The Edinburgh Rock & Roll Half Marathon 2013 - Race Report

There are things you don't want to see on race day. Offical race marquees blowing away is one of them. Umbrellas blowing inside out is another, as are waves of sleet whooshing across Arthur's Seat, the backdrop to hundreds of people queuing for the portaloos.

Yesterday I'd been really positive about the race and feeling like I'd got my running mojo back. But pretty much as soon as I woke up today, to the sound of a howling gale coming down my chimney, I started to feel a whole lot less confident about (a) wearing my new vest and (b) running a PB at the Edinburgh Rock & Roll Half Marathon.

I swithered about wearing my new vest. It was a symbol of how positive and ambitious I felt about the race - to ditch it seemed like a bad omen. I'd painted my nails to match it. When I realised that there was No Way I would be taking my gloves off during this race, meaning my nails were irrelevant, I gave up on the vest and put on a t-shirt instead.

The conditions were horrible. Starting the race on Queen's Drive in Holyrood Park is asking for trouble - it's a wind tunnel and even on reasonable days I try to avoid it when I'm running. Today wasn't a reasonable day - although it wasn't too cold (12oC), the wind was 37mph and the rain and sleet were driving. The start of the race was delayed while the course was made safer - not what you want to hear when you're shivering at the start line! Undoubtedly there were moments when the course was warm and sheltered - but the start and finish in the park easily obliterate those memories.

To join the pace group, the instructions said to go to the souvenir stall at 0830 and sign up. The weather meant that every marquee was crushed full with sheltering runners so I had no idea which tent housed the souvenir stall. I looked at the queues for the toilets and the bag drop, and decided to cut my losses. The pace group I could live without, but I couldn't run with a full bladder and a rucksack.

You couldn't fault the route. It took in lots of parks and lots of Edinburgh's lovely views, including Portobello Prom! I got to run past my street - although the weather really diminished the crowds.  And the organisation was fine - doing a pretty good job in the face of adversity. But Holyrood Park is a rotten venue for anything on a windy day.

My lovely, wet, grumpy children waiting on Leith Links to cheer me on.

Me passing the bottom of my street and managing a grin for my lovely hubby and kids.

I was undeterred and still gave the race everything I could. I put up with the weather (I've faced much worse in training); at any given moment, I was putting my all into the race. From mile 10 my hamstrings were really feeling the pressure. I hurt pretty much all the way round. The hills were tough and sometimes my pace was slow, but I never stopped giving it all I had. I felt really pleased with the effort I put in - I reckon I put in about 20% more than I did when I tried the route last week.

Sadly, 20% extra effort translated into an improvement in my time of 1.8%!

I finished in 1 hour 50 minutes 10 seconds. That made me 182nd woman out of 2269, and overall 964 out of 4361. But mostly it made me pretty disappointed! I can't blame the weather, or course congestion, or anything going wrong - I just wasn't fast enough.

The low point was the queue for the baggage return. A massive, unmoving queue of shivering, wet runners waiting in the howling gale. It was like trying to get served in the world's busiest pub with only one barman. We were given bacofoil blankets which deafened you as the wind whipped them! The queue for the t-shirts was a bit shorter thankfully. The t-shirt is very nice and so is the medal. So were the compression socks I won in the Facebook competition yesterday.

Big thanks CEP for a brief respite from the climate, and funky pink compression sleeves!

I tramped across the mud and made my way to the Commonwealth Pool for a shower. The wind was horrible, I was cold and wet and on the verge of tears. Possibly an all-time low in my racing 'career' - even worse than getting lost in the 10M hill race last year.

A long, hot shower and a burger & chips later and I felt a bit better. I spent the rest of the day at a rehearsal for a show I'll be dancing in at The Pleasance in May, which cheered me up. Now that I'm warm and back in the fuzzy heart of my family (with a small girl cuddling up and saying, "mummy, you're the greatest runner", and giving me a kiss), I don't yet feel philosphical about my performance. I worked really hard and got hardly anything back, and I'm feeling really deflated and disappointed.

