Watch: Why this British expat, 26, took up a solo female night marathon in Dubai

Dubai: A 26-year-old British expat, Lily Collyer, has run a full marathon on the streets of Dubai in the middle of the night. Her goal? To challenge any misconceptions about women’s safety in the emirate and share her positive experiences as a solo female runner.

A fitness trainer, Collyer’s fitness journey began in 2019 with no prior sporting background. After moving to Dubai three years ago, she has taken on numerous extreme challenges, including 24 hours of burpees, a Guinness World Record attempt, a marathon, an ultramarathon and a 100km run from Abu Dhabi to Dubai.

However, she took up the solo night marathon as a larger mission than a personal athletic goal.

“The reason I wanted to send out such a meaningful message is because I believe there is a misconception of Dubai as a place where women might feel restricted or unsafe, but my experience has been quite the opposite,” Collyer told Gulf News.

“Through running a marathon, and my ultramarathon one month ago it has been amazing to showcase how Dubai creates an environment where women can confidently explore, train, and live life to the fullest—even in the middle of the night.”

Collyer said the message was important to her. “That is because I feel there are many women all over the world, who definitely wouldn’t feel this free or confident to roam the streets in the middle of the night, and I believe and sharing my positive personal experiences as a solo female runner in Dubai may break the stereotypes,” she explained.

Collyer hopes her marathon inspires women worldwide to challenge stereotypes and embrace their freedom.

Her route for the marathon took her through quieter parts of Dubai, far from her usual running paths. Despite hitting a mental wall at the halfway mark of 21km, she persevered to complete the full 42km distance. “It taught me that you can and should keep pushing through your mental battles.”

Livestreaming the run

The run was livestreamed on TikTok LIVE MENA, where thousands of viewers tuned in to support her journey in real-time. She said some followers stayed on for the entire four to five-hour stream, contributing to over 1.9 million impressions, 148,000 views, and 18,000 likes.

“I did the entire run with no music which I have never done before. It was amazing to see thousands of people join the live and watch me complete the marathon. Honestly, it was incredible and overwhelming,” she said.

She said the TikTok LIVE MENA team, who supported her during the marathon, provided her with detailed statistics and a mock-up to showcase the livestream experience since the platform does not save live videos publicly. Collyer later shared snippets of the run to reach those who missed the live broadcast.

The challenges

However, running a marathon while holding a gimbal and filming herself proved to be more challenging than she anticipated. “I thought I’d breeze through it, but it was quite the opposite,” Collyer admitted.

When asked how she felt upon reaching the finish line at Kite Beach by 7am, Collyer said she was “shocked” to have completed the feat.

“I’m not the fastest runner, I tend to just enjoy long distance running and not go by time or pace. I would have loved to have finished sooner, and I believe if I wasn’t recording, I could have definitely got a better time. Shocked that I actually finished it considering I hit a wall at 21km and truly wanted to give up but I pushed through my mental battles and made it to the end. It taught me that you can and should keep pushing and don’t give up on the goal you set yourself no matter if it’s not the outcome you wished for.”

As for what’s next, she has her sights set on public speaking to spread her message of resilience and goal-setting to a broader audience.

“It’s not my forte and I’m really bad at it at the moment. But I hope to get better and share my message to my audience: you can set yourself any goal no matter how big and far away it seems to you, even if it in that moment it feels impossible. But, if you do the work every day and visualise your feat you can achieve the unimaginable.”