Edinburgh Marathon
22nd May 2011

Edinburgh Marathon
 
My warm up started on the Saturday when we enjoyed a day out in Edinburgh with a good walk to Arthur's Seat and the Expo in the afternoon. Then it was a good carb loading and hydration session in the evening (i wasn't the one drinking alcohol!) Up and ready arriving in regent Road at 7.15am, a bit too keen and eager, we ended up sheltering for a little while to escape the weather - what happened to the heat wave of the last couple of years?!

The race itself was cold, wet and windy but despite this were about 30,00 runners participating and plenty of spectators standing in various points to cheer everyone on. As always, quite a number of people were in fancy dress costumes (I liked the turtles which were part of the Hairy Haggis Relay). My day was made when I was able to grab a Tropical Lucozade drink as I hate the other flavours and water isn't really my thing. The hours seemed to pass by quickly in parts when chatting to others and slowly when the windy and rain hit us.

My aim was not to do anything that I did last year which caused a slower time that I could do; the socialising whereby I stop in the race and have a chat to spectators and supporters and seeking medical assistance. I also helped a collapsed runner in the event last year, this is the only one in which I would do again. I always enjoy running the marathon course but always look at the floor and the feet in front so miss 'the sights' such as Hollyrood Parliament building, the Palace, Arthur's Seat and the coastline - next year I'll try to look up - the road is great but it does get a bit 'samey' in places!

The organisers had changed parts of the marathon layout this year as the finishing line was on the road rather than on the racecourse, a much better sprint finish - the metal flooring which was laid out last year (to protect the racecourse) felt quite slippery, and in the rain this would have been extremely dangerous. It was a little confusing as spectators were not allowed to stand by the finish to cheer and once the line had been crossed the medals, t-shirts and goodie bags were a little stroll away around the corner... but at least the baggage hold was within this area which was so much better than the half a mile stroll last year.

Once the baggage had been collected it was a nice squeeze by security and other participants to get out of the area and a walk to the reunion area, this could have possibly been better organised because there were just queues of people but nobody was moving.
In the reunion area there were quite a few people sitting in one area looking at what I thought was just a big black lorry. When I walked around I noticed the big screen showing the runners finishing, after 26.2 miles to be seen by hundreds of people with the wind-swept look is rather embarassing.... let's hope that there were no close up shots taken!

Having been desperate to use the toilet within an hour and a half of the race starting, I held on until I got to the reunion area. There was quite a queue and no toilet paper. This was the first time I had ever used a portaloo on race day (in any race) and it will also be my last! Some drummers provided entertainment around the food and drinks stalls, and it seemed like the queues for the food and drink interlinked and so was a bit of a nightmare to get through and over to the charity area. There were a lot of massages going on within the charity tents and I was rather tempted but with the winds still blowing and the occasional rain at that point, I had had enough. I had also wanted to hang on until the race had finished (there were several people I wanted to see before leaving), but decided to leave and meet them up at the Park and Ride forthe shuttle bus back into Edinburgh... another mile and a bit's walk.
All in all, another good run with a goodie bag and this year I actually bought some souvenirs afterwards. We had a good celebratory meal afterwards and as I could not keep my eyes open after 9.30pm, an early night.
 
Katarina

Home : Race Results : Runners Pages