BodyAttack

Ooh, did I just find my favourite gym class ever?!

There's nothing new about BodyAttack, it's just that I've never tried it before. I think it's the 'attack' bit that put me off, but it turns out that BodyCombat is the martial arts class and that BodyAttack isn't. Edinburgh Leisure helpfully describes the class as "A simple, motivating and satisfying workout which will deliver results... using high energy interval training techniques", which doesn't exactly give much away and is probably why I've avoided it for so long.

D'y'know what it was? Aerobics!

When I say aerobics, I think of these key components:

• Start the move. Do it four times. Change the move. Do it four times. Repeat.
• Have music on.
• Do different sets of moves to different  music.
• Use these moves: grapevines, sidesteps, run forward, clap. Jumping jacks, squats, lunges. Kicks, skaters, plyometric jumps. Knee lifts, knee repeats. (plenty of old skool aerobics moves!)
• No weights. 
• Abs track at the end, on a mat.
• Sweat plenty.

What a buzz!

I felt really nicely knackered by the end of it, nothing totally killed me (well, a final set of squat pulses at the end was kinda horrible, but this was my second workout of the day) and I felt like I'd 'done enough', which is a feeling I don't get from many classes.

It helped that the teacher at Meadowbank, Vicky, was really good - no nonsense, great cueing, clear demonstrations; that the class wasn't so busy that I couldn't see; and the music was - well, it was okay, I won't say it was any better than that - more crowd-pleasers would've been good.

I liked it better than Zumba because I didn't feel like an idiot doing daft moves.
I liked it better than Sh'Bam because I didn't feel like a complete idiot doing really daft moves.
I liked it better than BodyPump because I sweated plenty and got to jump about.
I liked it better than BodyCombat because there was more counting to 4 and only really easy technique.

BodyAttack is now my gym class of the moment! What's yours?

My First Marathon - edited highlights

I finish my first marathon in 4 hours, 19 minutes. I am extremely proud of myself. The stats are here!

It was hot but after a while I didn't really notice too much. It was hard for a whole number of reasons and the heat was just one of them!

I did a little dance at the start line and continued it at the finish line. I finished strong (doing 8.21min/mile!) and ran the whole way, even through the water stations.

The route was flat, pretty and included my home turf, which was brilliant - high fives with friends and shout-outs from my neighbours really made me feel on top of the world!
I had a few niggles but most of them came and went - hips, lower back and IT band aches were all overtaken by the pain in my thighs after about 16 miles.

My podcasts were great diversions, especially as, despite the beauty of the East Lothian coast in the sunshine, it is fairly repetitive view!!


I carried my water bottle and refilled it at the water stations, and consumed 7 energy gels.

My mum and her boyfriend Robert were there to cheer me on at about mile 13. That was lovely and lifted my spirits - in fact it made me quite emotional and I was choking back the tears!

I was so excited to see the big orange 25-mile sign and find myself still going strong. I knew that whatever happened I was going to finish the race now. And then I saw my husband and children!! What a thrill - they weren't sure they were going to make it! They gave me a big wave and took my picture - but now I was sprinting with joy! I still had about three-quarters of a mile to go though!!

3/4 mile from the end, grinning like a nutter and FINISHING STRONG!! (Note the non-chafeing bumbag.)

When I saw the finish line it gave it everything I had left, overtook everyone I saw and crossed the finish line with a massive shout of "YES!!", loud enough for race compere Bryan Burnett to comment on! The time on the gantry was 4 hours 36 minutes - the time on my watch was 4 hours 19 minutes!!

I was so happy to get my medal, I fixed my eyes on the medal lady and dipped my head to get her to put it round my neck. She gave me a big smile and said "well done, hen", and I was ridiculously, hysterically grateful and happy.

