Sunday 31 May 2015

Edinburgh Marathon 2015






No it's not a distortion. I do have really long legs.

"So where are your long legs now?"
Honestly, give it a rest.





Lets get this thing over with. I knew that having the brown start was a bad omen.
As you'll know, there was all kinds of weather forecast for the Edinburgh Marathon. It was really hard to know what to wear. By Saturday I had decided to run in a jacket with a bum-bag and a camera as the pouring rain and high winds were going to turn it into a novelty day out rather than a race. And then the day came and it really wasn't bad. Just a bit of rain - and too much west wind. I decided to travel light instead and wear little.

That was fine for the first 18 miles but then when I turned around into it, the cold wind made my tummy go funny. Yes it did. These are medical matters I am describing. You can trust me. I'm a nurse. And I had to pay a little stop to a portaloo. That wasn't too bad but it didn't set things right either and I had a miserable few miles with more insistent cramps coming and going in my midriff. I hear from Amanda there was a girl who didn't find a Portaloo and paid the price. I'm glad that didn't happen to me. I was scared to drink anything or have a gel and it was all just getting horrible.
A 2nd trip to a Portaloo just after the Pans led to an 18 minute mile. I didn't feel very well and I thought I might be found dead in there, like Elvis. I didn't die though, or if I did, I am now in a parallel universe. After that I was able to have a gel and a drink of water and I started to revive. I was nearly okay again by the time I got into Musselburgh. It was a relief to stop. 4.15. As Peter kindly said. "That was the worst you've done at a normal marathon isn't it?" (The not normal marathon was the Everest Marathon, which took me 7 hrs 33 mins and got me 3rd lady vet.)
It was by some stretch. Even the Cape Wrath marathon which we ran in a hoolie and to which I took a rather cavalier attitude was a 4.03. Oh it's only times anyway. What do you do? Have a half pint of ale with some lemonade in it and cheer the feck up.

And then do a Tynecastle Bronze. We'd had a mile warm up before the marathon so we just had to walk 2 and a half miles and find a war monument afterwards and we were there.

No comments: