Edinburgh Marathon Race Report

Wow, where did the time go? Guess I'm pretty rubbish at this blog milarky! Lots has happened over the last four weeks. I'll start with the Edinburgh Marathon but I'll keep it short and sweet.

It was great day, 24C, really hot... for Edinburgh.

So here are the basics.

Food
I had a honey stinger or SIS energy gel ever 30 min from minus 5 minutes to 3.30. I didn't have one at 4 hours as I was sick of them! But I was also quite sure I had had enough by then to see me to the finish.

5km - 27min (by my watch)
This went well, 8.45 for the first mile then I settled down to a regular 9 min mile.

10km - 54.41 (Official and a PB)
Again I was going well but, in hindsite, maybe a little quick.

10 mile - 1.30 (by my watch and a PB)
It was all about to wobble!

Half - 1.59.37 (official and a PB)
At about 10/11 miles I had a ditsy watch moment that lasted for a least a mile. I looked at my watch and thought that it had taken me 15 minutes to do the last mile. Totally demoralised I slowed down and pottered on. At mile 12.5 ish, I realised that I was looking at the time on my watch, not the stop watch. I was still on schedule for a sub 2hr half! I dug deep and made it by 23 seconds!

My legs were starting to get sore at about 12 miles which wasn't a great sign as I was less than half way through. I knew I had gone too quick for the first half due to the dream of getting PB's. But what would the cost be?

30km - 3.02.05 (Official and PB, well I hadn't run that far before!)
How did that happen? After finishing the half on a PB I totally stopped trying. My goal now was to finish, what ever. I trotted along fairly well until 17.5 miles when I really started to hurt. I set myself some rules. I would walk 1 minute then run for 4 minutes and repeat. It gave me a new lease of life, and I probably went too fast on the run sections. 3 hours for 30k is great!

26.2 miles - 4.34.07 (official and a PB, again it was my first race at that distance)
After 30km my race started to deteriorate. The water station at 18 miles, just before 30km, had ran out of water. I was well hydrated at this point so wasn't too demoralised but on such a hot day it was going to be felt. My walks started to get longer and my runs shorter. I got more water at about 21 miles but I think the damage was done. I walked mile 24-25, determined to finish. At the 25 mile marker I decided that I was going to start 'running' again although to was more of a shuffle by that point! I successfully managed to run all the way to the end, but with none of my customary sprinting.

I am extremely happy with my time and my food/water intake. I will definitely be back to do another one when the time is right!