ADT Edinburgh Half Marathon

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Hello Blogglings :-)

I did it! I only bloody well did it!!!  I'm a bit late posting about this (about 3 weeks) but now that the post race glow has disappeared, I thought it was about time to tell you about my first ever half marathon.


Race day weekend had come upon me quicker than I thought but at the same time I felt surprisingly calm about the whole thing.  I was staying in Edinburgh on the Saturday night as the race start was at 9am on the Sunday.  Saturday dawned warm and was set to continue into the Sunday. I caught the train to Edinburgh as I was staying overnight.  The train to Edinburgh came with its own inbuilt entertainment in the form of a group of guys heading over for a stag night.  The were a fab bunch of guys and keep me laughing the whole journey.  When I arrived at Edinburgh, I headed to the Lothian buses office to find out the time of the bus and where to get it.   This was were I sustained my first injury - a jammed finger when the door slammed back on my hand - aarrgghhh!  My poor wee nail was bruised and it was throbbing like hell.  Thank goodness for the tube of ibuprofen gel I took with me.  I was staying at the Travelodge at Cameron Toll in Edinburgh and I have to say that its one of the nicest I have been in.  Its recently been refurbished and was super quiet, with the added bonus of having the shopping centre right next door :-)  I had my last fill of carbs and then it was bedtime and I slept right through which was fab.


Day of the race dawned clear and bright and it promised to be a warm one.  After showering, getting dressed and bag packed, I set off for the bus to Meadowbank stadium.  I arrived in plenty of time to change, put my bag on the baggage truck for pick up at the finish (I had to finish or I wasnt getting my stuff back) and joined the every growing queue for the loos.  Why is it that there are never enough of these things?  Anyway after my stint at the ladies, I headed off to my cattle pen to await the start of the race.  While waiting for the start of the race, I had a look around at the many people who were doing this for charity and I kept reminding myself that I had 185 reason for doing this and that was every pound that people had sponsored me.  I was also doing this as a personal challenge.

Tick tock, tick tock, bang - starting gun went off and the first set of runners took off at break neck speed.  These were mostly club runners who are like speeding whippets lol.  As everyone moved round to the start line, the excitement was building.  I crossed the start line 10 mins after the first runners set off and I was off and running.  We headed off out of Meadowbank and through a residential area.  By the 2 mile mark we were on the prom at Portobello and the view was amazing due to the weather.  At 3 miles, there was supposed to be a water station but by the time we got there, they had run out of water due a glitch with cups etc.  Luckily I had my own water bottle and could manage until the next stop.  Some kind people along the route handed out water to those who didnt get any.  By the time we came to the 6 mile mark, I grabbed a water and a bottle of lucozade to perk me up until the next water station.  7 miles seen me passing Musselborough racecourse where I would eventually finish (please note the word eventually here).  As I ran past the racecourse, I could see people heading to the finish line - waaaahhh was all I could think of.  This was when we reached the time that you passed people who were heading to the finish as we were heading to the turning point in Prestonpans and to say it was a tad demoralising is being kind.  Next landmark was the wee disco bus with the DJ's shouting encouragement to the runners.  As as I was wearing my MacMillan vest with my name on it, they shouted my name to encourage me on.  9 miles was the next water station - again no water and only lucozade.  Onwards out towards the turning point.  By this time I was beginning to lose the will to live as the turning point seemed to be somewhere out towards the Netherlands.  Okay this is a slight exaggeration but you get the drift as to how long it was taking to get there.  At long last the turning point arrived and found myself shouting out "oh thank god for that".  This was me on the home stretch now.  12 mile marker came up and again only lucozade.  If I seen anymore lucozade I was going to heave!  Looking at my Garmin I noticed that the 12 mile marker was about by .28 miles.  Plodded on past the guy with the hose and water sprinkler - he was a god!  Next was the disco bus again "here comes Kim again running for MacMillan.  Well done.  Not long now".  Turning for home, we could see people who had already finished with their medals and t-shirts on. "come on Kim, nearly there, you can do it"  Then there it was, like a haven for the running weary - the finishing straight.  I picked up my pace.  If I was going to finish, I was going to finish strong.  Finish line got closer and then......I stepped over that line with my arms held high in a triumphant salute.  I had done it!! 2:41:12 - not a blistering time but by god I had finished.  I actually sobbed, I was that happy :-)  We also found out that the course was actually 0.23 miles too long so I managed to run a 13.33 mile race rather than 13.1 :-)


I wandered to get my bag, fished out my phone and texted everyone I could think of with the message "I only bloody did it" :-)  Quick trip to the loo and then headed for the shuttle bus back to the city centre.  I changed at Waverley Station and wore my t-shirt and medal on the train home with pride :-D


When I got home, I was tired, happy, sore and felt well proud of myself.  I also noticed injury number 2 - a whopping blister on my left foot, which would explain the foot pain from 6 miles onwards.  Would I do it again?  Definitely.  I have signed up for another half in Edinburgh at the end of May.  Are you mad I hear you ask. Quite possibily is the answer.

My next race is the Womens 10k in Glasgow, followed by the Great Manchester 10k the following week and then my next half.  I will be taking the summer off (so far) to recover from my exploits.


Oh and one other thing - I have so far raised £185 for MacMillan Cancer Support.  I have 3 more races for this charity to do this year.

Till next time :-)

Kimbles
~x~x~

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