Edinburgh Marathon 2009

Scorching heat, no wind, no shade, overstretched first aid stations, water stations without water - this sums up some of the drama of yesterday's Edinburgh Marathon.

Amongst all this I somehow managed to finish my 2nd marathon in 4:02:44. It is hard to describe what I felt when I crossed that finish line. I was so exhausted and felt worse than after my 1st marathon and somehow I felt the achievement was bigger - to have finished at all and to be so close to my 4-hour mark. And I wasn't even disappointed that I had not broken the 4 hours, I just could not believe that I was so close at all. In short I was and am very happy with my time and I shed a few tears while I was stretching and trying to recover enough to join the queue for my goodie bag!

Here are the details:
10k: 00:53:21
Half: 01:56:21
30k: 02:48:20
Marathon: 04:02:44

At the start I met quite a few people I knew, Neal & Caroline, Glenparkers - the only person I did not see at the start was Thomas. I had lost him on the way from the hotel to the baggage trucks. And as he wanted to take it "easy" I did not think he was right at the front. But I was wrong. This is exactly where he was!
Anyway, at last the start! The first few miles passed and I kept a steady sub 9min/mile pace going. I overtook a Glenpark lady who was struggling with the heat already but as she is part of the club "AYE" (those who have run Edinburgh every year since its start) she was going to take it very easy to ensure she would finish. (She did.)

I started to feel the heat from mile 5 and was making sure I took water at every station and poured some over my head. At mile 8 the first relay changeover appeared and as the club had 2 teams running there were a lot of supporters. This cheered me on and one of the girls who had started her leg, kept me company for about 2M. Then I had to let her go as I could not keep up the pace. She told me that Thomas was going strong and 1st for the club just now. O no, I thought, he was not supposed to do this. Where is Alan who wanted to get under 3hrs for the 1st time? Near mile 10 there were supporters from the club again giving out ice lollies. What the heck, I thought, I might as well take one even if I have not tested this. I was running with 4 gels and only took water at the stations, no lucozade apart from the very end.

Somehow the HM mark appeared and I was on target with 1:56. But I started to struggle, feeling slightly sick whenever I took some water and slowing down. At the second relay changeover one of the very fit and fast Glenpark ladies had pulled out from the marathon for the first time ever and was now cheering us on.
I remember at some point seeing the road stretch in front of me for miles and found that really disheartening. But Iwas now concentrating to spot the fast runners coming back already and was hoping to see Thomas and a few others. And I actually did, one after the other. Thomas passed first looking good, then Alan (not looking good and far away from his sub3), Neal on his own (where was Lorraine who was going for 3:10?). I did not see anyone else, at least not that I noticed. By then I was concentrating on keeping it going, feeling hot, nauseous and trying to postpone the inevitable of walking. I got to the entry of Gosford park and just had to walk, but o no! That felt so much worse and I tried to keep a slow pace. Then there was a toilet stop, a bit of walking again and the first coffeine gel. I saw a few casualties at the roadside by then and had to resist the urge to offer my help. Fist aiders were already there, the runners were all conscious but totally exhausted needing water and shade and I just concentrated on the run.

The worst stretch was from around mile 18 to 21/22 when I had to take a few walking breaks in between. I really thought I might have to walk the whole way back and thought this was going to take ages. The lack of recent long runs (as expected) and the (unexpected) heat were taking their toll. It was here that the water stations for the runners going out to the park had run out of water and a girl from the club later reported that runners started to pick up water bottles thrown away by others to see if any water was left!
Getting to the relay changeover again near mile 22 I was nudged from behind after walking a bit. It was another runner from the club who just said I should keep on running, I looked o.k., he was "spent". Somehow that led me back into a running motion and I don't know how but I was able to keep this up til the end. now doing sub 10min/mile. Seeing mile 23 was such a relief and I knew then I would make it. Mile 24 took ages to appear and by mile 25 I saw I was not so far away from 4hours. Then I saw Debbie and Marco cheering me on and then Thomas before I entered the racecourse. And there it was: the finish line! What a feeling!