Fionnuala Nic Conmara reporting on her Dubai Creek Sriders half marathon

This has always been my favourite race on Dubai’s race calendar. There is a great atmosphere and great sense of the running community celebrating our biggest social event of the year! The course is a tricky one with bridges, an underpass and plenty of twists and turns but that is offset by the amazing views of the sun rising over "old" Dubai.

This was my third time running this race, but my first time running it with a race plan. My race plan started conservatively but increased in speed every 5km. This resulted in very pleasant first half… Then, finally, I was running faster than my 10km race pace.

Negative splits have never been something I’ve really tried before. However, planning for them has really helped me in many ways. In the past, I used to start "fast" and pray I could hold on with varying results, but it usually resulted in unnecessary suffering.

Starting slowly felt wrong at times, especially when everyone sped past in the beginning. But ultimately, I felt very comfortable and strong over the race and finished feeling happy with my time and effort. I even ended up surprising myself and ran faster than expected.

My race plan also included nutrition advice. I usually run fasted but I was challenged to have a small breakfast of toast and honey. Then, I had a gel every 20 minutes alternating with caffeine gels at 40 minutes and 80 minutes.

Overall, the race plan also helped me break the race down mentally. I focused on getting the pace right, speeding up at the right times, and getting the nutrition I needed. It helped to make time fly by.

By Fionnuala Nic Conmara