This was one of the richest half marathons in the world and attracted the elite runners from all over the world. The world record was at stake but the winner missed out by less than a minute. The race pack was couriered to us (something that has never happened before). On race morning, I picked Chris Homann up from his place and we drove straight to Ras Al Khaimah for the race. It was an hour away and we got there with over 45 minutes left before the race start. It was quite a chilly day and I had to walk around to keep myself warm. The race start was quite spectacular with the marching band and plenty of TV coverage. There was a helicopter above that tracked the elite runners through out the course. The race was quite scenic taking us around all the nice areas of RAK. The last 10K’s was out and back and I managed to see the elite runners on the way back to the finish line. I finished the race in under 2 and half hours about 45 minutes slower than Chris who was waiting for me at the finish line. The medal was nice as well. The one bad thing about the race was that there was no powerade on the course, just water. Later on we received an email from the race director apologizing us of the mishap and how he was cheated out by the sponsor for not providing the electrolytes. The ones that reached the starting line had the expiry date of 3 days earlier, so had to be removed from the course. This only happens in a 3rd world country. Imagine this happening in States, it would be a field day for lawyers! After the race, we drove back to Dubai and after dropping Chris, I went straight home for lunch.
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