Edinburgh Marathon
After the club outing to Edinburgh last year it was a much reduced Carnie contingent this year with only me and Andy and, travelling separately, new club member Elliot, attempting his first marathon. In the absence of any other Carnies we joined the Hayle Runners trip and flew up with them on the Friday morning. We’ve been to Edinburgh for the marathon four times now so it’s a very relaxed weekend, we know where everything is and it all seems very easy. We stayed on the Royal Mile, slap bang in the city centre making it a great base for coming and going to see the sights or go out to eat and drink. We spent Friday evening at the pictures and then on Saturday we went off to watch some of the EMF races that happen the day before the marathon. We watched the 5k and then the childrens races before deciding our feet were hurting and a bit of sitting down was in order. After a slap up pasta dinner in the evening, it was back to the hotel to get all the kit ready and an early night ready for the big day.
We joined all the Hayle Runners at breakfast and there was the usual decisions about what to eat, what to wear, what is the weather doing, what pace shall I go out at – all the usual pre marathon chatter!! We all had an hour to kill before the short walk to the start and after taking the obligatory Hayle Runners/Craig lying in front photo we all trooped off to the start. We split up into ‘fast’ London Road start and ‘not so fast’ Regent Road start and I said goodbye to Andy. He was a bit nervous about the marathon after picking up an injury a couple of weeks before, ironically helping me out with a very long coast path training run. Having said we would do the Classic Quarter and Edinburgh Marathon it did become apparent that the training wasn’t really very compatible for Andy, too many long slow runs and not enough at his own pace.
I joined Glynnis at the Black Start and I think Elliott was somewhere in front of me. I ran along quite easily with Glynnis for the first couple of miles and then let her go only to catch her up again at halfway. My plan had been to run 10.5 minute mile pace the whole way but lo and behold I caught up Glynnis at halfway and carried on running with her until about mile 22. It meant I had done the first half nearer to 10 minute pace but I didn’t lose too much pace and felt quite comfortable so carried on regardless!! We had been people spotting for the last few miles as Edinburgh doubles back and you can wave at faster runners from approximately mile 12 onwards. The worrying thing was I didn’t spot Andy which I should have done but he was struggling slightly and was in the turnaround loop which means we didn’t get to wave at each other this year!! At around mile 22 I knew Glynnis was stronger so I dropped off the pace and kept her in my sights for the next couple of miles until I lost sight of her. Mile 24 to 26 were a bit of a struggle as my legs got tired, the usual marathon state of affairs for me, but I only dropped into the 11’s for the last two miles so I was fairly happy with that. A much better attempt than last year and, although only 3 minutes quicker, it felt a whole lot easier!! Andy finished in a disappointing for him 3.57 but with an injury I didn’t think that was too bad, there’s always another day!!
After heading back into Edinburgh for a restful couple of hours we headed out with the Greenfly for their celebration meal, including a Whisky Tasting first. I must say I’m not converted to whisky although it was good to hear all about how it was made etc. We had a lovely meal and a good nights sleep before another day at leisure in Edinburgh, flying home on Tuesday. All in all, a fab weekend as always and thanks to Hayle Runners for adopting us!! Here are the official results:-
Andy Millward – 3.57.07
Elliott Baker – 4.17.08
Laura Millward – 4.35.24
Laura xx
