As proof to substantiate my claim in my last post that the highly stacked van phenomenon was not exclusive to our neighbors, here is another sighting. Just after I posted my previous article on this topic I was down near Jma El Fna and I was lucky enough that a traffic light stopped this van for a photo op.
The Van
The material this van is carrying is used to stuff the cushions on the Moroccan style couches.
Things in Morocco are often done differently. This is not a bad thing it is just different. Like in the U.S. other than pizza or burgers we really do not eat food with our hands and never from a communal dish in the middle of the table. However, because of this we do not have Tajine or Couscous.
So, I cannot say that I was surprised when I looked out the window of our apartment and saw that our neighbors, who were moving, didn't have a U-Haul but were taking a different approach. They were using the tempting physics approach with a van.
The moving van
It is always interesting driving down the road and seeing trucks piled so high occasionally tall trucks will even have cows, sheep, or goats on top.
I started this series of posts a few weeks ago describing several great places to run in Rabat, the capital of Morocco. Now, I return to the topic of the best places to run with the Palmeraie of Marrakech. I do not know the formal name to this part of the city but when ever I talk about it people know exactly where i am talking about.
Name: The Palmeraie in Marrakech
Location: on the right while driving North out of the city on the N9 before your get to the stadium
Points of Interest:
The Palmeraie is one of the beautiful resort areas in Marrakech. I have never stayed in any of the many hotels in the area due to their prices but from the outside they look very nice. There is also a nice golf course that the hotels overlook. I would not recommend running on the course due to the nice security men that politely ask people to stay off the course.
Golf course
Nice security man preparing to do His work
I discovered this part of the city while running the Marrakech Marathon back in January, around mile nineteen, and I was glad a did. On the few runs I have done since the marathon I have ran here twice. There has not been a time I've been on the street and not seen people out running in the area. That is always a good sign.
You can really divide the road into two parts. The first, is the section where the golf course and all the really big resorts (Holiday Inn, and the Golf Palace and Spa, to name a couple) are located. This part has wide sidewalks and and the road is really well kept.
Hotel Entrance and the Moroccan Flag
Hotel Entrance
Hotel Entrance
The second part, is just...different. There are hotels and spas but most of them you can't see because they are behind large walls. There aren't sidewalks and the road is not as well kept. However, all of this is forgotten once you see the camels. About every half mile there is another group of men with 3-6 camels waiting for the tourists to come and spend their money. We asked the price and I think it's cheaper to ride them here than some of the other areas in the city. I know that camels have nothing to do with running but I think they are cool and definitely worth mentioning.
This camel came right up to us on the road
Camels just hanging out
Another camel, sorry
Last camel
The road is about 4.1 miles long if you stop at the last resort and don't go back into the city. It really is a great road to do some intervals on or a medium length long run. One side note is that there really isn't any where to buy water from on the main road. On the opposite end of the area from the golf course are a few little convenience stores that will definitely have water but its a good ways from the resorts.
Also, as always in Marrakech you kneed to keep one eye open for the scooters, mopeds, and motorcycles. They are everywhere in this city. It is actually quite entertaining.
Two people on one scooter is not uncommon
Two ladies on a scooter getting close to the camels
They are everywhere
Sadly, three people on one scooter is not uncommon either
Directions:
If you are driving north out of the city heading for the auto-route there will be a roundabout about 1/2 a mile from the bridge (before the stadium). After going through the roundabout you will see a sign indicating that Casablanca is straight ahead and the Palmeraie is the next right. Take that right and about half a mile after you turn you should see parking on the street outside the hotels.
Road sign
If you do not have a car you can ask one of the many taxis in the city to take you to the
Palmeraie and you will be there sooner than you know it. There are plenty of taxis waiting outside the resorts so you wont have to walk back to the city... on the other hand you might want to.
Well, that's it for this installment of
Places to Run in Morocco.
I hope that if you're ever in Marrakech you will not only enjoy all of the normal tourist things there are to do but also get to know the city a little by getting a good run workout. As always if you have a question or comment don't forget to leave one below. Thanks for reading, now get out and run!
Last weekend when I was at the Marrakech Marathon Village picking up my race number, I also picked up a few flyers for some up coming races here in Morocco. I love running races in new places so I am excited about these races and I hope to eventually do most of the races here in Morocco. Okay, so here is some basic information about these three races that I learned from reading the flyers and a cursory look at their websites.
First up, In order of race date, is the Taroudant Asta Footing International 10km, on March 10, 2013. Taroudant is city that is about an hour and a half west of Agadir.
After reading over the race flyer The thing that immediately jumped out at me was the fact that there does not seem to be a race entry fee! Seeing as my French reading skills are a little rusty, I used Google to do some translating and I confirmed that both the Arabic and the French say that it free to participate in this race. That is awesome and rare. Also, making sure that the race is a little more attractive, their website says that not only is it free but all who participant will receive a t-shirt and a finisher medal. The website, running.ma, also says that the course is 100% flat. Which makes a not so difficult distance even more enjoyable. Finally, you can register online at the website and since it is a free race no credit card info is requested.
That's really all the info I have about the race. It is a free race in what I hear to be an awesome city.
Key Info:
Next up is the Planet Sport 15km of Bouskoura, on March 24, 2013. Bouskoura is a town that is half an hour south of Casablanca.
The official race website is www.15kmbouskoura.com. According to the site, this race is open to 2,500 runners both Moroccan and foreigners. Also, this race will run through a forest nearby. I do not think that it is a trail race, but I could be wrong. Also race registration can be done online at the website and the fee is 100 dirham.
Ok, so here is where this race becomes really appealing to anyone who lives in Morocco, instore race registration. While anyone can do the registration online, this race has a really awesome instores option. Planet Sport is not only the name sake of this race but also possible the largest chain of sports stores in Morocco. The race organizers have opted to allow race registration to be done at many of their store locations across morocco.
There are about 13 stores that you can register at. The website says that if you register at a store then beginning the week of Monday, March 11 you will be able to return to the store you registered at and pick up you race number. So, why do I think that this is amazing? This race is pretty close to a midway spot from most major cities in Morocco and can be driven to on race morning. Being able to drive (although it would work out to be an early morning for some) to the race on race morning and not having to get a hotel room is a very appealing option.
Key Info:
The final race I learned about is the "Ceders International Marathon" or the "trail d'ifrane." This is a stage race on the trails in the mountains around the city of Ifrane, Morocco.
This is possibly the race that I am most excited about, because I have always wanted to do a multi-day stage race. The total distance of the race is 88.5 km covered in four stages over four days.
Here are the stage lengths:
The website for the race is www.marathondescedres.com. On the website are videos, pictures, map, and several other things. Race cost is 1,500 Dh and registration can be done online. As much information as I have found online and in the in the flyer, I still have several questions that I will be looking for answers about. The biggest question that stands out to me is, is there a camp at the end of each stage or are the participants transported back to Ifrane for the evenings and back to the next days start? I will be looking for answers and when I find out I will post my answer here on the blog. The answer could be on the website and I am just missing it because it is in French, but either way when I find out, I will let you know.
Key info:
So, here are three more running races in Morocco that you should look into doing, I know I hope to do at least one of them. As the race dates draw closer, if I find out any new information I will continue to put updates on the blog and hopefully I will be able to run one or two of them and let you know how it goes.
As always if you have any questions, comments or info please leave a comment below or email me at runningmorocco@gmail.com. Now get up and go for a run!
It has now been four days since I ran the Marrakech Marathon in Morocco. Normally in the first few days after a marathon or some other big race, people tend to kick back, relax and take it easy. That has never been the case for me. This is not because I didn't want to but because I just could not do. So between work and family obligations, this year was no exception. Now that I am not quite as busy and my body is out of the soreness stage, I am ready to look back and share my experience from this past weekend.
I guess I will start with packet pick-up. I wrote a detailed post last week about packet pick-up and the marathon village so I will be brief here. The marathon village was set up in front of the big post office near the center of town. After I registered online for the race, I got an email from the French company that did the registration saying that the race number pick-up would begin on Friday afternoon, two days before the race. This ended up being nice because my Saturday was already looking to be quite busy.
The marathon village
So, Friday afternoon we went over and got my race number and it turned out online registration included a t-shirt, nice! I had heard that you could register at the village on race weekend, but everyone that told me had never actually ran the race. It turned out that you could. From what I saw the price seemed to be the same as it was for online registration, but I do not think I would have received a t-shirt. With race number in hand, some flyers about future races, and the excitement building, I was ready for the Sunday morning race.
