The beginning

The beginning beginning. Country 1. My first international marathon.

The Marrakech matahon marked the start of my long journey around the globe in January 2024. The race was on a Sunday but due to flight scheduling and prices and the need to pick up the race number on the saturdy, we had to get a Friday flight. A key financial element of the whole plan was being able to fly without any suitcases, just a rucksack each. Friday came around and it was time to test the theory. I now have a complete packing list of everything to consider bringing on any trip, but this list was yet to be written in January 2024. So we chucked what we thought best in our respective bags and stopped packing once the zippers were about to pop.



We hopped in the car to go to Gatwick for our EasyJet flight and we were on our way! Another financial strategy is to not pay to book seats, at least on most shorthall flights and this time we weren't dealt seats next to eachothr. However, I ended up sat next to an older couple whos family were scattered across the plane with their two sons also on the way to the race. A little bit of chat helped the three hours fly by and we were touching down in no time. Having been in Cairo only a few months earlier, we were very impressed with our next North African city off the bat with a relaxed taxi to the hotel. We checked in to our very reasonably priced hotel. So reasonably priced that it made sense to book it for three nights so that we had somewhere to wash and change after the race and before our Sunday evening return flight.



On Saturday we had a full itinerary planned. We wanted to see as much as we could in the short time we were there and hadn't really done many weekend trips up to this point. I had a piece of paper in my pocket with a route planned to see what was mainly a lot of different buildings from the outside. Again the finances came into play as we went for lots of quick free stuff rather than paying to do anything. The walk ended up topping 10 miles across the day. Probably not the best marathon prep!

The race

At least in 2024, there was no bag drop system in place for this race. We booked a hotel about a mile down the road and I left it until pretty late to head to the start line as the temperature was still quite low early in the morning and the journey there was my warm up.

As I stepped over the start line, I felt a great deal of excitement over what was ahead, both for the next few hours and coming years. I wasn't entirely sure what strategy I wanted to follow for this race. The next one lined up wasn't for another month but that was to be by far the quickest I'd turned my body around between marathons at that point. I took the first few miles slightly on the easier side but quickly found myself accelerating. There wasn't a great deal of support on the course but when there were crowds they were excited and helped keep me going. The most notable element of the route was the occasional views of the mountains in the distance which were very cool to see from the city. I felt good going through half way a few minutes above 90 and felt tempted to go for the sub-3. I picked up the pace until about 18 miles when I accepted that I wouldn't be able to make it to the finish line at that pace. The last few miles were a bit of a struggle but I made it round without any serious pain or cramping.

Although the 3:17 may not seem to different to my 3:08 PB, the calmer approach to the race meant that my legs were significantly less damaged after this run. Ultimately, that was the number one objective achieved as I expected to be easily recovered in time for Malta (which thankfully did end up being the case).

Of course though, a marathon is a marathon and the mile walk back to the hotel felt a lot longer than it did in the morning. It would have been a lot more difficult for Ciara to have supported me here than it was in London, so she had a relaxed morning around the hotel. After a wash and a change, we went across the road for a nice rooftop lunch. We had great views of the surrounding mountains and enjoyed a well earnt meal. We then headed back to the hotel to pick up our bags and check out. The journey back included another first - a same day flight after a marathon. I had no idea if my legs would completely cramp up or start spasming, but thankfully they were okay. The drive back home was the final challenge in what was a very long, but very memorable day.