After months of fundraising and training, I am glad to say that both targets I had prior to the 2015 Dubai Marathon have not only been met, but been smashed. The targets I had were to raise AED 10,000 for the Medical Aid for Palestinians association and to finish the race in under 4 hours.

I had struggled to raise funds in the weeks leading up to the marathon, and with a week to go, I still had almost half the amount to raise. With a late push and with the donations of many generous friends, acquaintances and strangers, over AED 7,000 was raised in the matter of days, with the total amount raised reaching AED 12,500. Thanks to all the great people for helping out with this great cause, be it via by donating, spreading the word, or simple words of encouragement. Special thanks to the following individuals: The family of course (Dad, Mom, Sawsan, Faye and somehow Spider), Natalie Koreh (all the carb loading paid off somehow), Rouba Shaath, Nisrine Sabbagh, Yasmine, Khader, Omar Bseiso, Dolan Delve, Hasan Itani, Ayman Mahli, Carla Duerte, Lana Helweh, Mohamed Almarzooqi, Aseel Samhan, Ziad Awartani, Gregory Billingham, Hind Anabtawi, CJ More, Rachel Sondergaard, Joseph Khater, Nizar Fakhoury, Mazen Mroueh, Moustapha Mroueh, Nour Haidar, Sumaya Elazm, Suha Afyouni, Zac Watts, Hosam Achrafi, Nadia Ntaha, Llyssa Kad, Nibal Jarrar, Kathryn Holden, Joerg Peters and his wife Nicole Peters, Salma Zaineddin, Tanya Khoury, Nora A., Victor Philip Ortiz, Yasmine (Pink Taxi Blogger), Angeline Tahce Wehbe, Hossun Moughrabi, Tara Nofal, Jason Hooper, Lenaro, Tommy Allmang, Marjan Faraidooni, Debbie Powell, Abdullah Al Marzooqi and many more.

The time target was met and smashed as well, my training was aiming at finishing in under 4 hours (even if it meant finishing with a 3:59:59 time). Thankfully my official time was under that, well under that: 3:47:35, my previous personal best time was 4:17 hours, so this beat it by half an hour, which is a massive improvement. Being over the moon would be an understatement. I owe a lot of this to my close friends and to the Abras running club, chiefly the head coach Angeline Tahce Wehbe who has been very supportive ever since I joined the club around a year and a half ago. Here’s to more races, more fundraising success stories and PBs!

Next up: RAK Half Marathon in a couple of weeks and the London Marathon in April!