portion or e-mail me if you have specific questions – charlie at runningwithmiles.com

dubai marathon trip – introduction

dubai marathon trip – cathay pacific first class (part 1)

dubai marathon trip – cathay pacific business class (part 2)

dubai marathon trip – colombo airport / serenediva hotel (part 3)

dubai marathon trip – araliya lounge / qatar airways business class (part 4)

dubai marathon trip – doha premium terminal / qatar airways first class lounge (part 5)

dubai marathon trip – dubai (part 6)

dubai marathon trip – four points sheraton sheikh zayed road (part 7)

dubai marathon trip – the dubai marathon (part 8)

dubai marathon trip – emirates first class lounge (part 9)

dubai marathon trip – emirates first class (part 10)

dubai marathon trip – paris and british airways (part 11)

dubai marathon trip – hilton paris charles de gaulle airport hotel (part 12)

dubai marathon trip – british airways first class (part 13)