One I was out into the reunion area, I burst into tears. I'd done it! I'd completed my first marathon! After only 8 weeks of training (albeit after 15 years of building a solid running base!) it had taken me 4 hours 19 minutes to run 26.2 miles.  I could not have been any happier.

I did that little dance I'd started at the starting line (Paulo Nutini's 10/10 was the tune - it had been on the PA but I also had it on my ipod!) and tried to find hubby and weans. It took a while but we were reunited!

"Mum, can we go home now? it's too hot..."

I tried to have a shower but they were freezing! So I had a bit of a douse and put on my clean clothes. I realised my toes were hurting. "Well", said a lady in the changing room, who was a veteran of 5 marathons, "you can't do a marathon without expecting to lose a few toenails!", and she showed me the toes she'd lost nails from she'd lost in the last few years! I was unprepared for this - Marathon Training Academy, you should have told me!

Next stop was the Well Hung & Tender stall for a deluxe burger - featuring onions, bacon and cheese, accompanied with a cup of milky tea. It was so unbelievably good, I can hardly begin to tell you - but my face should give you a hint:

Nothing could have tasted better!

We had a long, hot, uphill walk back to the car, and I had to carry a nearly-five-year-old on my shoulders for most of it! It was possibly the hardest part of the day. But it was closely followed by meeting up with the other Leith Primary running parents in the pub. I was cheered when I arrived, and then hugged, congratulated, quizzed and bought drinks!

Eight weeks ago, I wasn't remotely confident I could run a marathon. I registered for the event thinking that I might well change to the half marathon. I knew nothing about fueling, or the wall, or what I was capable of. I feel like a wiser, better person than I was 8 weeks ago. I feel confident, creative and like I can do anything. Anything I put my mind to. I always knew I could, in theory. Now I have proof.

It remains to be seen if I lose toenails. It remains to be seen how much sponsor money I've raised for the Leith Primary playground fund. It remains to be seen whether I'll do it again next year (although I suspect I'd like to!). But I ran my first marathon in 4 hours 19 minutes. I do have what it takes to run a marathon and change my life. And I ROCK!!!

Talent vs Hard Work

I heard a brilliant episode of FourThought on Radio 4 tonight. Matthew Syed is a former table tennis champion who was spending 15 minutes of airtime talking about the tensions between talent and hard work, and which of these is the key to success.

Syed argued that anybody who is any good at anything has practiced that activity for thousands of hours. Even Mozart, as a young boy, had spent thousands of hours working on his piano playing, and his progress had not always been astronomical - he progressed at a normal pace, but spent so long working hard at it that he became the child prodigy he was.

London's black cab drivers have a massive knowledge of the capital's roads and how to get around them. In fact the relevant part of their brain is larger than it is in non-cab drivers! But they weren't born that way - they developed their brains through hard work and practice.

While talent may be important, it is hard work that leads to success.

Also Syed discussed how, if the key component to success is talent, there would be no point in working hard. And talented people would always expect to rise to the top.  Which would give us a lazy society, where nobody bothered to work subjects they weren't top of the class in.

Running Guru Jack Daniels makes similar points in his book Daniels' Running Formula. Assuming there can be no hard work without motivation, Daniels believes

"there are four kinds of distance runners:
1. Those who have inherent ability and the motivation to use that ability
2. Those who have the ability to do well but aren't motivated to use their ability
3. Those who lack much ability but have great motivation to achieve success
4. Those who lack ability and aren't motivated."

While Daniels states that it's the type-1 runners who are champions, he also helpfully says that it is type-3 runners who are "fun to coach and deserve your appreciation and attention."!

Daniels adds that opportunity and direction are key factors in achieving success in running.

Paul McKenna makes more similar points in Change Your Life in Seven Days. He talks about "neural pathways", and how learning new habits - like believing in your own success - is a matter of strenthening those pathways in your brain.

So, whether or not you are born with "talent" - you can still achieve ANYTHING YOU PUT YOUR MIND TO.