While most people would wince at the idea of doing a 10km race or a half marathon, Dubai resident Marcus Smith has taken things to a different level, by running 30 marathons in 30 days during the Dubai Fitness Challenge.
An ambassador for the month-long fitness movement in the Emirates, which started on October 26 and ends on November 24, Smith has already completed 14 of his 30 marathons.
The 39-year-old starts his run every morning from his home in Satwa at 5am and jogs up Jumeirah Road towards Kite Beach. The route generally changes each day but Smith invites people to join him and they can monitor his location on a live tracker on Instagram.
A former rugby player with Dubai Exiles and the Arabian Gulf, Smith retired from the sport eight years ago and now competes in CrossFit, running and extreme endurance events. He also owns InnerFight Gym in Al Quoz and Smith St Paleo with his wife Holly.
The Briton has completed an array of gruelling challenges over the years, including multiple marathons and ultra-marathons. In April 2015, he ran 250km across the Sahara Desert in the self-supported Marathon Des Sables. He has also ran 50km in 50-degree heat – twice.
Smith grew up in the UAE in a family steeped in fitness. “We are a product of our own environment. When I was growing up my mum was running, my dad was doing triathlons, cycling and running. I was always interested in it,” he said.
“I played every sport I could. I was in boarding school for ten years in the UK. I’ve ran since I was in school for my county for a number of years. The funny thing is that I’m not built to be a runner. I’m heavy for a runner. I’m 90kg. But I just enjoy it.
“That’s one of the things that’s got a little bit lost in sport these days. People doing stuff that they don’t enjoy,” he said.
In February, Smith was hit by a truck on the Sharjah-Kalba road while training for an ultra-cycle world record and left with seven broken ribs, a broken scapula and a collapsed lung.
After months of rehab and recovery, he’s been running nearly 200km per week to condition himself to be in the best possible shape for upcoming races.
“I’ve been doing a lot of running since the accident. We ran across Corsica in July which was 195km with 13,500 metres of vertical climbing. I hadn’t finalised the idea by then but I just continued to run for a bit,” he said.
“I train two to three hours a day generally. The most important thing and one of the components that people miss is strength work. I do it four to five times a week at InnerFight.
“Once it came around in August that I was going to do the challenge, I got one of my endurance coaches to write my own programme for me and I’ve been running since.”
The great thing about the challenge is that people from all walks of life have come down each morning to run 5km, 10km, 20km and even the full 42.2km marathon distance to support Smith and the Dubai Fitness Challenge.
He said: “The barrier to entry of running is so low. Everyone can run. I’m able to touch a lot of people lives through running. It fits into what I want to do. I just want to try and impact as many lives as I can.”
Keep an eye on Marcus Smith and his ongoing challenge of 30 marathons in 30 days HERE
