Edinburgh Marathon
On Sunday 24th May 2 MACs headed into Edinburgh to race their first marathon. Having attempted London 4 weeks earlier our plans changed when my injury wasn’t fully right. This time was different, we were feeling stronger and wondering what we could do.
The shuttle bus system was quick and efficient meaning we got time to sleep and eat breakfast before heading out at a rather later 7:50! When we got into the city it was rammed full of 10000 runners waiting to attempt the “fastest” UK marathon (debatable).
The music as you walked the 25mins around to the start was very good at working you up and making you feel you could do this despite the BLAZING sun and zero cloud cover.
You begin by winding your way down and through the city taking in the crowds and the sights. Both me and Andrew agreed that at 3km you round a corner and are faced with the most breathtaking Mountain View it really was wonderful. You then head down to the coast which again was a wide open sun shining off the water view that I had to pause to take a picture of! The route then takes you along to Musselbrough at mile 9 where the finish line is. You then have a straight (not flat) out and back to Aberlady. As far as 24km it was actually very good despite the heat, both our plans had had to change and we were taking walk breaks at water stations and ducking under every hose the beautiful public had out! After 24km it was a lonely hot and brutally undulating 10km no public and only 2 water stations at 25km and 33km. Getting back into Seton sands meant the return of hosepipes! My knee started to hurt at 37km which is a lot better than I’ve ever managed but I put more walking in at that point.
Andrew did his trademark sprint finish coming in at 4:07:52 (160+minute PB!)
I managed to run in the last 400m coming in at 5:29:42 (84 minute PB and faster than I had ever expected to make it even with a toilet stop!)
