Exploring on a Seven Mile Run

  Since I am currently on a build up cycle in my training, my mileage is beginning to ramp up and I am constantly looking for new places to run so as not to get bored. This past Wednesday I had an easy seven miles with just enough time to fit them in over lunch so I did a little exploring in a farming area close by the city.

Sheep!

Horse!

  As is the case with almost all of Marrakech, the route was pancake flat which is a problem I am going to have to find a solution for or suffer later in some of the events I would like to participate in this year. Sadly, it was still close enough to the city that I was running on pavement and not trails but although there was no sidewalks there was (as usual) a large shoulder. Also, as usual the cars and trucks passing gave me plenty of room. The sites I got were awesome, even if the smells were not. This was due to the amazing amount of donkey cart traffic on the road taking vegetables to the city and their byproducts. 

A Farm and Farm House

An Empty Field and Mountains

  This week, if you have the time, go out on your run, ride, hike, or walk and do some exploring in your area. I remember that when I was living in the States and started running I began to discover parts of my city my friends, some of whom had lived there much longer than me, had never even heard of. So, go out and find something new or interesting. Try out a trail or bike path you have never done before, you may find your new favorite route. If you find somewhere new or interesting tell us about it in the comments below. Now get outside and enjoy!

Views From Last Week

A Sidewalk Next to a Busy Road

  Running in general takes you to many interesting places and running in Morocco can take you to some really interesting places and sights. Like the run through the middle of a huge thousand year old souq (market) or to a 1,500+ year old castle with roman ruins inside. 

  However, as most runners will attest, on a normal day of running it is getting comfortable and enjoying running in the mundane. If you're a road runner, you probably spend hours on the empty roads on the outskirts of town. If your a trail runner, you often run the same trail loop in the woods close to your house over and over again until you can make it to the big parks on the weekends. 

  One of the things that I have learned in the last few years about running is not only being comfortable in the repetitious sights but to see the unique in all of my runs. Whether it be a small park in Rabat or a long stretch of city road in Marrakech, I am thankful that I have learned to find unique things in even the most repetitive runs. Before this gets too deep lets be clear, some of these things I see could be due to dehydration, the strenuous forces placed on my body by a hard training run, or the unhealthy intake of vast amount of engine exhaust associated with running in a highly populous city. I am sure that these things are more likely.

  The pictures in this post are from some of those repetitive routes that I did this past week. Notice that in the next two I'm running in a bike/moped/scooter lane. Although in Marrakech these lanes are few, when you can find them they are an awesome relief from running on the side of big busy roads, since these lanes are seldom used by anyone not on a bicycle. 

 A Bike Lane

The Same Bike Lane

  Now, go for a run and enjoy those awesome empty roads, trails, and bike paths.

Places to Run in Morocco: The Palmeraie Marrakech

  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 view over the golf course is spectacular
• There are bunches of camels along the side of the road
• Not a lot of traffic and exhaust 
• Nice and flat (good for a speed workout)

  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!

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.

Running Races in Morocco Flyers

  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:

• Free race entry
• Free t-shirt and finishers medal
• Sign-up online @ www.running.ma

  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:

• Race fee is only 100 Dh
• There is race registration online and in stores

  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:

1. 22 km
2. 17.5 km
3. 31 km
4. 18 km

  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:

• This is a 4 day 4 stage race that is 88.5 km total in length
• The cost is 1,500 Dh
• Registration can be done online
• This is the races fifth year

  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!