I have a brand new shiny marathon PB! Which is a jaw
dropping 15 minutes off my time in London,
I finished Edinburgh Marathon in a grand time of 3:48:01. However it was not without its own mini drama’s from
forgetting my sports bra, my watch falling off at mile 23 mile and swallowing a
fly a 25 miles!
Needless to say I would not recommend anyone running a
marathon in a wonder bra, the chafing is a bitch and it has really but a dent
in my running this week. I now understand
how men must feel when they get joggers nipple and the tears that spring to
your eyes when you step in to the shower…..running 26.2 is a walk in the park
compared to stepping into shower with severe chafing!
On to the race unlike London I didn't suffer any dark
moments during the race; I had set off with a plan of trying to get sub 4 hours
and anything under that would be a bonus.
With my pace set for around 8:35 miles (those quick cookies among you
will have already realised that this was way too fast for a sub 4, and have uncovered
my real agenda of trying for a sub 3:45 good for age (GFA) target) I was well
on target and even slightly below target for the large majority of the
race. That was until mile 18-19 where
you head off around the stately home I found that this affected my pace, I have
since listened to Marathon Talk and even Andi Jones who finished fourth
said he found this bit tough, my mile splits slipped and I struggle to regain
them again. I carried on knowing that GFA
had gone out of the window but still
confident that sub 4 was on the cards, then my watch (Garmin Forerunner 610)
flew off my wrist and I had to turn around to pick it back up! This is a known
fault with Garmin 610’s but luckily for me I found the pin as well as my watch,
I scooped them up and carried on running for a mile or so. But I wasn't confident about how long I could
keep both the pin and my the watch safe and take on water; so I made the decision
to walk while I put my watch back
together, a couple minutes later I was motoring again.
Then for some strange reason at mile 25 I thought GFA was
back on the cards so I sped up and was eating up the tarmac like nobody’s business,
so much so that I clocked my fastest mile 8:07!! However as I rounded the
finish I could see that my watch said 3:47 and the gun time was 3:59, the pipe
dream of GFA vanished, but I am still really happy with my result.
In hindsight I now realised that I could have pushed harder
to find my pace again after the stately home so much so I have entered again
for next year and fingers crossed I am going to nail 3:45.
Couple of things to note about Edinburgh Marathon,
- Watch out at the end as the finish is on a field and although they do lay out a rubber finishing straight it is rather uneven
- Do get the marathon buses back to Edinburgh
- Don’t prepay, else you will have to walk at least the marathon distance again to get your bus.