Race packet
It doesn't seem to matter how much training I do, how well I prepare the night before, or how confident I feel the days leading up to the race, when I get up on race morning I always feel under prepared and this year was no different. My wife and son came along as my cheer squad. As we parked behind the big mosque, Katobia, I was confident that I'd finish but unsure of how I would arrive to the finish line.
We walked the half mile to the starting line, getting passed by people warming up the whole way. Seeing as it was about 40 degrees out, I too should have been warming up, but I was just to cold. We arrived at the starting area about 30 minutes prior to the race, which turned out to be a good thing because there was no rhyme or reason to the way people were lining up.
Lots of people
As the starting time drew closer and I became colder, the starting area filled up. The elite runners came out of a side tent and did their warm ups. I was standing on a curb talking to my wife, on the other side of a barricade, and enjoying the exciting race atmosphere when my said, "Wasn't that the starting gun?" and we were off. The age group runners began about 100 yards back from the start but since this race has chip timing it wasn't a big deal.
The starting line is under the red tunnel thing
After we went across the starting line the course goes about half a mile before turning to the right. This is really nice since it is also the last half mile of the race and its good to see the final stretch before hand. The route then goes to the Marrakech train station and then takes the runners through one of the side entrances to the popular Menara Gardens. It was here in the gardens that the race provided its first water station. The stations were placed about every 5 km the entire race. The water stations provide you with an average sized bottle of water which was good because I was carrying a small Nathan water bottle and it made it super easy to refill. After running through the gardens on a nice paved path we exited through another side gate.
Running past the Marrakech train station
Exiting the Menera Gardens
The race then proceeded south, out toward the city's race track and the Agdel Gardens. Let me take a second to describe the aid stations. As I said every 5 km from the start was an aid station. These always had water bottles and starting at the 10 km aid station they began offering whole oranges and little baggies of dates. I was carrying my own energy gels but I probably in the last three aid stations ate four whole oranges. It gave me a surprising boost. Also, every 7 km were sponge stations, at the first one since it was cold I thought the idea of a sponge station was crazy but by the last few stations, as the day heated up quickly, I was very thankful for these soaking wet sponges.
OK, back to the race. As I got close to the Agdel Gardens I began to chat with a "65ish" year old man named Mustafa. He lives about a mile away and was running a strong pace when we met. We talked for a while, he told me this was not his first race. After a few miles I realized he was speeding up. I began to worry that if I couldn't keep up with this guy maybe I should not be out here. I decided to stick to my plan and not chase him down. This ended up being a good call since at the next aid station I passed him as he was walking and eating an orange. He looked strong so I'm sure he ended up doing well.
Mustafa is the guy in white on the right
After the gardens the course loops around the back side of the old city and then follows the city wall back into town. At about the 15 mile point, the half marathon course which started an hour after (9am) the full (8am) met up with ours and we ran with the other runners for about two or tree miles. At the Bab El Khemis the half turned to the right to head to the finish line, as the full went right back out of town.
Up next the race took the runners up to this small back road that I did not even know existed but is apparently a major road. This is the road that leads to the Palmeraie Golf course and a bunch of rally Fancy hotels. There were also lots of camels for the tourists to ride here when they are not running a marathon.
Finally came the last big road, 5 miles down the Road to Casablanca, before turning after the train station for the finish line. This 5 mile stretch and a little bit before is where my race fell apart. Looking back at my training I realized that after doing several shorter distance races in December in the States I did not give my self enough time to build up to some good quality long runs before the race. So, about the 20/21 mile area my feet began to just feel awful. So, instead of giving up i adjusted. I finished slower but I finished and to me that is always my primary goal.
I crossed the finish line in 3:58 and had a smile on my face. I had enjoyed my first marathon in Morocco. At the finish I was given a little finishers metal and met up with my wife. It really was a great race and I really am looking forward to next year already. I would recomend this race to anyone looking for a destination race whether it be the half or full marathon, this would be a great choice.
A couple of side notes:
My wife's view of the race
Here is a list of the Marrakech Marathon posts I wrote leading up to the 2013 race this year:
The International Marathon of Marrakech: An Introduction
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