Day 194 Dubai

Shopping Shopping Shopping!
I arrived in Dubai during Dubai Shopping Festival!
Everyone who knows me is aware of my great enthusiasm for shopping. So I did the only right thing: go shopping in the worlds biggest mall, right next to the worlds highest tower.
I actually had a mission: find proper running shoes in my size. It took me a bit to navigate trough this monster of a mall, but eventually I found a sport shop with some knowledgeable staff and bought my shoes. They don't give a new twist to my style because they look remarkably similar to my cycling shoes, but they are very good for running: I tried them out by doing a slow half marathon around Dubai creek.
Why am I doing this? On 27.1. is Dubai Marathon! I know it would be reasonable to just go for the 10km race, but nevertheless I would love to go for the full distance. I haven't been running for more than 6 month now, but I did a Marathon shortly before leaving Germany and obviously my travel style keeps me in a good shape. So I just have to get those running-specific muscles working again.
The half-marathon test round went very well - the shoes are good, no problems with the knees, I just felt the muscles a bit. Not so bad after half a year! It is already pretty warm here, but even that was no problem.
I know it is kind of crazy, but I think I'll go for the marathon! I have a training plan and my cycling scheduled now has to adapt to that.
In the evening we (Yannik, Dean & me) had to celebrate that decision with some beers (in a bar full of western man and african/asian prostitutes). I won't be running alone: Yannik will also join the race for the 10km.