MILER THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW

Monday 22nd September saw a record turnout of 22 Milers for the Monday run a fair number of whom travelled from the far reaches of the city for the chance to run with our famous club! As a result of our increase in numbers we increasingly get new members joining whom might not be familiar with our routes and whom perhaps need to run with us a few times before the hit the average speed of the pack, with this in mind we are introducing a designated "back marker" on each Monday run. The back marker is to ensure that they stay at the back and encourage any slower members along making sure they don't get lost along the way. Each week we will appoint two "back markers' one for the run too West Zone and a second for the second half of the run. Appointment of the designated "back markers" will be made by one of the Chairman / Vice Chairman / technical director / sponser on the day dependeent upon whether we have any new members and who of the regular crew is there. Clearly this policy will enable us to encourage new members to return and hopefully soon become regular active club members

SATURDAY RUNS

With the coming of winter and the approach of the racing season a reminder that we run every Saturday morning in the wilds of Khawaneej. We meet at the Muncipal Vets just past the first roundabout after Mirdif on the Airport / Khawaneej road. Start time and distances vary and are announced by email usually on Thursday. If you haven't tried running in the smog & traffic free trails of this area do come and join us were sure you will enjoy its.

SATURDAY 27th September 0530 at the vets for 20K ish. Bring AED 5 for drinks.

The record turnout on a Saturday to date is 10 it would be nice to beat that!

MIRDIF MILERS AT MUNICH MARATHON THE MASTER RACE!

Only three weeks to the big day, long runs just about finished, kit washed and ready the Milers are ready to roll. Congratulations to all of you who have persisted through the long hot summer runs, now all that remains to be done is run and drink Beer! The following Milers have confirmed their entries

Martin "Mars" Scadden

Malcolm Gatenby

Chris McCann

Gary Wells

Dominic Pilkington

Gavin Loy

Colin Foreman

Dave Jackson

Gerrad McHugh (Interloper but open to conversion to the Milers)

Hopefully all of the above and a few others will run Dubai Marathon 2009, for which the 16 week training plan starts now.

IFTAR SUCCESS FOR MILERS

The first race of the new season brought some "pots" for the Milers. Nine Milers toed the line with a further six or so running in other colours, all duely noted though to be fair none actually live in the Republic of Mirdifovia. Times were as follows
Time Overall Age Group
Chris McCann 17.14 3rd 2nd Adult Male Pot Winner!
Richard Thomas 19.06 11th 07th Adult male
Dave jackson 20.34 24th 1st MV 50 Pot Winner!
Malcom Gatenby 20.35 25th 10th MV40
Jim Varley 20.58 29th 16th Adult male
Mars Scadden 23.12 51st 13th MV40
Dave Forsythe 23.34 55th 16th MV 40

LADIES

Anne Scadden 23.28 12th 4th FV 40
Elaine Forsythe 26.28 23rd 7th FV 40

It was good to see Richard Thomas back in the Milers Vest, welcome back! Hopefully Richard will get fit and lead us to glory this season at Wadi Bih.
My own personal battle with our illustrious sponsor and Social secretary Malcolm G went right to the line, next time Malcolm will know not to kick for the line so soon, but a 2 minute improvement on his 5K PB in one year is a huge leap forward.

Well done to all the Milers who competed and as the season progresses we hope to see more of you out there in Miler vests.

THE NEW SEASON DAWNS

The teachers are back (its like the first sighting of the swallow) so it must be time to start racing again! First up is the Iftar challenge on September 18th.

Eight Milers have signed up for Munich Marathon and we have agreed to allow one Creek strider to tag along though of course he will be banished from all club photos!

We continue to run on Monday evenings and Saturday mornings, if anyone is thinking of doing Dubai Marathon in January it will soon be time to consider joining us on a Saturday morning. At the moment we have two start times of 0500 & 0530 at the Muncipal vets in Khaneej no doubt this will soon revert to 0530 & 0600.

The events calender f0r 2008 / 2009 is over on the right!

MUNICH MARATHON TRAINING

To those planning to run Munich Marathon in October its time to start thinking about training. Officially we start training in June but in the meanwhile its time to put on those trainers and get some base miles in. Our training through the summer will in short consist of aerobic runs, speed sessions & Long slow distance. Below are a selection of web sites with marathon training plans have a look and you will get the idea, if your a marathon virgin have a chat with Chris, Martin or Dave, we have run a few between us!



For details of Munich and entering go here http://www.muenchenmarathon.de/en/mm2008/index.php



For Training plans go here



http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-238-244-255-6946-0,00.html

http://www.marathontraining.com/marathon.html

www.adidas.com/campaigns/verticalsrunning/content/com/download/data/training_plans/MTP_3_45-4_15h.pdf



They will all tell you the same thing, miles, long runs, speedwork. Good luck

MILERS GOING BIKING MAD

The cycling section of the milers is born! We (well OK its only Chris and I at the moment) meet at Mirdif traffic lights at 0530 on Wednesday mornings for a 30K spin through Waaqa & Mirdif. The more the merrier!

