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Edinburgh Marathon 2007
By booyaabooyaabooyaa | June 17, 2007
Time: 04:56:27
Position: 3012 out of 3559
First runner: 02:31:57
Last last: 07:32:27
If I had to sum up this race it would be: forgetful and experimental!
I say forgetful because, I forgot to check how many Taut (an isotonic drink with no artificial nasties) I had left, which meant I only had one instead of the required three! I tried to find Taut in Boots, Tesco oop north, but I couldn’t find owt.
In turn because I didn’t bother to bring my fanny pack (I didn’t think I would need it since I already had my Camelbak), I had to buy one at the expo, this was because the Camelbak would’ve excess weight, in hindsight I could’ve just removed the drinking bladder.
I also forgot to pack my fuel for the race; raisins and dates, so instead I had to use jelly babies!
During the expo, following on the theme of “experimentation” I thought would try out some nip guards and body glide (lube). I should digress briefly and say that I got a 2nd pair of Asics GT-2120 for a measly £60!
Finally I decided to risk taking neurofen (an ibufopren based NSAIDs) before the race (to take the edge of the inevitable pain caused by ITBS), mind you I did some serious reading beforehand and it would appear it’s long term and repeated use that causes the renally related problems.
I was very impressed with the expo, I plan to budget on buying several pairs of trainers, clothing and various supplies. Lucozade were in full force (which probably explains why I couldn’t find any Taut there) and I picked up 4 and 4:20 hour pace bands. It’s definitely worth your time going to an expo, even if you aren’t racing.
Route
Image courtesy of: The Edinburgh Marathon site
Race report
Despite the wet start the race started off really well. I was in the 4:00-4:30 predicated race paddock, I could just make out the 4 hour pacemaker’s balloon. I set my Nike+ and HRM stopwatches too early, must remember to only do this when I cross the chip mat.
Miles 1-3 - Uneventful, feel excited to finally be running the marathon.
Miles 4-12 Knees starts to ache ever so slightly. Caught a glimpse of the finish line at mile 9, wish I hadn’t.
Miles 13-15 Knees are painful, the wind is battering me. I take shelter behind groups of runners and the occasional tall runner. I feel like I’ve hit the wall, this is a bad thing to happen this soon on. My upper lip stiffens as I see a runner using running blades (these are normally used for sprinting, not long distances). It humbles me as I can only imagine his knee stumps must be red raw, oh and he’s easily an 1 hour to 1:30 hours ahead of me!
Mile 16-18 Knees has stopped talking to me. I feel somewhat demoralised that I have to now run all the way back where I was at mile 9.
Mile 19-21 I think stopped briefly to start walking at mile 20 or 21. I can’t remember which, all I remember is the weird sensation I got when I did stop running. My feet felt like sponge, it was very odd!
Mile 22-24 I now realise that my Nike+ sports kit (a Speed Distance Monitor add-on for the iPod nano) is complete off as it congratulates me on completing the marathon at mile 23! I think I walked for a mile. The water stations appear to be further apart than I remember. The portable stage playing live country music at mile 13 is now playing the blues, rather appropriate if you ask me.
Mile 25-26 I put the iPod on full volume and run with the rangers (marching cadence chants). I hobble to the finish line. One of the ladies handing out the medals appeared visibly shocked as I hobble towards her, perhaps thought I might collapse in front of her?
Despite the reassurances that the course was flatter, it still felt like we were climbing in places. The gradient may have been lower, but we went over a few humps.
I found the pain too distracting to visualise the last six miles as one of my favourite training runs. I did take comfort in cheering on the guys at mile 14 when I was at mile 20. I also thought about stuff I was going to eat and drink after the race.
I’m pleased to report I was blister free and my nips are still intact. The sports tape on the arches of meet helped, along with body gliding my toes, top of feet and anywhere clothing might chafe.
Fueling and days before the race
The last few days I started to carbo load eating of rice, pasta and potato based meals. I went “dry” on Friday and didn’t have a drink until after the race on Sunday.
On day itself I had a continental breakfast cereal, toast and coffee. I had this two hours before the race. Word of advice, always warn the hotel staff during time of booking that you’ll need to have breakfast 2 hours before the race. The hotel we stayed at made a special exception since it had so many attendees for the marathon that they said they would start serving breakfast earlier than 7:30AM!
During the race I ate between 1 and 2 jelly babies at each miles. When I was walking I eat a few more. Considering I’d never used this in training I’m surprised that I didn’t suffer greatly. I can only attribute this to my sweet tooth!
I’m trying to avoid thinking about the next goal or race until I start running again in about two weeks time. And yes I do intend to continue running!
You can actually see where I started walking on this graph indicated by the dips.
Final bit of good news is that as my reward for completing the marathon, Lou is going to take me to the SweatShop at Harrods so I can by my own custom fit pair of running shoes! You can find out more about this service here.
[tags]marathon, running, experimental, fueling[/tags]
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