Sharq Village Charity Race

Last Saturday, I participated in a 10 km race organised by the Six Senses Spa, Sharq Village, while my wife, Hani took part in the 5 km category.  The Sharq Village has been organising the charity race for almost every month recently, but I never had much interest to participate because of 2 reasons. Firstly, the race are taking place along the Corniche promenade with its hard and uneven brick surfaces. It is bad for my knees and I have suffered patellafemoral pain not once but twice after running the entire length of the Corniche. Secondly, in the previous races, I found it odd that the distances were either 15 km or 7.5 km. For some reason, I am not keen to race in a non-standard distance events. I am only interested in 5,10, Half Marathon or Full Marathon events. Thankfully the organiser decided to start the event near the Museum of Islamic Art instead of from the Sharq Village itself. So we had 5 and 10 km categories.

The race was scheduled to start at 4 pm. I was expecting a tough day at the office as it was very hot in the morning, and was thinking of running the 5 km only. But suddenly sheets of rain came pouring down all over town with lightning and thunder storm just before the race started. It is not everyday that you can run in a rain here in Doha. This could be a nice experience for a change and with a cool weather, I could try attacking for a PB.

With some 100 participants before the start

There were only around 100 participants took part in the race and with almost half of it in 5 km, there will be no risks of bottleneck or overcrowding. I started at the front and settled in my targeted pace of sub 4:45/km right from the start. Apart from the hard and slippery surface of the Corniche, I felt good throughout the race except on the last 2 km when I was struggling to hold on to the pace. My pace were 4:36, 4:39, 4:39, 4:45, 4:52 (pace affected by the u-turn at KM 5), 4:43, 4:44, 4:47, 4:55, 4:51.

The actual distance was a little short, so I continued for another 200 m to make it 10km which I completed in 47:31. I cannot be more pleased as it was better than my previous PB by a minute and a half. I was also excited to be in the top 10 male finisher for the 10 km. My wife did equally good with her new PB in 5 km and ranked 5th. All in all, it was a great experience, and I will not be hesitate to join the event in the future. Furthermore, all proceeds from the race are for good cause.

Race Statistics:
Nett time:  47:31
Rank Male: 10/36
Rank All: 12/55
Shoe: Adidas Energy Boost