Three days after completing Nike’s #WeRunDxb 10k, I have finally regained enough of my composure (and feeling in my legs) to write about the experience.
– #WeRunDxb Diary: Running before you can walk
– GALLERY: #WeRunDxb Nike 10k run in Dubai
– #UAEFitAwards: All the winners and interviews
– #360fit: Pedal away at Dubai’s Al Qudra track
Crossing the line in a time of 53 minutes and 55 seconds was a wonderfully pleasant surprise, nay, shock. Any runners among you will know that it is very easy to have an off day; if you haven’t eaten the right thing at the correct time, or stretched in the right way, it can be a one-way street to a nightmare race.
Fortunately, everything fell into place last Friday. Carbo-loading with a pesto-smothered bowl of pasta the night before: check; Muesli ingested and digested on the morning of the race: check; troublesome calf adequately stretched off without feeling like the muscle might peel back at any moment: check.
All the ingredients were there, and with my trusty Meatloaf – the band, not the stodgy foodstuff – supporting me, the recipe for a good race was in place.
Twenty-four hours earlier I hadn’t felt so confident. That’s right folks, I got the fear. My colleagues can testify as much. I stood at Sport360 HQ ashen-faced, pessimism permeating every pore, and tried unconvincingly to brush off the fact that stiffness was present throughout all of my lower limbs after a rather foohardy game of football a day-and-a-half before the race.
Thankfully, my muscles loosened and my mood improved – by the time the start line was in sight, and in no small part thanks to a couple of renditions of 90s trance tunes Set You Free and Rhythm is a Dancer- I was pumped.
“Music is an emotional crutch, a distraction from the unnatural physical exertion through which you’re suffering.”
As I’ve mentioned before, music is something that plays a huge role for me, and many others who run. I once conducted a pseudo-scientific experiment in which I ran without music. It was a disaster. Being alone with my own thoughts for an extended period wasn’t even the worst part, the lack of a beat just seemed to sap the energy away. It is an emotional crutch and I think, more than anything, a distraction from the unnatural physical exertion through which you are suffering.
Nervous pre-race socialising is commonplace at distance events around the world and #WeRunDxb was no different. Wading through the crowd as dawn broke spectacularly over the monolithic Burj Khalifa, I struck up conversation with one of my neon-vested brethren and talk quickly turned to music. Phil Collins was his go-to guy for running. “I’m sorry,” I said. “Big Phil may have some upbeat songs in his back catalogue, but ‘You Can’t Hurry Love’ just isn’t my bag.” Potential friend lost.
Great pic of last friday #werundxb @NikeRunningME ! Congrats to all participants! pic.twitter.com/VbVx3Dt5YG
— MyDubaiMyCity (@MyDubaiMyCity) December 21, 2014
Lining up at the start, I had Kanye West’s ‘Stonger’ in my ear. Before you judge me, hear me out. “That, that, that don’t kill me, can only make me stronger”. Surely you can spot the motivational message there? It’s fair to say I have an eclectic music taste so my selections can range from Urban Cookie Collective to the aforementioned Meatloaf (I’ve just noticed my apparent penchant for bands named after food – maybe it’s time I added some Salt-N-Pepa and Bowling for Soup to my playlist). Meatloaf in particular is a runner’s dream. With ‘Bat Out Of Hell’ at 9min 47sec and ‘I Would Do Anything For Love’ at 12min 1sec, you’ve run more than a third of the race in just two songs!
The race itself went swimmingly. My target as I stood on the start line was 60 minutes so I set off looking to run 5:30 per km until the halfway point, in order to allow for some breathing space for the second 5k. Inexplicably though, the same pace was maintained throughout – despite a customary wobble in confidence around 5k, the point you are furthest from both the start and end of the race.
With the finish line in sight and the Burj still towering above, I cranked up – aptly – R Kelly’s ‘World’s Greatest’ and brought it home, just under 54 minutes. I was shattered – gulping down the coconut water and greedily dispatching the date-flavoured protein bar from the free post-match snack bag like there was no tomorrow – but more than anything, I was proud.
Whether 10k or marathon, there are few better feelings than receiving a running medal and such was the inflated feeling of self-worth that accompanied the race, I went and signed myself up for my first Triathlon, in Abu Dhabi next March. Definitely a glutton for punishment!
