So one of my resolutions this year was to run a marathon and over 5 months of training later, I've done just that.
The trip up to Edinburgh on Saturday started fine, bus into town, early enough to the train station to purchase essential pre-race bananas before a leisurely stroll to the platform. When the train arrived and lots of people got off, we assumed a fairly easy journey up, but upon boarding the train it was the most full of any train I've ever been on! We'd not accounted for the fact that York Races was on later that day and so we were rammed into a hot sweaty carriage for the 25 minute journey to York. Befriending nearby passengers stood in the same situation helped. Fortunately the train emptied out at York and we did indeed get seats - separate at first. The train journey was smooth and I got to read half of
...which makes much more sense if you read it in one sitting!
We arrived into Edinburgh over an hour late because there had been a “fatality/train had struck a person/incident” and had a short walk to the Travelodge which was clean and spacious, but basic to the point of there not being any soap in the room. We checked in and finally went off to find some lunch – rather late at 4pm! After cramming in as much pasta as I could at Pizza Hut we took a stroll down to the start of the race as not knowing this was making me nervous. Once we’d found Regent Street I was a lot happier and we strolled back up the Royal Mile, had a quick drink and then I went back for a nap until 9pm when Coddy came and got me so we could grab a late dinner before going to bed. They’d run out of lasagne, so I settled for Fish and Chips.
We both set alarms in the morning to make sure that we got up on time and I’d already laid out my kit ready the night before. I didn’t really make the most of the £7.50 “buffet breakfast” and had 2 sausages, scrambled egg, 2 slices of brown toast, tomato ketchup, orange juice and coffee. I look quite relaxed at breakfast, but I was quite nervous.
We headed off to the start at about 9am an hour before the race start and I’d brought a bin liner to keep warm, but it wasn’t really needed. Coddy dropped me off at the start so I could queue for the toilets and went back to the hotel as his shuttle bus to the end wasn’t until 11.30am. I had a nice chat with a lady from Glasgow in the queue and it was her first marathon too – she was aiming for 4 hours though! I did some stretches on a grass verge (in hindsight, should have stretched my quads a whole lot more!) and then picked up a pace band to aim for 4 hours 20 (they’d run out of 4 hours 30) – basically tells you what time you should be at at each mile marker to meet a certain time goal.
I got in the “timing pen” and waited feeling less nervous, but keen to get started. It probably took me about 15 minutes to get over the start line and having found out I wasn’t allowed to use my ipod officially I set it off to pace me, but didn’t have my earphones in. In actual fact the first 2 miles through the City were really good fun and a great atmosphere anyway, so I didn’t need music. I was first of all uplifted by the spirit of doing a big race with lots of other people and enjoyed the sights running past Holyrood Park and then unexpectedly I spotted Coddy who had worked out he could see me run past at the bottom of the Royal Mile. I ran towards him, but his camera hadn’t reset in time from photographing a man running dressed as a nurse! You can just see me over his shoulder!
I then ran past a group of school children singing and Arthur’s Seat which was very scenic. I started my run 1 mile walk 50 seconds technique which worked really well on my longest 20 mile run, and baffled some of the other runners by walking at such an early stage. One of them encouraged me and I wanted to explain that it was just tactical! Writing my name on my vest was such a good thing, there is something hard to put into words about how it feels to have dozens of people cheering your name (particularly in gorgeous Scottish accents!). The route then moved to run along the coast, which was scenic at first and then incredibly hot. There were less supporters and it felt like it was getting a lot harder. After refuelling at water and energy stations I spent a lot of my effort keeping cool – I was putting half of the water bottle on my head and my hands to cool down (my hands swell so much when I run that I’d given Coddy my wedding rings to look after as it hurts too much otherwise). At about mile 6 I ran past a woman (and felt guilty afterwards for not stopping and encouraging her) who was walking and crying on the phone to someone. At mile 10 I got to the Breast Cancer Care cheering point which was great, lots of noise and lots of shouting my name!
We then got to a long stretch that also went along the coast, but through a couple of villages and then next to a power station. We spotted the first sight of the timer car and the top few runners who seemed to be sprinting even in the heat.
