Preface
After months of painstaking preparation, the time had eventually arrived to depart for Marrakech and complete the first of our five Half Marathons that would see us travel a joint-total of 75,000 air miles covering each of the five continents. The problems started even before we departed on our early Saturday morning flight to Africa.
Unfortunately, Anita had a re-occurrence of an eye problem that saw us sitting in Frenchay Hospital late on the Friday evening and traipsing half way around Bristol in order to secure the recommended prescription. We eventually got home at 11pm, a mere 4.5 hours before we were due to rise the next morning. Some start.
The check-in at Bristol airport was painless, and the 3-hour Ryanair flight to Marrakech appeared trouble free. Okay, the price of in-flight coffee was higher than a soprano on dope and okay, we would have to seriously consider down-sizing our house in order to afford a croissant. We decided that there was no need to panic buy as the relatively cheap cost of living in Morocco was only 3 hours away - or so we thought!
After reaching and then circling above Marrakech for a few minutes, the captain informed us that fog would unfortunately prevent us from landing and consequently we were being diverted to Fes where a coach would transport us back to Marrakech - 500kms of pretty ropey Moroccan roads away! Speculation was rife on-board as to the probable journey time, with estimates ranging from a highly optimistic 4 hours to what was considered a very pessimistic 6 hours.
After saying a very sincere, but alas hurried goodbye to us all, Ryanair was Bristol bound, leaving a couple of hundred or so passengers at Fes airport waiting for a convoy of 17-seater minibuses, which by the look of them were sourced from various local transport museums and scrap yards.
This was going to be a longer journey than we envisaged, made none the more comfortable given that (a) tourists are unable to take local currency into Morocco and (b) Fes airport's currency desk was permanently unmanned. So - 500kms to go, squeezed into a vehicle with more rust than a German u-boat laid to rest in the North Atlantic, with no local currency to buy food or drink en-route. Nice. (Note to self - never pass up the opportunity to purchase in-flight snacks and beverages, no matter what the cost!).
I suppose it just goes to show that even the most rigorous planning can sometimes fail miserably.
Despite Ryanair's statistics claiming that we actually arrived on-time, this unplanned excursion took us 7 hours plus an additional 2 hour wait, meaning that we eventually arrived in Marrakech at 7pm rather than the planned 9.30am. The next problem was obtaining race numbers, which were due to be collected by our local agent and handed to us at Marrakech airport.
It's a shame then, that we were dropped off by the minibus at Marrakech railway station! Luckily a fellow passenger was also running the next day and had both a mobile phone and the number of the local agent at hand, and managed to negotiate with him to meet us at our drop-off point. Race numbers were eventually distributed and we arrived at our hotel at 8pm, just in time for our evening meal, following a period of 16 hours during which we had had neither food nor drink.
We sat down in the restaurant relieved that our challenge was back on track, and looked forward to the set meal included in our half board package.
They say that setbacks come in threes. First Anita's eye. Second the trip from hell. And finally a meal even the cockroaches wouldn't eat. To say it was inedible was talking it up - put it this way, I've seen Anita prepare better meals (despite my age, I have an alarmingly good memory).
So, tired and hungry we hit the sack. Fairly unorthodox preparation for a Half Marathon, I'd agree, but hey - we were in Africa on the first of our five legs and things could only get better from here on.
Race Day
Heavy rain was forecast for race day, and it was with some trepidation therefore that we pulled open the curtains to reveal almost perfect of race conditions. The start line was a mere half mile from our hotel, and we set about getting there early for one or two photos before it got too busy.
Within no time at all we were changed into our running gear and mingling with the large 6,000-odd crowd on the start line, with the sun shining down upon us. The atmosphere was terrific, with communal songs being sung in Arabic before the race set off. Okay, we couldn't understand a single word but we simply didn't care - after what we had been through on the Saturday, it felt an achievement just to be on the start line.
From our position in the second or third row we could see the start line about 150-200 metres away. It's normal practice in big races to leave a large gap between the first of the paying runners and the paid elite runners, and then just before the race starts to gradually walk the assembled crowd up to the start line.
However, for some reason this didn't happen and all of a sudden everyone started running. The race had started, despite us being some distance from the start line. Still, there was no time to complain - Anita and myself said our goodbyes, started our watches (Anita was wearing a specially adapted Garmin with longer life batteries as she had complained to them that the original ten hour battery life prevented her from using it in races any longer than ten miles) and set off in search of our target times mine, sub 1:20 and Anita sub 2 hour.
The course was pretty much perfect - fast, flat and scenic. It took in both the old walled city and the external suburbs or Marrakech, which made for a very pleasant running experience. The Half Marathon - and Full Marathon which is run in parallel - are one of Marrakech's big annual events and so both are very well supported.
Unfortunately the course isn't mile or kilometre marked, except for drink/sponge stations, which are located approximately every 2.5 kilometres but this isn't really a problem if you have a GPS watch (such as Gary!). Furthermore, with the majority of the several thousand field opting to run the Half Marathon, you can guarantee you won't be running in isolation.
I was looking to break the 1:20 mark and lay down a good base for subsequent attempts at getting closer to 1:15. For the first ten miles things went pretty much to plan, with the GPS reading an average of 5:56 min/miles, which saw me cross the ten-mile mark in just over 59 minutes.
It was at this point that things started to get a little tougher and the average crept up slowly but surely to the 6 min/mile mark. Turning in to the finishing straight, I was able to muster up enough strength to secure a 1:19:30 clock time, which was eventually recorded as a 1:18:51 chip time. I eventually finished 140th man overall.
Knowing that Anita had eye problems, and was unlikely to run well on an empty stomach, I decided to waste no time in running back down the course to see how she was getting on. The thought even crossed my mind that she might have needed to pull out, and I had visions of running the entire 13.1-mile course in reverse searching for her.
Fortunately, I met her at the 11-mile mark, where she was just a fraction outside of her target 2 hour pace, but slowing. After a bit of friendly (!) encouragement she managed to pick the pace up again and eventually finished in a 2:01:48 clock time, which was eventually recorded as a 2:01:03 chip time, a mere 64 seconds away from breaking the 2-hour barrier for the first time as a veteran runner.
Anita finished 107th woman overall, and insists that this means that she actually beat me in the race by 33 positions, and despite sound reasoning from me refuses to accept my argument.
Tired but content, we returned - complete with finishers medals (hopefully the first of five) to our hotel for a well deserved shower followed by an ever more deserved bite to eat.
Postscript
Well, there you have it. One down and four to go. Next stop, Paris, France, Europe on the 8th March when hopefully out-bound travel will go a little closer to plan. Anyone interested in the Marrakech Half should think seriously about doing it.
The organisation is pretty good, and the course is definitely one on which a PB can be achieved. Add to that the weird and wonderful sights and sounds of Marrakech itself and you have all the ingredients for a very pleasant three or four days.
And if you're lucky you may even get a free 500km excursion that you hadn't planned for.
Anyone interested in helping us raise money for St Peter's Hospice can do so by visiting www.justgiving.com/5continents
Phil Westlake
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