Having the opportunity to run a marathon in a foreign country is amazing, and I highly recommend doing so to all the runners out there. This was my second marathon, and I still had so much to learn; but I sure did have fun! Dubai is an amazing place to visit, and adding a marathon to your vacation makes it that much sweeter.
The expo wasn't all that great. I expected some huge elaborate extravaganza (because that's just how they do just about everything over there), but it was merely a "packet pickup" scenario in a nice hotel. We were in and out in a matter of minutes.
Race morning was cool and foggy. For those who aren't familiar with the area, temps reach into the 130s during the summer, but January is pretty comfortable. The humidity is quite high, and the fog was pretty thick. You start and finish at the base of the Burj Khalifa, the worlds tallest building, which shoots 162 floors into the sky. Due to the fog, you couldn't see much, but once the race was underway and the sun burned off the fog, you could use the Burj as a navigational beacon.
With the highest purse of any marathon in the world, some of the world's fastest runners show up in Dubai. Since the course is a basic out and back, they shot past me at a blistering pace when I was somewhere around 8 miles... meaning they were running twice as fast as I was!
There was quite a bit of cheering along the course, tons of spectators lined the streets. The aid stations were ok, but nothing special. There were lots of people in front of their houses with homemade treats, but I was VERY hesitant to eat anything like that in a foreign country. I did see someone with some sealed candy, so I did grab a quick sweet treat.
All in all, it was a great race. I would say over half of the participants were "westerners", so the race didn't really feel that foreign. Plus, I had already been in country for about 5 months, so I was already used to the many quirks.
Get out and do an international race! If you are hesitant about knowing another language, or navigating on the wrong side of the road, head to Dubai. A bit pricey, but a great race.