Race Day

I'm taking a break from regularly scheduled programming to begin to describe my Scotland adventures. I will probably find myself bouncing back and forth between current stuff and my travels over the next few posts. Anyway...

Uh oh

As race day approached, I'd been anxiously watching the weather on my BBC weather app over the previous week. Forecasters were predicting clear skies allll week through Saturday, storms on Sunday (race day), and clear skies again Monday. Oy. The closer and closer we got to race day, the more grim the weather was looking, and by Saturday evening, I'd received an official email from the Edinburgh Marathon Festival team (see right).

I was totally undeterred. My philosophy was that if it was pouring rain, I'd get to accomplish two of my UK bucket list items in one go: Run in a race and Run in the rain (which I love doing anyway). I had to embrace it because I really had no other option!

I had brought the ingredients for a specific meal that I had used in preparation for each of my major long runs. I cooked, Dad and I ate, I pinned my number onto my running shirt, and packed my go-bag for the morning. As I brushed teeth, stretched, and got in bed, I was expecting to be nervous. Many of my running websites warned me, "Don't worry if you don't sleep the night before... That's totally normal!" but I was extremely (uncharacteristically?) calm. I fell right to sleep, and slept completely through the night, waking up to my alarm at 5:15. Remarkably, though the clouds were dark, only a light rain was falling when I looked out the window.

I had my race-day breakfast and stretched as I listened to my pre-selected and personalised pump up mix. Dad had helped me research how to get to the start line (since many roads were closed and buses were rerouted). We were fairly limited in our options for bus times, so in the end we left at 6:20am. We got to Waverely Station where we started seeing other runners and signs for the corals at Regent Road.

Ready to run! (The bottom corner of the pic
is blurred from rain drops)

Dad snapped a picture, took my heavier jumper (sweater) and then left me near my pen. I needed some time to get fully "in the zone" and also pee about 10 times. I stretched a bit more, chatted with other runners, and peed again. Still, I wasn't nervous... I was excited. I was calm. I was confident. I knew it was going to go well... And it did!

I had told the organisers that I expected a final time of 2.45.00 (which is VERY slow) just because I didn't want to even think about it. I had to give them my estimate when I first registered and had been extremely anxious about the whole thing. Because of how slow my predicted time was, I was in the farthest back pen, which ended up being really annoying because of how slowly everyone else around me was moving (my fault obviously), but it didn't really matter. My only goal was to finish, and the second I crossed the start line, I was flying!

It felt AMAZING! The only hard part was holding myself back and weaving in and out of slower runners. There were several very frustrating parts of the course where I simply had to slow down to a crawl. I actually took a slightly longer route around just to avoid packs of slower people. I didn't notice any mile markers or think about distance until I came up on the first water point labeled with mile 5! I felt great!

The whole race just whizzed by... I honestly couldn't have felt more empowered or energised. I just kept going and going! I started to feel a little tired during a never-ending hill at mile 9, but I was expecting to see dad so I kept up my pace. I never did find him... turns out he got confused and decided just to wait right at the finish line. This ended up working in my favour since I had motivation to keep going and searching for him in the crowd. Before I knew it, I was at mile 11. Then 12. And then I was sprinting towards the finish line!

Final time: 1 hour 52 minutes 20 seconds. I could not be more thrilled!

Beaming! I was SO proud of myself for doing it!

Finisher!

We went home so I could stretch, ice, shower, eat, and take a quick nap. Then we went back out and about into the city (I couldn't believe I was still walking). Managed to climb massive towers today too and the first big hike was the next day.

I really truly loved the experience of taking on the challenge, following a training course (and modifying it as my body needed), and surpassing all of my expectations. I am trying to decide when my next race should be! It's definitely addicting!