Having had a stupidly busy two weeks working without a day off I was feeling far too tired to contemplate anything other than a 3:30 marathon at best, figuring 8 minute miling would make for a nice Sunday run out.
After parkrun on Saturday morning and a spot of gardening I managed a few minutes rest (though not actual sleep) before the drive to Berwick upon Tweed where I would stay overnight in Ivan's caravan before the hours drive up to Edinburgh for the race on Sunday morning.
Beautiful sunny evening in Berwick and, after eating and preparing my kit, I was off to bed at 8 pm!!
A very early start on Sunday, but in glorious sunshine again, I set off for Musselburgh where the race finishes, at 6:20 am. The plan, park at Wallyford park and ride and get the bus to Edinburgh city centre for the start, the same plan as my previous Edinburgh runs.
However I arrived to be told that the park and ride was closed and being used for race shuttle buses (but not ones to get you to the start......) so had to quickly find alternative parking and race to the bus stop. Problem number two. The bus stop sign was covered up and a sign said the stop was out of action, but only until the Friday before. However, a few other runners had wandered off so we waited at a stop as indicated by the 'bus stop closed' notice. But then, the bus we were hoping to catch turned off the main run just before our stop and headed off in a completely different direction. I legged it towards the bus and must have been seen by the driver but despite the fact there was a us stop only 20 metres ahead he refused to stop......
So, plan B, get the 8:10 bus which I'd thought might be pushing it with road closures in the centre and thousands of runners and spectators about. However, the bus was not too delayed and we got to the start with about an hour to go. So, it was just a case of queuing for loos and chilling out below the grandeur of the Royal Terrace.
As for the race, it went like a dream. Using my Suunto Ambit GPS watch I decide to run on pace rather than mile times, but also had no real time in mind other than 3 hours 30 minutes.
After the gun I settled into a nice easy pace, enjoyed the scenery (the Scottish Parliament building at Holyrood Place, Arthur's Seat and Salisbury Crags) and was soon clocking a steady 6:55 pace, only just outside sub-3 hour pace but as I wasn't aiming for that, the pressure was off and it was just fun.
At six miles I took a quick loo stop and resumed running 7:09 which remained constant for about the next 12 miles, in fact at one point I thought my watch must have stopped working as every time I glanced at it it still read 7:09 pace!
I went through half way in just over 1:34 and by mile 16 was working out that if I continued around 7:09 I could possibly beat my London time of 3:08.
I still felt good, was slowly passing people and the 3:08 time was still on. In fact that was the case until mile 24 when my legs started to feel the effects of the effort and I started to slow. Over mile 24 and 25 I probably lost about two minutes, but picked up my pace for the last mile and finished in 3:11. My fastest Edinburgh Marathon and a very satisfactory run!
26 more miles on the 365 challenge, 1,471 miles now run.
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