MUNICH MARATHON 2008

MILERS ON TOUR

12th October 2008 Munich Marathon. The annual Milers boys weekend away will be to Munich Marathon departing Dubai Friday 10th October, arriving back late on Monday 13th October. All Male Milers are more than welcome (sorry Girls you need to arrange your own trip!) Presently the following have signed up.

Martin "Mars" Scadden

Dave Jackson

Chris McCann

Gavin Loy

Chris Little

Peter Larkin

Malcolm Gatenby

Gary Wells

Dominic Pilkington

Paul Hayward

The more the merrier, the only rules are runa in a milers vest, drink beer!

Please let us know if you want to join us.

CLUB NEWS OR THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

The summer is upon us and the racing season grinds to a close but somethings remain constant and the Milers carry on running don't forget the following

a) May Social 04th May 2008, probably at Dubliners. Turn up for the Monday run and all will be revealed!

b) Saturday runs, after heavy pressure (well Ok the Vice Chairman & Technical Director Have decided) meet at the Municipal vets, Khaneej 0600 each Saturday for 15 - 20K ish in the country side, short cuts and extensions are always available particularly if we get lost. If you haven't experienced running in the countryside away fro road works / traffic / kerbs etc come and join us.

c) Martin & Colin are training hard for Comrades, so if you fancy any silly distance training runs give Martin a call and I'm sure he will oblige.

d) ABRA's 10K Mina Seyahi 23rd may 0700. Come and support this race but make sure to wear your Milers kit.

e) happy birthday in May to Amelia, Elaine , Jim & Dave, there maybe others if so apologies!

COME AND BE A MILER!

CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS AT LAST

Only two milers completed all three races of the Club Championship. They were Elaine Forsythe & Malcolm Gatenby.

AGE EQUIVILANT TIMES for the Dubai Creek Striders half Marathon / Dubai Road Runners 10K & Mirdif Milers 10 Miles were as follows respectively.

Malcolm 1 hour- 39 mins - 28 secs / 40 mins -37 secs / 1 hour- 14 mins -47 secs. Aggregate Time 3 hours - 34 - 52 secs

Elaine 1 hour-42 mins-47 secs / 44 mins -06 secs/ 1 hour- 14 mins -31 secs. Aggregate Time 3 hours - 41 mins-24 secs

CLUB CHAMPION 2007 - 2008 MALCOLM GATENBY

ELAINE MAKES THE PRESS!

HOT FROM THE SUNDAY POST 13TH APRIL 2008

Elaine ran a half marathon to help our appeal
‘It was the ideal way to raise cash’
By Robert Wight ALTHOUGH Dundonian Elaine Forsythe has lived in Dubai for the last 13 years, she makes sure she keeps up to date with all the latest news from home by logging on to The Sunday Post website each week.It was there that teacher Elaine learned about our Sick Children’s Appeal — and when she read our readers’ touching stories and about all the good that comes from their generous donations, she knew she just had to help.Elaine (45) [left] is a keen amateur athlete and a member of the Dubai running club, the Mirdif Milers, which includes a couple of other expat Scots in its ranks.EagerThe runner had been planning to take part in the RAK International Half Marathon, held in February in the United Arab Emirate of Ras al-Khaimah and billed as “the richest half marathon in the world”.The event, in only its second year, attracts top runners from around the globe eager to compete for the US $180,000 prize money.And although Elaine realised it was unlikely she’d be competing for the title, she reckoned it was still the ideal chance to raise money for our appeal.“The Sick Children’s Appeal has special significance for me because one of the hospitals you’re helping is Ninewells in my home town of Dundee,” said Elaine. “Staff in all four hospitals do a great job and I thought it’d be nice to contribute something, so I went round colleagues, friends and family to try to raise some sponsorship for the run.”Elaine, who teaches at the Emirates International Primary School, managed to raise £110 and completed the half marathon, the 11th she’s run, in a highly respectable one hour 57 minutes — her best time.TemperaturesTo avoid the worst of the Middle East heat — even at this time of year temperatures can easily reach 30 C and higher — the race started at 7.30 am, but the mercury was still nudging 22 C.“It wasn’t easy but I enjoyed it,” said Elaine. “And the pain of running 13 miles was nothing compared to what sick children and their families endure.”Elaine lives in Dubai with husband Dave (47), a physical education teacher at the Emirates International School, and their daughter Kirsten (13).The family return to Scotland every year on holiday and, although they miss home, they’ve no intention of returning any time soon.Elaine said, “We’ve lots of family who live in the Dundee area and it’s great going back for a visit, but our home’s in Dubai. “Our daughter was only a few months old when we moved, so it’s all she knows.“Dubai’s a great place to live — there’s very little stress, the climate’s great and the people are friendly. We love our life here.”