The people in the villages were great – their roads were obviously blocked off, but they’d gone out of their way to help by spraying garden hoses over runners, squirting us with water pistols and then at the end there was even one family with almost a bucket chain going to tip bowls of water over runner’s heads. I appreciated it so much as even though I had my 3 litres of water with me in my camelbak, I needed water more than ever to keep cool in the heat. There was little shade in some parts and the hardest part was along a long rural road where you caught the first glimpse of runners on the homeward stretch, knowing that you still had in excess of 10 miles to go.
I ran past a hospital radio station playing loud music and cheering on the best dressed runners – I kept pace for a while with Batman and also saw a pizza chef as well as two guys running pulling car tyres behind them.
At mile 18 I was really flagging, I’d been on target for 4 hours 20 up until about half way and at this point I really did just want to walk or give up. I started to feel a little dizzy so I switched from aiming for a particularly fast time, to finishing the race in one piece.
The route took off around what looked like a farm and had a nice bit of shade from a piece of woodland. There were also some toilets with short queues, so I took the opportunity to use them. The next few miles are a bit of a blur, I used my Ipod for about 2 miles running for one song and walking for the next (She Found You by Samiam and Everlong by Foo Fighters were the first two that came on and were definitely uplifting). The further along I got I became more and more aware of my sunburn and tried to go as fast as I could to get it over with – I looked at my time at 21 miles and realised that even 4 and ¾ miles was not that feasible, so I tried to keep my feet moving as much as I could. Things like running between alternate lampposts. The further I went on the more people I saw in a bad way – one even had an ambulance and a drip line. Just before Mile 25 a lady sat by the road was encouraging runners with “It’s only 1 ½ miles to go”, one of the other runners decided to debate this with her and said “You’ve just made me feel bad, I thought it was less than that” so she replied “No, definitely not less than 1 ½ miles!” I knew I could finish once I got to mile 24 and decided to walk for most of the way until just close to mile 25.5 where I was expecting and hoping to see Coddy at the Breast Cancer Care cheering point. Just after 25 miles I was cheered up by a small child shouting “Only one mile left” which was welcome news and then about 200 yards further on I heard a familiar voice shout my name – Coddy had walked up a bit and so I had to start running – you can see the bafflement in my face!
I tried my best to just keep running until the end, but I couldn’t do it all the way, but when I hit 26 miles and went into the racecourse I went for it – even across the really weird rubber surface across the grass. I wasn’t quite as emotional as I expected to be at the end, more just relieved it was finally over and I could get out of the heat! When I crossed the finish I nearly forgot to shut off my Nike Plus which still didn’t think I’d completed a marathon as it’s not calibrated right. I walked to get some water and a welcome banana and then picked up my goody bag and my medal (which is *so* heavy and not what you really need after running/walking for nearly 5 hours, but is impressive!) I was too tired to queue for an official photo so I walked back towards the Charity Village to meet Coddy which took a lot longer than I thought and included a crush to get through a very small 3 ft gate into the main area – during the queue I managed to eat the entire content of edible food in the goody bag.
I found the Breast Cancer Care tent, put my name down to queue for a massage and then sat down with some soup and a roll and texted for Coddy to come and find me. I then texted everyone my approximate time of 4 hours 52, which I then had to revise when I got my provisional time texted to me of 4 hours, 54 minutes and 32 seconds. I changed my shirt into my Marathon T-shirt and then Coddy left me to eat my soup and then have my massage. Being an idiot I hadn’t planned ahead that to have a massage on my legs it would be wise to wear shorts, so I just braved it and whipped off my leggings – grateful for my big running pants! I then changed into my clean trousers that Coddy had brought me and we walked about 25 minutes to get on a very warm, but fairly pleasant shuttle bus back to town. I managed to walk back to the hotel and had a very nice shower, applied lots and lots of aftersun and then iced my legs. We celebrated with tapas and sangria in a nice restaurant and then a couple of pints at a pub with free wifi.
Would I do it again? I’m already planning another marathon on top of doing the Great North Run again this year, I must be mad or addicted to running.
Oh and if you fancy sponsoring me and haven't done so already...please do!
http://www.justgiving.com/LucysEdinburghAdventure
Recent Comments