While I am on my way to the cold north of Iceland, we are getting exotic and warm here on the blog. Of course I know most girls from Scandinavia, but I also have met many other amazing women on my journeys around the world. Maybe some of the people that I have met and that have made the deepest impressions are the men and not least women of team Oman and UEA. While we take it for granted to run OCR´s, it is not such a sure thing for these girls. They are so proud to be able to race, and proud to show that also girls can do the same as the boys. Last year a girl got injured during the team event, and I think there was not a dry eye in the whole of Lake tahoe when team UEA, team Oman and team Kuwait finished as ONE. They walked the whole way, backed eachouther up, and crossed the finishline with their flags high above their heads. I was so happy to meet some of the same people again in Lake Tahoe this year, and Marwa was one of them. Please enjoy and pay special attention to her words. Thank you Marwa!
Name, age and team/country:
Marwa Al Wadhahi, 27, Oman
Instagram/web:
Instagram: maw91
What brought you into this sport:
My love for challenges, sports and trying my things. I’ve seen OCR in social media in a neighboring country and thought it was interesting and is something I would love to take part in. Luckily, shortly after that in 2016 the first OCR (Spartan) came in Oman and the sport started growing in the country & region.
Favorite race:
Spartan World Championship in 2017, it was my first OCR international experience. I loved it, I did two races (one individual, one team). It was amazing, the long grueling terrain going up and down multiple mountains was definitely tiring but worth it, a distance which I never ran before, new obstacles, long painful carries, the cold weather & the swim in the ice-cold water was a first time challenge for me as I come from a country that is hot most of the year. I overcame some fears such as hypothermia but thankfully I managed to complete the race and maintained positive thoughts.
The pride of representing Oman in the first ever World Team Championship along with my teammates was indescribable. Being part of teams deciding to unite & support each other throughout the team race due to injury was exemplary of community & support in sports. Meeting people and running against professional athletes from around the world was awesome. The cheering crowd at the finish line, my experience in Tahoe was unmatched overall. BEST RACE EXPERIENCE EVER!
Favorite obstacle/venue:
I love challenging obstacles that I almost can/can’t do and other obstacales that allows team work in non-competitive heats. I did an OCR for women only last year and this year, coming from a conservative community, the feeling of taking a team women doing OCRs for the first time and completing it. The amazing feeling of kick-off their OCR journey & making them know that they can achieve such great things and have fun at the same time, seeing people transform and go hard later is just heart-warming and so motivating.
My favorite venue would be Lake Tahoe, it’s was very different from the regional races, Simply amazing!
How is your training:
I train regularly almost every day with some rest days. I practice multiple sports such as OCRs, Crossfit, Soccer & Pole fitness. I lift weights, do obstacles, climb ropes, run, jump, do pullups, gymnastic kind of moves and various things from time to time.
Do you have a life motto you live by:
“If it doesn’t challenge you, it won’t change you”
Your goal for 2019:
- Competitively compete in the Spartan World Championship & other regional races
- Continue to participate in the Women only race and empower more women to join the community and get active
- Participate in more OCRs (Spartan, Tough Mudder, National obstacles series, Wadi Adventure Race…etc.)
- I’d love to do something different and special to help grow fitness & outdoor sports more in the community
