The 2013 Running in Morocco Race Calendar

  Here is a non-exhaustive 2013 Morocco race calendar. I say that it is non-exhaustive because it took me several hours to compile this list and there were some races that I came across by name only and did not include. The races I put on the list are ones that either have a website, I know for sure to exist, or I read about other people actually running them in the past and I found some kind of date. 

2012 Morocco Race Calendar

                                                                                                                 

January 27	Marrakech Marathon and  Half	26.2 miles or 13.1   miles
February 6	RAHAL Memorial  Casablanca 10 km	10 km
February 23	Trail Atlas Tafraout  65 Km and half marathon (this site is on some kind of dental page , but it is the only page with info.)	65 km or 13.1 miles
March 10	Taroudant Asta Footing  International 10km	10 km
March 10 -17	Extreme Runners  Cup	100 miles
March 17	Ultra Marathon  Ouarzazate	30 km, 10 km, or 1500   meters
March 24	Planet Sport 15km of  Bouskoura	15 km
March 30 - April   5	Morocco Trail Ouarzazate	Four day stage race   with stages of 27 km, 28 km, 27 km, and 35 km.
April 21	Agadir Half Marathon	13.1 miles
April 5-15	Marathon des Sables	150 miles in six   stages
April 7	Rabat Half Marathon	13.1 miles
June 20-23	Ceders International  Marathon in Ifrane	Four day stage race   with stages of 22 km, 17.5 km, 31 km, and 18 km. With a total distance of   88.5 km
October	Trans 333	333 miles
October 3-4	Ultra Trail Atlas Toubkal	105 km, 42 km, or 26 km
October 26- November   1	Ecotrail of Ouarzazate	111 km in three   stages
October 27	Casablanca  Marathon	26.2 miles or 13.1   miles
November (could not find exact date)	Agadir Triathlon	1.5 km swim, 40 km bike, and 10 km run
December (could not find exact date)	Semi Marathon   International De Laayoune  (Unable to find website)	13.1 miles
December 29	Extreme Marathon  of Zagora	26.2 miles or 13.1   miles

  Many races I found were mentioned on blogs or other websites and when I clicked on the links provided I was directed either to a website with nothing to do with the race or to running.ma which only provided dates. Or there may be a race like the Agadir Half-Marathon which online seems to have about five different names making it really hard to nail down specifics.  So, I tried my best to assemble a decent list of races with their dates and websites. As the year goes on, I will continue to update this list as I learn of other races.

  As I said above I know there are other races out there so if you have any information about them or if you know of any other races I should add to the calendar, let me know in the comment section.

The 2013 Marrakech Marathon Race Report

    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:

• There were lots of police and security on the race course keeping traffic at bay and providing general security.
• The city turned out in force to cheer on all the runners not just the pros. All the way to the end of the race there were kids wanting high fives and cheering us on.
• Although there were some things I would like to see improved (like at all races), this race was very organized.
• There were 662 full marathon finishers and 3,675 half marathon finishers.
• The race winner was Tum Stephen from Kenya with a time of 2:06:35.
• Very flat and fast race route.
• While I was running the race my wife went to a cafe in Jemaa El Fna and watched the race leaders on the TV.

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

Marrakech Marathon Race Poster

Packet Pick-up at the Marrakech Marathon Village

Big Day in Marrakech and Website Update

    Today was a big day in Marrakech, the 2013 edition of the annual Marrakech Marathon and Half Marathon. We had great weather for running and the city showed out with enthusiasm along the course to show their support of all the runners. I ran the full marathon and set a new personal best for the marathon distance. If you check back later this week I will be posting a full race report, going into all the details of this great run.

Sunrise just before the start

A few seconds after going across the starting line

    Also, one quick website update. I had been told that some people have tried commenting on some of the posts here at runninginmorocco.com and have been unable to. I did some investigating and I think that the problem is fixed. So, please go back and try again.

   Well, that is all. I am going to go put my feet up and hopefully drift off into a nice sleep and dream about my next race.

Packet Pick-up at the Marrakech Marathon Village

    Alright, the day is almost here. We are less than two days out from 24th annual running of the Marrakech Marathon and half marathon in Morocco. I will not admit that I am starting to get those pre-race jitters, nope I won't admit it. 

    Today was the first of two days that the marathon village was open, it was in the center of town near the main post office. This is what in America is called the race expo or packet pick-up. So, after lunch I decided I would try to beat the crowds and head on down to get my race number. I choose to do my race registration online through the link that was provided on the race website (marathon-marrakech.com). I had heard that there was a possibility of doing registration on race weekend at the marathon village but no one could tell me for certain.

Marrakech Marathon Village

    When, we arrived at the village there where quite a few tents set up in the plaza. There were the sponsors, traditional Moroccan crafts, other races advertising their events, a stage was set up for some live entertainment in the evening, and two other important tents. The first of those two tents was the main race organizer's tent. Here there was a place for foreigners and a place for Moroccans to register for the race. So it turns out that what I had heard was correct, you can sign up on race weekend. Also, at this tent you can buy several official race t-shirts, key chains, and pins. 

 Moroccan Registration Table

 Foreigner Registration Table

Marrakech Marathon Key Chain and Pin

    The second important tent was a tent that a few days ago I got an email telling me about. The email said that because I registered online I would not find my race number at the official tent but instead at the "Escapades"/sport-up.fr tent. Escapades.fr is some sort of French travel company and sport-up.fr is the website that the Marrakech Marathon uses for online registrations. At the tent I showed my passport and was given my race bib, with timing chip attached, and a technical t-shirt. The t-shirt was a nice surprise. On the registration form they asked for shirt size but never said that one was included. I do not know if a shirt was included with race weekend sign ups since they were selling shirts at that tent.

 The tent where I got my race packet

    When all was said and done I was very happy at how organized the marathon village was. I got what I needed, received a shirt, and I found out about some races to look into, a 10k in March and a four part stage race in the mountains in May. Well, all that is left is to "toe the line" in a couple of days. After we left the marathon village we drove a large part of the marathon course and confirmed that this really will be a flat course. I did my last training run today and tomorrow is pasta and rest. I can not wait for race day.

Race Packet (the key chain I paid for)

    Do not forget to check back next week for the full race report of the Marrakech Marathon. Also, if you will be running this year please leave a comment below and good luck on race day. 

Marrakech Marathon Race Poster

    I was out driving around Marrakech this morning, running some errands, when I began to see posters for the Marrakech Marathon posted on some light poles along one of the main roads which is part of the full marathon route. 

Here is the poster

    Upon inspection, I do not see anything important that I left out of my last post. The race is on January 27, 2013, with the full marathon starting at 8am and the half marathon starting at 9am. I did learn that this is the twenty fourth (24th) annual running of the race. Also, after using my amazing French translation skills, (Google translate) I discovered that the phrase under the runners reads, "A sport, a hobby, a challenge, Come and experience all the emotion, A great international competition."

    Well, I guess that as the city begins to gear up for the race, all of us runners will begin our tappers, after this weekend, preparing for a wonderful race next weekend.