7EmiratesRun - 497 km from Abu Dhabi to Hatta in 7 days, United Arab Emirates

01. stage at 11/18/2017 from Abu Dhabi to Al Sharia Park in Al Rahba, (day: 62km / overall.: 62km)

Today, my clock rang at 4:30am. We dressed up and went for breakfast. Since the hotel prepared the breakfast early for us, I did not suspect too much. But we get a positive surprise. Similar to dinner there was a huge variety. So we needed again some time to get an overview. After having a good breakfast I went back to the room and pick up my stuff. Before 6:30am I was at the hotel exit at the start line, just in time.

With some delay we started just before 7am. In the meantime we took some photos. After the start Wendelin guided us out of the city. The first 10k where on the boardwalk. After we had done 5k we did another stop to take some photos. The 10k day runners had to turn around and go back. The teams and the runners doing the full distance continued. A lot of people cheered us, when we were running on the boardwalk. Also later, many people cheered us out of their cars. How to know the difference of cheering or being pissed of some runners on the highway? Well, there are two reasons. On the one hand it was not unusual at all to see people walking or biking on the side lane of the highway. On the other hand they took often photos and showed us three fingers (thumb, tricker finger, and middle finger). It stands for Win, Victory, Love and was embossed by Shike Mahammed. On the side lane of highway E12 we continued till we finished kilometer 39. After we had to climb above the guard rail to underpass the highway. Wendelin open the race after we did the first 14k together. After, Andrea our Italian runner and I speeded up a bit. But after some kilometers he was running to fast for me, so I let him go. Today we had very less turns to do. Wendelin put up some signs to mark them, after he finished his day. He only ran 30k today, then the next runner of his team continued. He drove together with his wife and mainly supported Andrea and me. In the beginning of the day we had multiple support cars every 2-3k, later only one car was left. But it does not have a negative impact on the support. In contrast, the support was very reliable and good. They offered cool water, juice, Iso and some snacks. Later they also had coke. Petra also had prepared some date-nut-balls (energy balls), cookies and soup. Especially the date-balls are very delicious and I really can get used to them. They are very sweet and the containing nuts deliver additional fat. After about 50km I caught up again with Andrea. We continued together and while to while we took some walking breaks.

After around 7 hours we finished at the Al Sharia Park. It was a recreation center for women and kids. Hence, mens are normally not allowed there. But they made an exception just for us. Nevertheless, the tents for women had to be on the one side of the grass area and the tents for men on the other side. Two of us shared one tent. Before we went there, we waited at the finish line till all runners had arrived. It was a tradition Wendelin held, so each runner received his applause. As soon as all runners had arrived we took a finisher photo and went to the tents.

Today one of the supporters had an accident with her car. Luckily, it was only some minor damage on the back. After dinner there was another short briefing for the next day. There was not much to say, since there are only three turns on the first 10 kilometers.

Fotos of the day:

Links and reports:
Website for donation!
Homepage organisation